Last week, a hateful, homophobic asshole brought guns into a gay club in Orlando and killed 49 people. This man had a history of homophobia and would get upset by just seeing two men kissing. This is obviously a crime motivated by homophobia. Unfortunately, the news networks don't want to let anyone know that. Heck, hey even refuse to say that Pulse was a gay nightclub. After the news broke that many people were murdered, people immediately started offering their prayers. I scrolled through my facebook feed and saw prayer after prayer. Even government officials were offering their condolences. Now that's great and all, but I have a serious bone to pick with a lot of you thoughtful people that are keeping the victims in your prayers.
Half the people on my feed that were writing these profound pieces of religious poetry have told me on numerous occasions that I am a sinner, that I am an abomination, that I am "just greedy," that I am going through a phase, or that I don't exist. Why, you might ask? Because I am bisexual. I didn't choose to be, I just am. If it was a choice, why the hell would I choose it? I don't exactly like to hear people telling me what a horrible, evil freak I am. The fact that I can be legally fired for it if my boss thinks it's icky isn't a fun romp. The people that were needlessly slaughtered in that club were LGBT+ and they heard the same negativity all their lives as well. You know who else heard it? The shooter.
None of you decided to walk into a gay bar and murder 49 people, but you may as well have. You helped create a culture where LGBT+ people are considered to be second-class citizens. You fight to make sure we don't have the same rights as you. You disown your children for daring to come out. You preach a gospel of hate. These beliefs you perpetuate don't happen in a vacuum. People listen and hold on to them. They use your words to justify their despicable actions.
Rebublican senators offer their prayers and sympathies to the victims and their families, then turn around and pass bills stripping LGBT+ people of more rights. Good Christians point to Bible verses to help families through hard times, but ignore the fact that they were quoting that tired old Leviticus verse calling for the destruction of LGBT+ people (all while sporting tattoos and piercings in their cotton/poly blend clothing, mind you). We don't want your empty, shallow prayers. Take your guilt elsewhere. If you really wanted to help, you would donate to the gofundme page for the victims' families. You would find your representative and contact them to tell them to provide protections for LGBT+ people. You would stand with us at Pride in a measure of solidarity.
We don't need your prayers, we need action. Congress made a really misguided attempt at action this past week. They held a filibuster on gun control which worked. Now that's great and all, but congress also passed a version of FADA which made damn sure that LGBT+ people know their place at the bottom. I'm glad you had a victory on gun control, but if you really wanted to help us, you would have presented a bill that protects us. A bill that says nobody can tell us where to pee, that employers can't fire us because of something we were born with, a bill that allows gay men to donate blood to their brothers and sisters in Orlando. If you really wanted to filibuster something, that would be it.
Our struggles are constantly minimized and turned against us. We're sick of it. Stop sending us your hollow prayers and do something that actually helps us. Stop perpetuating a culture that casts us aside. Stop hurting the LGBT+ people around you and justifying the actions of those who wish to physically harm us. We don't need your prayers. We need your actions.
