To those who ask,

You ask me why I celebrate pride and try to denounce your sexuality with mine. But the truth of the matter is that isn’t what we’re after, but rather, to be accepted as the norm and not have to deal with this swarm of hate and the people who discriminate, the people who try to minimize the way we see our sexuality as they wave a page in a book trying to make us look like the millions of lives mean nothing if all men don’t have wives, trying to say that we don’t have a life by loving or not loving the ones we truly feel attracted to, the fact is we’re not attacking you. 

The point is we want two things, the first is representation in every aspect of this nation that we’ve dedicated our lives to the same way you do every day. We’re not looking to take over, but rather to get over the gap in representation, the fact that we don’t have to look back very far in the past to see the hate, to see that people still discriminate and try to erase us from existence instead of giving our stories a listen, the fact that the lack of people to represent us being so little is hypocrisy to say that you’d accept anyone who’s gay and appreciate the fact that we want to have power and representation in the same way as those of you who aren’t gay. This isn’t a mistake to ask for the same fate and a same-sized slice of cake as someone who is straight. 

Now, I want you to think of the history class you took in seventh grade. Think back, and try to remember a page where the issues and oppression of those who are gay are talked about the same way as we talk about today in the media just to educate the straight and those who think they might be gay. Can’t remember, can you? That brings me to the second point I need to speak to you about, the fact that we can’t talk about our feelings in the same way as those who are straight without people trying to say that it shouldn’t be about being gay. Think of the love songs, the novels, the poems, the movies, the TV shows, the children’s books, give them another listen or another look, notice how everything is straight and that’s perfectly ok. What isn’t ok is the fact that you hate when people say that some characters are gay saying “why is it about sexuality?” instead of accepting the normalcy and that it’s the same as the norm of being straight, the truth of the matter is that you’re the one making it about sexuality. That simple, so why do you hate? We want to be treated the same as those of you who are straight, the fact that we say our sexuality and celebrate with parades is the same way that you celebrate being straight through the media and on Valentine’s Day. The fact that we made it legal to be gay is what we celebrate with parades the same way we celebrate the freedoms that we fought for on Veteran’s Day. The freedoms that we all adore.

I want to take a trip to a time like 1956, where despite the countless freedoms that we would praise, it was illegal to be gay, to the punishment by death. Let me rephrase, take it back to a more recent attack, wherein 2016, 49 innocent lives were the toll that death would take from the lives of those who were gay at a nightclub that fateful day, but I wanna take it back to a time like 1958, so I’ll rephrase, death was the punishment for being gay. I’ll repeat that death… was the price to pay for being gay, and in some nations, it’s still that way. Let’s go back to the fact that there is no page in history books today, talking about how we’ve been treated this way. Think like this, in seven states, it is illegal in schools to talk about being gay, to treat students the same as those who are straight, that’s 14% of a nation built off of the proclamation that everyone is created the same. But it sure doesn’t seem that way, seem like that the view of today being better than the old days is just a fantasy to distract from the flaws we don’t see, the flaws that we try to destroy but instead we create by ignoring the fact that they exist the same way that we were ignored back in the day. 

It’s time to appreciate that no two snowflakes are the same, but that’s okay, we look at all snowflakes the same because it’s every last snowflake that is used to make the blizzard to rid of hate. No two people are the same, so why can’t we appreciate that some of us celebrate the fact that we are gay. We are here, we are queer, we are not going away, we are here to stay. We’re gonna move forward, so try to keep up with the pace.

Sincerely,

The kid who’s Gay and Ace