Dear Homophobes,

I just have one question for you, what did I do? You don’t even know who I am, and you don’t like me…why? Is my sexual orientation really that important to you that you can’t look past it and even try to like me? I simply want to know why. Why do you find it so terrible?  Why do I make you so uncomfortable? Why do you hate who I am?

I am not trying to pry just to irritate you, I really do want to know because I’ve had to go my whole life dealing with you and getting told I’m not normal and unnatural. I’ve been shunned by the church and by my classmates for being me, for being who I am. So, I want to know why you feel the need to do this and isolate not just me but my whole community for just living how we want to live. You don’t see me trying to make you feel bad about your beliefs or how you live, even though I don’t agree with it. So why do you have to do it to me?

June 26th, 2015, that was the day same-sex marriage was legalized. That’s only 10 years ago. We’ve had the right to get married to who we have loved for 10 years, and you already want to take it away. I want to be able to marry someone I truly love, what is so wrong with that? Why can YOU marry the love of your life, but I can’t? We aren’t trying to infringe on your rights and your freedom so why are you trying to infringe on mine?

You can’t tell me it’s because of your faith or your religion because your religion teaches love. Hate the sin, Love the sinner.  Even if you believe homosexuality is a sin, your religion still says to love us. Religion is no excuse to hate crime anybody. It doesn’t give you any right to tell people they are “going to hell” or “God still loves them”. Yes, I’ve heard these many times before, most gay people have heard phrases like them because you think it’s okay. Again, I want to ask – why do you think things like this are okay or excusable?

Pride marches began all the way back in the ’60s and ’70s which would eventually turn into Pride Month every June. I get to celebrate who I am with my community one month of the year, and it is getting “shoved down your throat”. Since it has become common for LGBTQ people to be more open and public about who we are, we get told it’s too much and we are shoving an “agenda” down your throats. We are not shoving who we are in your face, we are expressing ourselves. Why can you walk around holding your partner’s hand or have an American flag on your car, but I cannot show who I am?

I don’t want to keep questioning you, so I will leave you with this. I am a human and you are a human; we are so similar, yet one aspect of my life changes your entire view of me, which is extremely unfair. I just want one thing from you and society… Acceptance.

Sincerely,
Drew Zimmermann