Dear Trump Supporters Who Claim To Support Me And The LGBTQ+ Community

Can we talk? Okay, I know, starting with that puts you on the defensive. I am sorry, because I really want to have a conversation and figure out how I can help you better understand what I’m about to get into. But I’m also going to be honest. While I’m trying to write this calmly, there’s going to be a lot of anger seeping through. Gay rights is an intensely personal issue for me.

Maybe it’s a more casual issue for you. I’m guessing you might know a gay person or two. Maybe your cousin. Your aunt. Your nephew. Maybe your barber. Maybe for a few of you… me. You’re an ally. Go gays. Those folks you know are great. Gay rights! But I need to ask: Do you actually care about our rights? Our safety? Our well-being?

If you don’t, I need you to look us in the eye and be honest about that. And if you do, we need to have this talk.

Because the Trump administration, on June 12th, in the middle of Pride Month, and on the 4th anniversary of the Pulse shooting — the deadliest single act of violence against the LGBTQ+ community in this country — announced that it had officially rolled back protections put in place to ensure transgender people cannot be discriminated against or turned away by healthcare providers.

I write for a living, and I’m struggling to come up with the right words to convey how reprehensibly vicious, cruel, painful, and disgusting this is.

It’s a punch in the gut when we should be celebrating our existence and honoring those we lost. It’s a, “Fuck you and all like you. It’s not just that we don’t care if you live or die, we also want to drive that point in to you as deeply as possible at a time that’s meaningful to you.”

I don’t know how much you noticed or remember the Pulse shooting. I can’t speak to how aware you were of the collective trauma in the LGBTQ+ community. The crushing grief we felt as we gathered for memorials. The fear and anxiety working through us afterwards at Pride. The nightmares we’d wake up from in the middle of the night. But our bars and clubs are safe spaces for us. Spaces where we don’t have to worry about the danger of being ourselves.

At Pulse, that space was invaded and turned into a bloodbath. 49 people were murdered —…