This deadly white supremacist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia was an assault on all minorities including our LGBTQ community. Stacey Long Simmons, Esq., Director of the Advocacy & Action Department of the National LGBTQ Task Force stated, “The violence we are witnessing is horrifying, but is merely the latest manifestation of the growing racist, anti-immigration, anti-Semitic, sexist & anti-LGBTQ hate in our midst. The continuing escalation of hate & white nationalist sentiment we are experiencing during the Trump administration has come to this - targeted violence in the streets of Virginia led by the Klu Klux Klan & Neo-Nazi organizations. The National LGBTQ Task Force will not stand by & watch the very fabric of this nation torn apart by hate. We will stand with our immigrant, Muslim, African-American, Latino, AAPI, disabled & all marginalized people targeted by the hate & discrimination coming from all directions, from the White House to the streets of Charlottesville." Candace Bond-Theriault, the Senior Policy Counsel, Reproductive Health, Rights & Justice & the Democracy Project Director concluded, “As a Black queer Virginian I am a swell of emotions. I am angry…I know that White Supremacy & hatred run rampant in my state. Growing up in southern, Virginia, I have witnessed racism firsthand more times than I can count. But even in the face of this extreme demonstration of hatred, I believe in the wise words of Martin Luther King Jr. that “Hate can’t drive out hate. Only love can do that.” In this moment we must keep each other close, hold on to each other and spread love. Today I choose the emotion of love, for myself & my fellow black queer Virginians because love is a radical act of rebellion.”
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Trump uncovered the portal that allowed this hatred and violence to push through and rear its ugly head. We have to resist in the name of love and inclusiveness.
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