Dear Homophobe that killed 50 and injured 53,
Here is the thing. You can’t combat ignorance with anger. But the truth is I’m not just angry, I am infuriated. The Orlando Pulse Club Shooting is not a joke. Taking someone’s life because you don’t approve of who they love, is not a joke. Thinking you have the superiority to judge whether or not someone’s life is ethical or not, is not and will never be a joke.
Quite frankly, I don’t care if your narrow mind confines you within the boundaries of ignorance. I don’t care if you have been brought up to think being gay or transgender is “morally wrong.” Because at the end of the day you have the ability to learn and understand otherwise. You have the potential to realize that you are wrong. That beyond your idiocy lies a world of love and acceptance.
But why am I telling this to you? You find more value in the gun you used, than in the human life you took. The blood of fifty, and the tears of hundreds are what you die with.
I don’t pity you. I don’t pity your stupidity nor your ignorance. Because you, no matter how much the world argues with me for saying this, had a choice. You had a choice to uphold the worth of human life and leave behind your animosity. In those minutes before you chose to shoot, you had a choice to walk away. Before you shot your 30 some bullet, you had the choice to stop. But your lack of moral consciousness, mercilessly, killed many physically and slaughtered thousands emotionally.
As a gay man’s best friend, I can say without hesitation; I hate you. I hate you because you make him feel like he is inhumane, when really you are the only BEAST around. I hate you because you make him feel unsafe, you make him feel as though he can’t live his life out in the open because you’ll shoot him down with your weapons and words. I hate you because you’re the reason he is afraid to love.
But do you want to know the difference between my hate and yours? I would never lay a finger on you, let alone a gun. Because within me, there is love and empathy for mankind. And this love enables me to be my man’s strength rather than his weakness. And this love for mankind, is stronger than my hate towards your actions. I may hate you; but I value human life too much to ever hate to the extent you did. So right now, I am choosing to let go of my hate towards you. Because by hating you, I’m losing out on the energy I need to embrace him with, to love him with. So instead, I’ll use my time to show him how precious he is.
And right now I am asking God for something. I’m praying that the LGTBQ community will never have to face such an atrocity again- but we all know that if people like you, Omar Mateen, are in the world, the good will have to suffer. Therefore, I also pray for you, may God remove the blindfold of ignorance you and those alike wear on your eyes with idiotic pride, for love is far more enticing and rewarding.
Signed,
A Gay Man’s Best Friend.
