Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Dear LGBTQIA+ friends...

Dear LGBTQIA+ friends and readers,

I haven't been saying much after the heartbreaking murder of 49 people at a gay bar in Orlando last weekend.  I don't know what to say.  I don't want to be another straight, white cis gender man trying to make this tragedy about himself.  It's about you, and we should all listen (see some resources below, and please feel free to suggest others).  As horrifying as this has been for me, I realize that I can't imagine what this has been like for you.

There are many disturbing, heart-wrenching things about this brutal murder of 49 human beings.  One of these is the thought that that could have been you, any one of you.  This was an attack on LGBTQIA+ people, most of whom were people of color, mostly Latinx.  Wherever the national conversation takes us on terrorism and guns, we can't forget who was attacked and what this means.

You deserve to live on this planet (or any other) as much as anyone.  You matter.  I've always admired the courage you have just to be who you are.  Especially in a world that demands that you be somebody you're not.  I hope that your courage will inspire everyone to create the world that you deserve.

In love and solidarity,
Ethan Mills

PS:  Here are a few of the online resources I've found to be worth reading.  Please feel free to add more in the comments.

2 comments:

  1. 'No Man is an Island'

    No man is an island entire of itself; every man
    is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
    if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
    is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
    well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
    own were; any man's death diminishes me,
    because I am involved in mankind.
    And therefore never send to know for whom
    the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

    John Donne

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