Thoughts On Orlando

As of the moment I’m writing this forty-nine people are dead and more than fifty injured in the worst single shooter mass shooting in American history. Details are still fluid, but we know a man entered the gay nightclub PULSE in Orlando, Florida and opened fire. What followed was a hostage standoff with the police, which ended when the SWAT officers breached the building, and the man died in the resulting firefight. We know the man was a Muslim and according to the local Islamic leaders in the area, he appeared to have bent toward Islamic extremism. We also know his name, but I will NOT use it. I will not give him any recognition for this terrorist attack.

Most of you probably know I’m bisexual. I’ve talked about it enough in the past that I just assume everyone’s had their fill of my views on the matter, but in case you’re new here, I am. Not only is this an attack on our people as a nation, as Americans, but it’s also an attack on my people, the LGBTQ community.

I’ve been told more times than I can count that we live in a post gay America. I’ve been told some version of, all those uppity homosexuals need to stop whining now that they can get married. I’ve heard ad nausea that we should be quiet and grateful that we’ve been allowed to have a semblance of equal rights. Let’s not discuss the fact that in many states a person can be fired from their jobs just because their LGBTQ also state and local governments keep passing anti-LGBTQ legislation. We should ignore the preachers and politicians screaming the most horrendous rhetoric at us because damnit the Supreme Court did the right thing and gave us a bone.

All of that is why I will not shut up.

I could fill this short essay with thousands of links to news articles and videos showing supposed spiritual and political leaders extolling violence or at the least oppression against LGBTQ people. From FOX News to the Mega Churches, a significant fraction of Americans have spent decades whipping people into a frenzy over people who’re sexually different than the so-called norm. Most of these people in the public eye may not have desired violence and death, but some very much did. This is their fault as much as it is the fault of the shooter. They created the boiling cauldron of hate, suspicion, and fear that we currently live in.

When people are bombarded with things such as comparisons between child molesters and LGBT individuals do you honestly think someone wasn’t going to pop? We are accused of persecuting religious people, we are accused of hate, we are accused of being unreasonable and close-minded, we’re accused of having some insidious agenda, and we’re told how wrong our lifestyles are. All of this not just by the fringe media and religion, but by the supposed mainstream sources as well.

You don’t like my view on the culpability of media and religion? Think I’m jumping to conclusions, and I should keep my mouth shut because damnit “NOT ALL” or some such bullshit?

Feel free to see yourself away from my social media footprint and block me. I’ll get right on not giving a shit.

– Josh