Dear Mr. or Mrs. President

First off, I would like to congratulate you on your tough journey here. Good luck on running our country.

When I say the words gay, lesbian, transgender, or bisexual what, do you think of? Do you think of two girls or 2 guys together, or do you think of two normal people that have different interests than you. I think of the latter one.

I am writing to inform you of our nation's inequality for gay rights. There are no laws against such discrimination and there are many people who are against those rights. I am Christian and it aggravates me that so many people say it is “wrong” to be gay. The main problem for gay people, transgenders, bisexuals and lesbians are religion, being discriminated against,and people not accepting them.

Christians say it is a sin to be gay, transgender, lesbian or bisexual but, in Romans 10:13 it says “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It clearly says everyone or, it would specifically state other wise or exclude groups if God didn’t mean everyone. In the bible, 1 John 4:19-20, it says “we love because God first loved us. Whoever says I love God but hates his brother is a liar. The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love the God whom he has not seen.” If a Christian were to say they hate a gay person isn't that going against what God has asked of us? Like the Buddhist say “what you think you become,” if people only think bad thoughts about others does that make them bad? I don’t feel like it but there are still those people who say those rules do not apply to the gay people, that God will send them to hell. It isn’t God who sends us to hell, it’s ourselves and our decisions that give us the eternal life.

Just recently a bakery called Masterpiece cake shop refused to sell a cake to a same sex couple wanting to get married, the bakery was sued and lost because they were discriminating against the customers. The shop has been open since 1993 and is owned by Jack Phillips, a Christian. When the gay couple came in and asked for a cake, he politely declined saying it was against his religion. He also claims he does not make any cakes contributing to Halloween or anything to do with witchcraft and he will not make one for a bachelor party. Mr. Phillips felt that by making the cake he was agreeing to the union of the gay couple. He stated “It was the event we were forced to celebrate,” but all he was asked to do was make a cake, not celebrate with them. “If selling a gay couple a wedding cake means a “Christian” baker participated in their marriage, does selling a gun to a murderer mean a “Christian” gun store owner participated in the murder?”

I agree with, the actor, Chris Evans when he said “Are you kidding me? Its insane that civil rights are being denied [to] people this day and age. Its embarrassing and it’s heart breaking. It goes without saying that I’m completely in support of gay marriage. In 10 years we will be ashamed that this was ever an issue.” Your civil rights are the rights to equal treatment, which is something they are not getting. In 29 states, LGBT employees face major risk of getting discriminated against or even fired if their work does not give them protection. 50 years ago we were singling out the African American population and today it is shameful to look back at some of the hateful things we did to discriminate African Americans. I hope that 50 years from now we don’t have those same regrets. This is similar because if you were to put a gay person, bisexual person, and a straight person behind a curtain, you would not be able to tell the difference. We are all the same on the inside.

People who are gay or transgender are afraid to “come out of the closet,” due to not being accepted. They are afraid they will get rejected so they act like someone they are not. According to USA today, “suicide attempts are alarmingly common among transgender individuals….41% try to kill themselves at one point.” Nobody should worry about what others will think on who they love. The greatest commandment in the bible is to love god then to love your neighbor as yourself. An 11 year old kid named Carl from Springfield, Massachusetts hung himself because he was getting bullied for acting girly and being gay. Those kids who bullied him didn’t know they were gonna take a life, they were just doing it for the fun of it, but now they know what words can do.

In the end, I hope you don’t just ignore this injustice in our nation. I can only dream of one day there being no inequality in the world and nobody discriminating against others. You can help by making more laws to secure my friends,community members, and U.S. citizens safety. One law is like a penny, 1 penny might not be worth much but they all add up.  

Sincerely,

             Abigail D.