I understand that when scrolling through Tumblr it’s easy to glance at a wall of text and skip past. This post was important enough and sparked enough conversation on Twitter that I wanted to emphasize it again.

Imagine that you and your significant other are out for dinner. You want to lean together closely and talk. Hold hands across the table. Maybe exchange a tender kiss.

Now imagine that you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Before you lean together you glance at the table next to you – are they staring? You go to hold hands but make sure the waiter doesn’t give you a sneer. You kiss them and worry that someone may be waiting for you outside to jump you.

This sounds extreme, but this is everyday life for GLBTQA people around the world, even in the US, and even here in Illinois. This is life in fear, and it’s horrible. Things like the tragedy in Orlando bring these fears home, and every GLBTQA person thinks, “That could have been me.”

We need all the allies we can get. We need safe spaces. We need the love of our families and friends. And we need to change this, because living in fear is no way to live.

Also posted on Tumblr at: http://ift.tt/23dSjWp