One Gays Letter To President Obama
–This is an old letter I found…not sure why I didn’t upload it. It’s from Oct. 2011, but I think there is still relevance, so i’ll upload it anyway.
I just finishing watching President Obama’s “It Gets Better” PSA. It was very powerful and I believe that he sent a very important message to the impact of bullying and the need for it to stop. However, just a few days ago President Obama and his administration sent another message to the lgbt community. He asked for a Stay of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), which was recently granted and reinstated the policy that doesn’t allow openly gay people to serve in the military. So, while I thought the PSA was important, it was also very hypocritical and hides this country’s sanctioned homophobia, heteronormativity, and discrimination against the lgbt community as major causes of LGBT youth suicide.
From my experience, in regards to sexuality-based bullying and the consequent thoughts of taking one’s life occurs after a culmination of events and life situations that occur in various, if not all, areas of one’s life. As one interacts with peers, family, friends, schools, churches, state and federal government, religious institutions, the perpetual messages of hate, inferiority, and non-supportive behaviors toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people are the major root causes for LGBT youth attempting or committing suicide. It is constant, consistent, and systematic devaluing at every turn, around every corner, in our schools, and in our homes that wear us down to the point that we can see no future and see no reason to hope for a better one.
When your administration asked for a Stay of DADT, a heternormative and homophobic message that heterosexuals are more valuable than lgbt people for the simple fact that they are not heterosexual. President Obama, it is about value and value lost. DADT devalues lesbians and gays in the military, but the impact is felt by more than those that are enrolled. DADT is just not a policy; it is the embodiment of this society’s ethos. It is a venomous ideology that does nothing but destroys, devalues, degrades, and punishes lgbt people for being who they are and your administration endorsed it.
So, as we continue to think about those young people who have recently committed suicide, let us not use those who have done the bullying as a scapegoat to deflect from the fact that we are still living in a country that teaches hate, sanctions discrimination, and systematically promotes heteronormativity.
President Obama–we must do what is right even when it is not convenient. It is not good enough to tell people to wait for their right to be who they are. Some people can’t wait! Some people are already at the end of the rope. I was lucky to have someone grab me when I just let go of the rope, but not everyone has someone that can pull them back help them make sense of the years of systematic abuse and devaluing. The truth of the matter is, the longer we wait, the more people will suffer and die because “it isn’t the right time to be who you are.”
