Dear Glitterati,
I get it. Seriously. I get the anger. I get the hurt. I get what it’s like for people to think of you as a second-class citizen. I get the frustration of not being treated equally under the law. I get it because I live it.
There are good ways and bad ways of going about expressing all of this.
What has never worked is violence and aggression. In the last month or two, all four of the remaining GOP presidential candidates have been glitter-bombed, some of them multiple times (or have experienced multiple attempts). This will not win anyone’s heart or mind to our cause. On the contrary, it will drive potential allies away. These aggressive acts will only have you (and by extension the rest of us) looking like an unruly mob as well as giving ammunition to those who seek to oppress us. You are taking people who are working to restrict our freedoms and instead of pointing out that they are perpetrators of discrimination, you are making them into sympathetic victims (and thus, winning support in their favor instead of ours). You are not helping yourselves, you are not helping the LGBT community, you are not helping the cause of equality, and you are NOT helping those who will come after us.
Speak the truth. Tell of your experiences with discrimination. Share your plight. Fight on the merits. I have always believed that the best weapon we have in the fight for equality is fact. The facts ARE on our side. When we share these facts with people and make our case, we win people’s hearts and minds. Also, the best thing any of us can do for the cause of equality is by being ourselves openly and unapologetically. It is by these means that we have made the progress that we have since the inception of the gay rights movement after Stonewall. It is by these means that this progress will continue on into the future.
Glitter-bombing is not the answer. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you will be of genuine help to the cause.
Sincerely,
I get it. Seriously. I get the anger. I get the hurt. I get what it’s like for people to think of you as a second-class citizen. I get the frustration of not being treated equally under the law. I get it because I live it.
There are good ways and bad ways of going about expressing all of this.
What has never worked is violence and aggression. In the last month or two, all four of the remaining GOP presidential candidates have been glitter-bombed, some of them multiple times (or have experienced multiple attempts). This will not win anyone’s heart or mind to our cause. On the contrary, it will drive potential allies away. These aggressive acts will only have you (and by extension the rest of us) looking like an unruly mob as well as giving ammunition to those who seek to oppress us. You are taking people who are working to restrict our freedoms and instead of pointing out that they are perpetrators of discrimination, you are making them into sympathetic victims (and thus, winning support in their favor instead of ours). You are not helping yourselves, you are not helping the LGBT community, you are not helping the cause of equality, and you are NOT helping those who will come after us.
Speak the truth. Tell of your experiences with discrimination. Share your plight. Fight on the merits. I have always believed that the best weapon we have in the fight for equality is fact. The facts ARE on our side. When we share these facts with people and make our case, we win people’s hearts and minds. Also, the best thing any of us can do for the cause of equality is by being ourselves openly and unapologetically. It is by these means that we have made the progress that we have since the inception of the gay rights movement after Stonewall. It is by these means that this progress will continue on into the future.
Glitter-bombing is not the answer. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you will be of genuine help to the cause.
Sincerely,
Rob from Virginia
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