Matt Bomer, actor and longtime
Husband-In-My-Head, accepting HRC’s Impact Award with a message on not
shying away in the face of oppression:
“The other day I went to a home store with a
Pride flag hanging outside. The two men who owned the place told me their store
had been vandalized, their Pride flag torn down a few times and hate-filled
people drove by on more than one occasion screaming expletives at them. With
the brutal murder of shop owner Lauri Carleton not far away in Lake Arrowhead
still very much in their mind they told me they were closing their store and
moving their business online. And in that moment I felt that child in me that denied
my true self for so long creep back into my head. I know that urge to
run. When I left their shop I thought of that line from ‘The Normal Heart,’
“New oppressions are always forming from the ashes of the old.” The fight for
justice, for a better world, for civil rights or access to medicine is a
never-ending fight. When we compartmentalize, hide or separate it only
emboldens the haters of the world. We change hearts and minds by continually
being who we are. This coming election year, more than ever, our community has
got to show up, for my kids, for yours, for shop owners that want to
hang a rainbow flag outside their store without the fear of it being torn down,
and for anyone who yearns to hold their partner’s hand in public and know the
glorious feeling of being whole.”
He's right; silence gets us nowhere, especially
when the Right is gunning for us. Speak up, act up, come out, live out. and
vote.
All day, every day.
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