Trying to sleep but it's not coming. Too many feelings whirring around my head. Too much making my heart spin. So I am writing some thoughts here.
Thoughts on how the fuck we ever get over the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. How the fuck we ever get over the loss of 49 souls. Thoughts on how we, the LGBT community ever go on.
Going to the vigil was a start. Being surrounded by my community was a wonderful and brilliant thing.
I saw old couples who were not used to being able to show affection holding hands with smiles splitting their faces.
I saw the old war horses, those who had battled and marched and seen loved ones fall to bashing, being disowned, AIDS, suicide. I saw a mixture of sadness and and resolve. A digging deep so they wouldn't give up.
I saw young people blatantly holding hands and kissing their loved ones, aware in some way that this, being queer in a public place, is a radical act in itself. I saw them not giving a single shit about what anyone thought and that made my soul happy.
I saw my community 2000 strong. My siblings. My family. And they saw me. Actual me.
And the fear that we will never be safe retreated somewhat in the face of it.
The healing can start now. Slowly, tentatively, but determinedly.
We're still processing, we're still mourning but we won't stay down. We fight. We organise.
I'm calling on our Mayor to put the councils money where his mouth is and make sure youth and young adult LGBT services in Bristol keep their services.
And I'm calling on everyone to stand and say this was a hate crime against LGBT people. Don't let this, US, be erased.
We let love win.
No comments:
Post a Comment