So...
I am trying to get as many people as I can to march with the Matthew Shepard Foundation in this Sunday's Pride March in NYC. So I've sent out a bazillion emails and this morning woke up to this response:
I don't know how you got my name, but I do not "march" for anything. I dislike this form of mugging the populace. I had nothing to do with Matthew Shepard's tragic death, nor did all but two of America's 285 million citizens. If homosexuals were truly the object of hatred which your message implies, there wouldn't be a single one of them alive. Ever consider that?
Here is my reply:
Well, it seems clear to me that you actually DID have something to do with Matthew Shepard's death. It's attitudes like yours which lead to A) bigotry and B) complacency, neither of which move our nation or our race as human beings forward. People learn from the populace based on their desire to care for one another. The two young men who killed Matthew Shepard clearly learned from their community and society as a whole, that the life of this particular young man was expendable because he was homosexual. Do you think this was an entirely original idea born from their own heads entirely? Every expert questioned about this case and on homophobia in general has stated quite clearly that this is a behavior which is learned either from a parent or from society in general.
Now as to my particular email, I stated the Matthew Shepard Foundation exists to spread a message of hope. A hope that one day we will all embrace one another's differences and live peacefully with one another. I am uncertain exactly what part of that message is so offensive to you and caused you to feel the need to reply with such anger and hatred, but I am reminded by a famous quotation which says to me precisely why I MUST march with this organization, whether or not I had anything to do directly with Matthew's tragic death.
"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
And then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
And then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
-- Pastor Niemoeller, arrested by the Nazis during World War II
Peace be with you and I hope you are able to resolve in yourself all that makes you so angry.
Jamie McGonnigal
People like this are why I march. And why I do benefits for so many organizations. If we all were doing what we could for the causes we believe in, and giving back just a fraction of our time, energy or money-this world would be INCREDIBLE! Please come march with us, and if you can't, find someone in the future you can march with-literally or figuratively.
Love, Jamie
with love from Jamie at 11:03 AM
Billy and Patrick...Resentment is like taking a bottle of poison and hoping the other person dies.
Love, Jamie
with love from Jamie at 8:05 PM
It's not supposed to be easy. If it was supposed to be easy they'd call it "cake" instead of "life."
TO Tori Wright...
Love, Jamie
with love from Jamie at 12:39 AM