THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY FINALLY STARTS HOLDING CORPORATE 'ALLY' FEE TO THE FIRE

LGBTQ rights advocates have long pointed to the problematic nature of tying the fight for equality with corporations, who provide needed funds but can come with political and social baggage that increasingly cannot be ignored.

The nation’s politics has taken a hard right, and at the same time advocacy groups are recognizing that comp

romise may not be worth the cost.

The Human Rights Campaign recently announced it was returning $325,000 in corporate sponsorship from Bank of America for helping to negotiate the so-called “repeal” of anti-LGBTQ law House Bill 2 (HB2), House Bill 142. That law still prevents cities from enacting protections for LGBTQ people for the next three years.

HRC also downgraded its Corporate Equality Index scores for Bank of America, as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, for their roles in negotiating the “compromise” that left LGBTQ people wanting yet again.

In an article published “Wells Fargo has not been a direct sponsor of Creating Change in years and as of July 1, 2017 they will no longer be a national corporate sponsor of the National LGBTQ Task Force,” Roybal said.

“They remain the presenting sponsor of the Task Force Gala-Miami as they have for the last several years,” Roybal added.

“Banks like Wells Fargo boost their billion dollar bottom-line on the backs of the most marginalized in our community. It is important that LGBTQ movement leaders stand up against these practices and not allow Wells and other corporations to hide under a rainbow blanket of ‘allyship’ bought with prison and pipeline cash,” said Peoples in a statement.

“I applaud Russell and the rest of the Task Force team for making this small but important move. I hope they will join us and countless other groups to encourage broad divestment from corporations and institutions that are toxic to our communities, especially during this upcoming Pride season, with the #NoJusticeNoPride campaign.”

It seems we are entering a new era in the LGBTQ rights struggle, where corporations won’t get such an easy pass. Good PR cannot simply be bought, and actions are going to have to speak as loudly as words and oversized checks.

The Washington Blade notes that “HRC has said Wells Fargo Bank has consistently received the HRC Foundation’s highest rating for a corporation on internal personnel policies for LGBT employees.”

LGBTQ Nation has reached out to the Task Force, as well as Wells Fargo, and HRC for comment. We will update if more information becomes available.

UPDATE (6/1/2017):

Wells Fargo got back to us with the following statement:

We are proud of our collaboration with the LGBTQ Task Force and appreciate the great work they do for the community. Wells Fargo’s philanthropic support for the organization dates back to 1999, and continues today at the local level. Wells Fargo Foundation continues to support efforts of many organizations that provide direct services to the community, including The Trevor Project and GLSEN and we’ve recently expanded our scope to include SAGE and the True Colors Fund. Over the past 30 years, Wells Fargo has stood together with the LGBTQ community, providing over $50 million to LGBTQ-focused organizations as part of our corporate commitment, and we remain committed to delivering thoughtful and strategic support to the community in the future.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATIONS

TO SIR IAN McKELLEN, LIFE AS A CLOSETED GAY MAN WAS 'A TERRIBLE OPPRESSION'

Audiences familiar with Ian McKellen’s many iconic appearances on stage and screen know the actor from roles in Beauty and the Beast, the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, the X-Men series and dozens of other roles, but they’ve never seen him like this: a film in which he opens up about growing up gay and coming out. 

Produced for a first of its kind exhibition in the U.K., McKellan’s film is one of six commissioned to provide a glimpse into LGBTQ lives. It’s called Random Acts, and stars both McKellen and Scott Chambers, who portrays him as a young man.

The short was commissioned by the Tate Britain gallery, which will launch the Pride in London festival in June with a free day of music, performances and films, reports PinkNews.

Directed by Joe Stephenson, McKellen is heard in a voiceover, lamenting his predicament, as Chambers weeps on camera.

There was no question of being out of the closet in the sense of being honest about one’s sexuality on all occasions, because you would invite the police to arrest you.

Do you want to go to prison?

No, you don’t. Keep quiet. Keep quiet.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

LOOK @ THESE DUTCH MEN HOLDING HANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH HATE CRIME VICTIMS

Following a brutal attack this weekend on a gay couple, two male lawmakers showed up to a government meeting holding hands yesterday.

Jasper Vernes-Sewratan and his husband Ronnie Sewratan-Vernes were attacked Saturday night in the small Dutch town of Arnhem while walking home from a date and holding hands. They say that the attackers – a group of six to eight teenage boys – shouted anti-gay invective at them. Both suffered injuries and Ronnie had several teeth knocked out when, according to Jasper’s account, one of the assailants used bolt cutters to beat Ronnie in the face.

