Sobering Statistics

I'm tired of talkin' regular, and no one listenin', so I'm goin' to have to shout this one, and y'all will have to listen.

Let's see...It all started when I was 16, I came out as bi, and was instantly shouted down, being called a "faggot queen." You see, I lied to myself, desperate to get away from hate, I pushed myself back into the closet, not wanting to make family and friends irate. I wanted to be myself, but I also wanted to fit in, I turned to religion and church, whispered my plan to God, and he turned me around and said, guess again. I fed the sick and needy, held the lame and dying, clothed the naked, and gave room to the homeless. I saw that no matter what I did, problems still grew around me. I saw no help from the churches, no kind words or donations from pulpits or peoples. I grew stale in my love for fellow man, pushed away all who thought I was less than. I came out again, sashay and sequins, feather boas and bling-blingin'. I gave hope to those who could find none, kind words and prayers to the broken, love to the unwanted, trying to bring truth to the dishonest. I found out some things, about my fellow loving man, somethings that hurt themselves, but more often others.

This is where there are no rhymes. There are no jokes. There are no pleas. This is no longer where I sit silent. I'm going to say this, and it's going to hurt. We aren't doing enough.

153 million orphaned,
1.7 million youth homeless,
40% of them are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.

You wanna know why that number is mind-boggling high? 680,000 homeless lgbt youth? Does that give you a sick taste, a horrible gut feeling, a want to hold your nearest child, brother, or sister?

No? Then you're the problem. Those kids, their first bully? Mom and Dad and the rest of their family. No? Do I have to call upon the names of the angels who died this last year from suicide because their lives got so rough, that the final solution, was the only solution? Let me shout this one for the birds in the rafters, the rats under the floor boards, and for those ignoring me in the back;
If you give birth to your child, and say you don't care who they mature into, and then, as they grow older, they don't become what you want them to be - you. never. loved. them. You only loved your idea of them. You daughter is now Jack? Oh, you kicked him out, you turned your back, and you made his life hell. Your son is gay, he's just come out, looking for support, and you shot him down and made him lie in the dirt. You never realized that with your words leaving your mouth, that they would be the powder for the bullets, the knots in the noose, the breeze to push them over the cliff. They weren't the problem, you were.

I'll say it again, if your children aren't who you wanted them to be, you never loved them. You loved the idea of them. And you failed them.

Thank You.