29 January 2016

Right

I want to say that I was wrong.

That they aren't related. Some people have been posting about the recent uptick (again) in gay LDS suicides, but also saying in the same breath that we shouldn't be pointing the finger at the Mormon policy because it exacerbates the problem.

That boggles my mind. If we can't attach the results to the cause, then where can we get? I want to make some pithy reference analogy, but am at a loss just now so I won't try and fail.

I think they are related. I think we need to talk about it. I think we need to continue mourning because kids are dying.

And I think most of all, we need to keep fighting. To be heard, to be valued, and to create safer spaces for the kids following those of us who used to be where they are now.

We walked that road, we survived, what are we doing to reach back and light the way to those behind? To offer the helping hand? I'm guilty of not doing enough. I don't shy from that notion.

We can all do more. Numbers are telling a story and it's not the best one to make real change.
"I am here — I have lived — because they chose to love me. They loved me in their silence, in their willingness to suffer with me and alongside me. They loved me in their desire to be as uncomfortable, as destroyed, as I was, if only for a week, an hour, even just a few minutes. Most people have no idea how utterly powerful this is."