In response to the attack, journalist Barbara Berend called for men to hold hands in public to show solidarity with the victims. The hashtag #allemannenhandinhand, which means “all men holding hands,” was trending on Twitter in the Netherlands.

Two members of the leftwing D66 party – Alexander Pechtold and Wouter Koolmees – responded to the call before a meeting to discuss the formation of a new government.

“We think it is quite normal in the Netherlands to express who you are,” Pechtold told DutchNews.nl.

The Deputy Prime Minister also posted a picture on Twitter holding hands with a man.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

PULSE ANNIVERSARY TO BE DEDICATED IN ORLANDO AS "'DAY OF LOVE & KINDNESS"

City and county officials in Orlando, Fla., want the one-year anniversary next June of the Pulse nightclub massacre to be marked with acts of love and kindness.

Elected officials on Monday said that June 12 officially would be dedicated as “Orlando United Day — A Day of Love and Kindness.”

Officials also announced a series of events planned throughout the day on June 12.

An exhibit of artwork collected from memorial sites set up around Orlando after the massacre will be shown at the Orange County History Center, followed by a memorial service at the site of the former gay nightclub.

Another memorial ceremony will be held in the evening around downtown Orlando’s Lake Eola.

Forty-nine people died in the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history; dozens more were injured.

In other news related to the massacre on Monday, a lawsuit brought by victims against the gunman’s employer and wife is being withdrawn from federal court and filed in state court in South Florida.

Attorneys for 61 Pulse victims and family members of those killed filed the lawsuit in state court in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Monday.

The change in venues was made just days after a federal judge said in an order that he doubted federal court was the proper jurisdiction for the case.

The lawsuit claims Omar Mateen’s employer, security firm G4S, and Noor Salman, Mateen’s widow, could have stopped the gunman before the attack last June but didn’t.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

BLACK-ISH ANGERS CONSERVATIVES WITH EPISODE'S SNUB OF ANTI-GAY BAKERY

Anti-gay discrimination isn’t just offensive to gay people, as Wednesday’s episode of “Black-ish” highlighted.

The ABC series, which focuses on a black family and deals candidly with race, tackled the hot topic of so-called “religious freedom” protecting businesses (like bakeries) from having to serve LGBTQ people.

In the episode, Dre (Anthony Anderson) and Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) Johnson are shopping for a “gender reveal” cake for Bow’s upcoming baby shower. Dre, not knowing what to call the confection that contains pink or blue filling depending on the expected gender of the baby, asks for a “sex cake.”

Bow: We have a kind of weird request. Depending on what is inside this envelope, we want you to make a special cake that’s either blue or pink on the inside –

Dre: Come on, Bow. Get to the point, all right? We need a sex cake.

Cashier 1: What?

Bow: Uh, no, no, no, no. We’re not perverts. We are just having a party to reveal the gender of our baby.

Cashier 1: Oh! You need a “Gender reveal cake.”

…

Bow: Oh, my God. That’s so much fun. Great. So, you can do this? [ Laughing ]

Cashier 1: Yes. Oh, yeah, we can bake any kind of cake you want. Oh! Just as long as it’s not for a gay wedding.

The Johnsons, clearly disturbed by this notion, move on to another bakery. They ask about the shop’s stance on discrimination right out the gate.

“You don’t discriminate against people based on race, gender, or sexual orientation, do you?” Dre asks.

The new baker replies, “Do not like French-Canadians,” and the Johnsons decide they can live with that. It’s a comedic line, highlighting the absurdity of discriminating against customers based on who they are. But the conservative media watchdogs over at NewsBusters seem to be taking it literally.

“Hmmm, so apparently it’s ok to discriminate against people for who they are (French-Canadian) but not what they choose to do (go against the biblical form of marriage),” wrote NewsBusters‘ Lindsay Kornick.

Kornick goes on to claim partial victory because the couple moved on from the anti-gay bakery and found some place else to  bake their cake.

“At least the episode took the radical position that private business owners can serve or not serve whomever they like with customers free to simply take their business elsewhere,” Kornick argued. “Hey, maybe people CAN learn something from this show after all.”

