Most of those taken from us were young people whose lives were still ahead of them to fulfill their dreams and ambitions, to live and to love, to laugh, and to be themselves in a world of expanding opportunities.
But what happened to these good souls is, unfortunately, nothing new. We see hate motivated violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people and other targeted social groups on the rise.
Pick up any of our publications and each week you will see stories of brutal and senseless attacks. Groups of young males wielding baseball bats and guns at anyone who looks “different,” and men waiting outside women’s spaces attacking women on their way home. Members of the trans community often suffer the consequences of other truth tellers of the past. Nearly every two days, a person is killed somewhere in the world for expressing gender nonconformity. The vast majority of murders are trans women of color.
And these are simply the most extreme examples of hate related violence in general and so-called “queer bashing” specifically. So I must restate a simple truth — the killer or killers in Orlando live in a society that promotes intolerance, for queer bashing comes in a great many forms:
Whenever people like the Texas Lt. Governor send tweets soon after the mass shooting in Orlando quoting Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows,” that’s queer bashing.
Whenever county clerks refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever states like North Carolina draft and pass legislation criminalizing trans people from entering restrooms matching their gender identities, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever shop owners refuse service and landlords refuse renting to queer people citing “religious freedom” as their justification, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever mainstream religious denominations condemn homosexuality with one breath and actively obstruct frank and honest sexuality education programs in our schools with another, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever the political and theocratic right produce newspaper and television ads that promise “conversion” and “escape” from the so-called “homosexual lifestyle” in the guise of Christian love and understanding, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever politicians like former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott proclaim in the media that homosexuality is a disease in the categories of kleptomania and alcoholism, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever the U.S. Senate and other legislative bodies refuse to confirm a nominee for public service, like James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg, simply on account of their sexual or gender identity alone and not on their actual qualifications, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever so-called religious leaders like Pat Robertson blame natural disasters on city governments that have enacted laws protecting the rights of LGBT people, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever parents or guardians toss out young people onto the streets for their sexual or gender identities, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever any person is ridiculed, isolated, confronted, or attacked for not conforming to rigid constructions of gender expression, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever hate crimes legislation is drafted without including the documentation of violence directed against LGBT people, branding this as nothing more than the granting of “special rights,” that’s queer bashing.
Whenever professors in our universities and teachers in our schools exclude the stories of our lives, our experiences, and our accomplishments in the classroom, that’s queer bashing.
Whenever any one of us is taught to hate ourselves each one of us is demeaned, and that certainly is queer bashing, and we have a right, or rather an obligation, to speak up, to fight back with all the energy, with all the unity, and with all the love of which we are capable.
Today we still live in a society that proclaims we don’t have a right to exist, but exist we do, everywhere, in all walks of life.
For as we all know, we are the students, professors, teachers, guidance counselors, day care workers, parents — and still some people and groups attempt to prevent us from having contact with the young people of our nation. And because of their insensitivity and fear, the queer bashing continues.
We are the social workers, psychiatrists, workers at homeless shelters and rape crisis centers — and still some people and groups blame us for the break-up of what they call the “traditional family.” And the queer bashing continues.
The reality is that we are holding up this culture. If all the lesbians, bisexuals, gay males, and trans people suddenly left our jobs and communities, this country would literally crumble.
We continue to fight a war for hearts and minds: a war against ignorance, which is literally killing our people. And amidst this crisis, segments of our country perpetuate a process of collective denial by refusing to acknowledge the mere existence of this war in its attempts to silence us. But silent we are not, and silent we will never be again.
There is an old tradition in our western states of ranchers killing a coyote and tying it to a fence to scare off other coyotes, and to keep them from coming out of their hiding places. That is what the killers of University of Wyoming college student, Matthew Shepard, did to him on the chilling evening of October 6, 1998.
They smashed his skull and tied him to a fence as if he were a lifeless scarecrow, where he was bound for over 18 hours in near freezing temperatures. The message to the rest of us from these killers was quite clear: stay locked away in your suffocating and dank closets, and don’t ever come out.
To the queer bashers I say, no amount of intimidation will ever lock us away again. Lesbians, gay males, bisexuals, trans people, and our loving and supportive heterosexual and cisgender allies are coming out in greater numbers than ever before, as witnessed in the large outpouring of grief, anger, and love after the tragic event in Orlando.
As marginalized people, we are pushing the boundaries – unwilling any longer to accept the repressive status quo. In coalition with other disenfranchised groups and allies, we are refusing to buckle under and to assimilate into a corrupt and corrupting system that forces people to relinquish their integrity and their humanity.
One year before his death, another of our slain leaders, gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, recorded a will that was to be played in the event of his assassination. In it he stated that he never considered himself simply as a candidate for public office, but rather, always considered himself as part of a movement: a liberation movement for LGBT people — and a liberation movement for all people.
Each time Harvey spoke in front of a crowd, he urged people to come out everywhere and often: “Tell your immediate family,” he would say, “tell friends, neighbors, people in the stores you shop in, cab drivers, everyone.”
And he urged heterosexual people to be our allies, to interrupt derogatory remarks and jokes, to support us and offer aid when needed. If we all did this, he said, we could change the world.
Well, I am certain that in their brief time with us, the good people taken down at the Pulse nightclub also changed lives. Their caring souls transformed the people they met. Though their attacker may have succeeded in devastating their bodies, he did not and will never succeed in destroying their gentle spirits, or in extinguishing the heart of a community and a movement for social justice, for their spirits continue, inspiring a people, a nation, and a world.
For all the good people at the Pulse, the people in Orlando, and for all of us, love will conquer the hatred. Thank you for the riches you have left us.
We will continue the struggle in your name to make the world a safer and more supportive environment for all its people. May you forever rest in peace.
Call the Orlando massacre what it was: Queer bashing