Defying the latest round of rightwing-fed 'crisis actor' accusations, teenage survivors of the latest school shooting have proven defiant to the hypocritical inaction of GOP politicians who, instead of enacting swift gun control efforts, veer to the reverse, all the while enacting inept antiquated Band-aids by slapping up In God We Trust on school walls, and in Iowa, banning LGBT books in school libraries.
With the chilling 'conversation' and Q & As with weasels like Trump, Rubio and Florida Governor Scott offering nothing in the way of change, it's going to be a hard road. But the outspoken kids of these town halls may have finally found a breaking point.
"If you can't wrap your head around a bar or club as a
sanctuary, you've probably never been afraid to hold someone's hand in
public," wrote Jeramey Kraatz in one of the more astute of social media
quotes that has swept the internet since the mass murder of 49 people at the
gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida.
That first step inside a gay bar, that first kiss between
two girls, that first sighting of a trans or drag performer, are rites of
passage for most of us, whether magical or awkward. It's a part of coming out
and coming of age.
But for two men, one who shot 100 people, killing half of
them in Orlando, and another who was caught before bombing Los Angeles Pride,
their own internalized homophobia turned outward to violence.
What they may not have expected was the resultant outpouring
of compassion and anger from around the world.
