Please point me in the direction of me attacking you? I haven’t called you a name. I haven’t said anything negative about you. Instead of saying “How dare he burn those library books?!”, you went on and on about how LGBTQ people are over–represented and how uncommon we are.

And somehow me expanding on how wrong you are about us being “over–represented” makes me a people hater? Somehow me defending my community makes me hate people?

Take your L and move on. You obviously didn’t pay attention to either of my articles, which only supports my points even more. They ARE Childrens’ books, even if they don’t fit your specific definition of what a Childrens’ book is. They’re books for LGBTQ kids, teens, and young adults. Did you only read age specific books growing up? I highly doubt it. I was reading books way above my reading level all throughout school. I didn’t read just the books that were targeted at me. I read whatever caught my interest.

You know what? You could have just not said anything at all. You could have left my piece alone. Yet, here you are, responding to my words that originally weren’t even for you in the first place. I write for my LGBTQ brothers and sisters and any possible allies. I write for the people that don’t have a voice. I advocate for individuals in my community. I write fiction that represents us.

There is no over–representation of LGBTQ people. There are millions of us, and I don’t care one single bit about what you think people believe what percentage we are. I don’t care what percentage we make up. I don’t care if it’s less than 1%. We deserve representation. You can’t possibly believe that FOUR books in a public library full of probably over a thousand books is over–representation. If you do, then you’re just giving in to the comforts of ignorance.

I don’t hate you. I don’t know you. I don’t care to know you or people who think like you when it comes to how much representation LGBTQ people deserve. You don’t want to see LGBTQ characters? Then don’t watch the shows. Don’t watch the movies. Don’t read the books. Stick to material made FOR YOU.

Yet, here you are still preaching about something you obviously know nothing about. Did you really think you were going to comment that ignorance on an LGBTQ person’s piece and not catch a response? Did you think an LGBTQ person was just going to accept your bold claim that we’re “already over–represented”?

If you did, you were wrong–just like you’re wrong in all these responses you’ve typed. You do not get to speak for us. You don’t get to claim that people think there are more of us than there actually are. You can’t even prove that. If people thought there were more of us, they’d leave us the hell alone. Yet here they are and here you are.

Yes, we are wary of our neighbors in certain places. Yes, we do look for communities where are LGBTQ brothers and sisters are thriving in. You know why? Because of blatant homophobia as well as more subtle homophobia, like what you’re showing throughout your words. It’s because we’re not safe. We still get stabbed for holding hands. Trans women still get sexually assaulted and beaten to death. It is ILLEGAL in certain countries to be LGBTQ and punishable by death. What do you know about that, huh? While you’re over there making the bold claim that we’re over–represented in the media.

You know what I think is funny? That you really thought you made a point in the hundreds of words you’ve written claiming that we’re over–represented. I think it’s funny how right you believe you are. I think it’s even funnier how far you’ve gone to prove it. I think it’s hilarious how you’re trying to tell me about MY OWN COMMUNITY. You have certainly made me laugh with your homophobic ignorance.

Here’s some unapologetic Janelle Monae ❤

cc:

James Finn, Kay Bolden, Gwen Saoirse, Eric Griggs, Gloria Bates