to my LGBTQ+ family –

please hear me – we are sacred incarnation, love embodied, luminous as the vast blue sky and the stars that shine at night. shine we will, even as some in power work to pull the shade of night over our existence. we will say “gay”, we will fully embody our queerness in all of its beautiful diversity. to do so honors life, honors love.

our existence is teaching the world to love past its comfort, ignorance, fear. it’s not an easy burden to bear, opening hearts, but we are on the side of love and light. live your life with the fullness you deserve, as we do the work of calling out and dismantling the harm intended for and enacted against us.

to my non-LGBTQ+ friends and family – 

answer the call of love and be an ally, not a contributor to harm. honor your embodiment of life and love, by honoring the same in others. do not grieve your own soul by supporting harmful and destructive laws/policies or the public officials who write and enact them. this is the moment to live love with action. rise to this occasion. contribute to healing rather than harm. open and listen to your heart. allow prejudices and indoctrination to fall away with grace and dignity.

over 30 states are currently pushing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. these actions will directly impact the lives of gay and trans people. most prominent in the news is Florida with its “Don’t Say Gay” legislation and Texas with its anti-trans executive orders. 

according to the Trevor Project, 40% of LGBTQ+ youth have contemplated suicide. i was one of them. even though i have a loving immediate family, i was living in secret, shame, and self-hate. this is what i thought i deserved, because this is what society was saying i deserved, even if only doing so passively. this is the harm of such prejudice towards LGBTQ+. there are real consequences, there is real suffering.

progress hard won, is now threatened. love continues the work.

live in love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

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