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Dear Mayor Jordan, I wanted to write and personally thank you for your support for Fayetteville Pride this year. I am from the Washington, DC area, where we have a long tradition of Pride festivities. Every year the same tired arguments agianst Pride are pulled out and dusted off. Every year we hear that we’re “pushing homosexuality down people’s throats” or that we’re “celebrating perversion.” Every time one of those virulently homophobic articles appears, it simply underscores the need for Pride celebrations. Pride is about celebrating our history, our diversity and our culture. It is about reminding people that we exist! We are a minority, and many of us are forced into hiding out of fear for our safety and well-being. Pride celebrations are one of the best ways for those of us who choose to live openly and freely to reaffirm our existence, to confirm the value and goodness of those of our community who are forced to live in hiding, and to remind the world that we deserve to be treated with respect and decency. For years now I’ve watched Pride celebrants all over the world as they are greeted with hate and violence – sometimes even from local authorities. Your celebration of Pride means far more than you know. It is an amazingly powerful thing to know that your Government has your back – to know that local authorities will treat you with the respect and decency due any member of the human race. For providing that hope and empowerment to my brothers and sisters in Fayetteville, I thank you. I thank you for standing by young Will Philips side as that incredibly courageous young man stands with us. He’s everything Pride has hoped for these long decades. He is a child who understands that all people deserve to be treated with respect and decency – a child willing to fight to bring that right to every last person in the USA. Yours, Aaron Akins P.S. I’ll probably publish this letter on my blog, so that others can more fully understand the importance of your support. |
