As if we haven’t seen enough bad news for LGBT people coming out of Tennessee, here’s another story. Like the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” nonsense, this one also involves bigots trying to shush gay people out of existence. Those bigots in Tennessee are determined, I’ll give them that. They’ll stop at nothing to pretend gay people don’t exist.
This time, the bigotry is coming from a newspaper: the Cookeville Herald-Citizen. Shayne Bilbrey, a gay man, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor about what, in an ideal world, should be a non-controversial topic. It was a letter about LGBT bullying. It was a message of hope, love, and self-acceptance. It was a reminder to LGBT youth (yes, Herald-Citizen editors, LGBT youth really do exist in Cookeville) that it really does get better.
Here’s the letter. Tell me this should be censored:
It’s okay to be Gay
High school graduation is just around the corner, and well over a thousand Putnam County students will be graduating this year. Most of them had the normal teenage years, going to prom with the person they love, getting that first kiss, or getting their driver’s license at sixteen. Yet for some kids that dream was a long shot, because some of this year’s graduates are Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual. Most of these students couldn’t have that dream life, because they were usually the primary targets for bullying. The bullying would vary from daily taunting such as being called a “fag” or a “queer.” The students usually behind the bullying would often cite the bible, or what their preacher told them. This is very troubling for that, in a society that values individualism, we can’t honor these kids fundamental right to let them be whoever they want to be and to be with. I know that when I came out, during my senior year in high school, I was faced with some backlash, but even before that I was called many names, and felt at times that I was worthless, which is similar to how some of these students feel. It hurts to be bullied at school, but to be bullied in your own home is incomprehensible. Thankfully, I have a family who loves me for who I am, and for which I am blessed for. Yet, it saddens me when I hear of some of my friends, which have come out to their parents, have had to face ridicule from their own parents. Some parents go as far as to disowning their own child, calling them a failure, and sending them to a gay to straight camp. I don’t understand why a parent would do such a thing, but sadly it happens a lot. Well I‘m here to say that, things will and do get better, granted they’re still some that disagree, but it does get better. We should all be able to value ourselves, love others, and be able to accept all for whom they are. We are all God’s children, and he loves us all in the same way. So if you are Gay, Lesbian, Transsexual, and bisexual, it’s okay to be you, and be proud of who you are, and will become. Love, cherish, and embrace thy own self.
No reasonable person would have any issue with this letter to the editor. But the ones running the Herald-Citizen aren’t exactly reasonable. The powers-that-be at the newspaper decided they couldn’t taint their respectable newspaper with proof that homosexuality actually exists in Cookeville. Suicidal LGBT youth be damned. The editors don’t want any LGBT young person getting the idea that it gets better. Maybe in the big city, but not in Cookeville! Apparently, when Shayne talked to a representative from the newspaper, he was told that the Herald-Citizen is “a family values newspaper, and they weren’t comfortable with publishing it.” A family values newspaper. Well isn’t that precious.
I have a little experience with right-wing newspapers, considering I hail from the great city of Warren, Pennsylvania (remember the newspaper that published an ad a while back calling for Obama’s assassination? Yeah, that’s my hometown). I’ve had a letter to the editor refused by the newspaper (it was a letter about the assassination ad). But even the Warren Times-Observer would publish this letter – I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar (and, in fact, I've had a letter mentioning LGBT equality published before, even in this backwoods town). When a newspaper publishes a letter to the editor, it does not necessarily represent the views of the newspaper. Letters that dissent from the editors’ views get published all the time. This is a pure case of anti-gay bigotry in a state that has seen way too much anti-gay bigotry in recent weeks. Apparently, the only way you can acknowledge the existence of gay people in Tennessee is if you’re bashing them onstage.
I also realize the ones in charge at the Herald-Citizen are within their rights. That doesn’t mean they can’t be pressured. If you feel so inclined, please feel free to send a letter or just a plain e-mail to editor@herald-citizen.com. You can also comment on their Facebook page.
The LGBT youth of Cookeville, Tennessee, deserve a message of hope in a proverbial sea of hopelessness. They don’t need to be wished out of existence by the Herald-Citizen.