Dear Hillary, This is hard to say because of how emotional it is. However, I feel it would be so incredibly rude of me not to write this, because of all youâve done for me. For the past five or so years, Iâve struggled with a secret so personal that itâs difficult to write about. When I was very little, I knew something about me wasnât ânormalâ, but I didnât have the ability to think on a deeper level to discover what that thing was. I wasnât an ordinary boy, for I loathed sports and everything traditionally considered masculine. Instead of spending my days playing baseball or football, I spent them religiously listening to Michael Jackson and drawing birds. As I grew older, I felt even more dissociated from my peers. Something about me separated me from them, but I still couldnât put this feeling into words. Going into seventh grade, I began to realize what I was feeling. I didnât like girls. It was a crushing conclusion. I was coming to the realization that I had never liked girls, and I never would. Instead, I found myself attracted to the same sex. Why was this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? My immediate family was never extremely religious, but I still heard the comments. We donât agree with his lifestyle. Pain. I donât want you to think thatâs normal. More pain. I wasnât normal. I wasnât right. I entered a period of self-reflection, and nearly all of my friends abandoned me. I would tell myself that they werenât really friends at all, and that one day I would show them. But that initial semi-confidence gave way to crippling depression and thoughts of death. I felt like a mistakeâI would hurt myself and sob at night, begging any higher force to make me like the opposite sex. I didnât want to face rejection, and I didnât want to be alone. There was no non-heterosexual representation in my conservative town, and I didnât know a single gay person. Was I alone? In 2015, same-sex marriage was legalized. It was a major victory for the LGBTQ+ movement, and a milestone for everybody who had fought for so long. So why was I still afraid? Then, you announced you were running for President. I watched the video on the day you announced it, without knowing how much you would impact my future. Your candidacy changed things in my mind. Youâre a badass who doesnât take anything from anyone, and you have never been afraid to fight for whatâs right. Youâve fought for healthcare, families, and children for longer than most of us would bear. You never became bitter. You never became hostile. You empowered me and so many others. I watched every attack and smear against you, and I saw every bully who had spat at me or insulted me. In your opponents and those who hated you, I saw the true colors of people afraid of a confident and strong woman. Theyâve been hunting you for decades. Theyâve been trying to tear you down at every corner, but you didnât let them succeed. You never quit. You didnât quit when they blamed you for what your husband did, when they accused you of being too ambitious, when they accused you being a radical leftist, when they accused you of being a liar, or when they accused you of being a criminal. You kept fighting. You empowered millions of us. Millions of us who live in the shadows, afraid to speak out because of hatred and prejudice. But weâre not afraid anymore. You kept fighting, so we should too. Iâm absolutely heartbroken over the election results, but I listened to your words so many times that I think the meaning has finally echoed inside my head. Now is not the time for silence or falling apart. Now is the time to struggle. Now is the time to fight. Thank you for inspiring a movement, and thank you for giving a voice to so many of us who would be silent without you. No matter what happens, Iâll always look up to you as a beacon of hope and an icon to those of us who long for a day when we can be treated as equal, and a day where we can be proud of who we are without intrusion. - J
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