We all could have predicted it, once Mike Pence signed that repulsive piece of garbage, the RFRA, into law. For all intents and purposes, it legalized and affirmed anti-LGBTQIA discrimination in the state of Indiana.
It was only a matter of time before some bigoted idiot decided to shoot off his or her mouth, announcing how they'd use their Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs™ to justify discrimination and ill treatment towards members of the LGBTQ community.
In this case, the scumbags in question were the O'Connors, running Memories Pizza, who said they would not cater a gay wedding (as if anyone with any sort of taste would cater a wedding reception with pizza). Despite their piousness, the bigotry that oozed from their mouths was palpable, and people on the Internet reacted, trolling their Yelp page, flooding Twitter, and expressing outrage in ways from polite to illegal.
The O'Connors whined, crying to their right-wing buddies about how their Christian Faith has led to people being mean to them on the Internet, so Dana Loesch of The Blaze started a GoFundMe campaign to help the beleaguered bigots, raising a grand total of $842,387. Intolerance has its rewards apparently.
What, you think that we're gonna take this lying down? The Trevor Project is calling, and they need help keeping LGBTQIA teenagers alive.
It's time to give to The Trevor Project.
For those of you who don't already know, let me throw out some statistics about LGBTQ youth.
- 50 percent of LGBTQ teenagers experience a negative reaction when they come out to their parents. 26 percent of them are kicked out of their homes. Up to 40% of homeless teenagers may be LGBTQ.
- 84.6 percent of LGBTQ teens report being verbally harassed. 40.1% report being physically harassed, and 19% report being physically assaulted at their schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
- LGB youth are 4 times more likely, and questioning youth are 3 times more likely, to attempt suicide as their straight peers.
- Nearly half of young transgender people have seriously thought about taking their lives, and one quarter report having made a suicide attempt.
(Sources:
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/... ,
http://www.thetrevorproject.org/... )
As many of us already know, the Trevor Project provides a hotline with trained counselors, for crisis intervention and suicide prevention, to save the lives of LGBTQIA teenagers. They also provide other resources to help make our country a friendlier place for LGBTQIA teens and those who are questioning, to try to bring those above statistics down.
Why are LGBTQIA people in America subjected to so much misery?
People like this.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not holding Crystal O'Connor solely responsible for the thousands of LGBTQIA people who've suffered and died from homelessness, suicide, harassment, discrimination, etc. But she did her part. As did the millions of bigots in America that are like her, some of whom contributed to the GoFundMe campaign that sent $842,387 her way. People like Crystal O'Connor are the pebbles that form a nationwide avalanche of intolerance that everyone who is not a white heteronormative Christian male has to experience every single damned day.
Congratulations, bigots. You did a solid. You saved two of your own from Mean People on the Internet. But I think we can do far better.
People like Crystal O'Connor make my country suck. It's going to take a long hard fight to make our country not suck.
So I'm asking you to contribute to the Trevor Project.
The right wing saved two assholes from mean people on the Internet. I want to save thousands of LGBTQIA young people from suicide. Or at least do my part.
Being an asexual person, I've dealt personally with feelings of isolation, invisibility, and denial of my identity. While I haven't had to deal with the overt verbal and physical abuse that many members of the LGBTQIA community have faced, I feel it's time to give back, and make this world a better place for all of us. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act serves only to legitimize bigotry. It shows that we all need to push hard to make our country accepting of the LGBTQIA community. The fact that the Trevor Project is necessary shows the harm that widespread intolerance does to its victims, and to our country.
I took the liberty of going to the Trevor Project's website, to see how I can fundraise for them. Turns out they let you set up campaigns through Classy.org. That way, we can track how much money we raised. I don't get to see a nickel of the money - aside from the cut that Classy.org takes, all the money goes directly to the Trevor Project.
There you have it. It's time to show America that we can be a thousand times better than the right wingers who rallied for two bigots.
I just went ahead and make the first donation. I threw a hundred bucks into the hat.
Can you match it?
Contribute to the Trevor Project now.
I want to say that It Gets Better to LGBTQIA teens. But we have to make it better.