Of course, the Johnsons would have had little other recourse, since they are presumably not gay and therefor not the ones being discriminated against. Same-sex couples being denied a wedding cake simply because they are gay is another story, as Sweet Cakes by Melissa found out in Oregon.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

FRANK OCEAN SUED FOR SAYING FATHER USED ANTI-GAY SLUR

Frank Ocean’s father is suing his son for defamation after the openly gay musician accused his father of using the word “faggot.”

Calvin Cooksey, the father, filed the suit after Ocean wrote a Tumblr post about the Orlando Pulse shooting, where 49 people were killed in an LGBT club. Ocean wrote:

I heard the gunman feigned dead among all the people he killed. I heard the news say he was one of us. I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a faggot as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty. That was the last afternoon I saw my father and the first time I heard that word, I think, although it wouldn’t shock me if it wasn’t.

Cooksey says the story isn’t true and is damaging his career opportunities. He’s asking for $14.5 million in damages.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

WHAT 'HIDDEN FIGURES' CAN TEACH THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY

“Hidden Figures” has now spent two weeks as the number one movie in the country. And its story about facing and overcoming bigotry is an important one for any community that faces discrimination — including the LGBTQ community.

The events of “Hidden Figures” echo an anecdote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X. When a teacher asked him what line of work he wanted to pursue after school, he said he wanted to be a lawyer. The teacher told him that wasn’t a realistic line of work for a black man (he didn’t say “black man;” he said a word that is not repeatable).

How many times did this happen? How many men and women were denied the chance to pursue their talents and ambitions? How many lawyers, engineers, scientists, teachers, political leaders, entrepreneurs, etc. have we missed out on – and continue to miss out on?

“Hidden Figures” puts that mindset on display from the start, as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson face barrier after barrier that has nothing to do with their abilities and everything to do with their skin color and gender.

Many of us in the LGBTQ community have run into those same barriers of race and gender. And others of us have come up against homophobia or transphobia barring the way to our dignity and our dreams.

“Hidden Figures” shows us how to get around those barriers or, even better, drive right through them, leaving the path open for others:

Refuse to accept the status quo. “That’s the way it is.” These women confront that line repeatedly. But they refuse to accept it. Mary Jackson goes to court to attend classes at a segregated school so she can become an aerospace engineer. Dorothy Vaughn goes into the “whites only” section of the public library to find the book on Fortran she needs to learn to run the new IBM computer. They refuse to accept “the way it is.”

Attack even the smallest injustices. When Katherine Johnson is asked about her frequent absences during the day, she points out that there is only one bathroom for African-American women in the entire Langley base — and it takes her 40 minutes to go and come back. That small fact, presented to someone who probably had never even thought about that reality, leads to the integration of the bathrooms at Langley. Confronting a small injustice leads to a big victory.

Make it impossible to be ignored. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson were all able to break through prejudices by being the best at what they did — and that made them impossible to be ignored or belittled. Be the best you can be at your chosen profession. Be loud and proud and aggressive in fighting for your rights. Live your life openly and freely. Make them hear and see you.

Fighting bigotry isn’t just about passing laws. It’s about changing hearts, minds, and attitudes. That’s hard, long work. It takes years, perhaps generations. But it can be done. “Hidden Figures” shows us one of the paths to victory.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

GAY COUPLE ATTACKED BY GANG OF 15 ARMED ASSAILANTS ON CHRISTMAS DAY

A young couple in northern England was beaten outside of a pub on Christmas day in an unprovoked attack.

Jayson Homer and his partner, who wishes to remain anonymous, were having a drink on Christmas with their friend Marc Vasey and another woman at a pub in Thornaby, UK, when a woman they did not know insulted Vasey’s religion.

The fight escalated from there, Vasey told GazetteLive. “Then another lad from the group came over saying being Jewish was a race. I was disagreeing with him and it was just a little debate really at first.

“But then the girl started shouting ‘queer’ at me. Every time I went to the toilet someone said it while I was walking past.”

Homer was also harassed while smoking outside The Jolly Farmers Pub.

When the situation in the pub became tense, the 20 and 21-year-olds decided to go to a friend’s house. While walking, they were approached by a group of about 15 from behind and Homer was attacked with a bottle.

“I was bottled in the face. I couldn’t really see what was happening because they had knocked my glasses off and my eye was filled with blood.”

Vasey got a black eye and nerve damage to the cheek. The attackers left bruises all over Homer’s partner’s body, broke his nose, and possibly cracked some ribs.

“It was calculated, they followed us down with weapons,” said Homer’s partner.

Homer said, “I’m not going to let it stop me from going out, but it has petrified me from leaving the house by myself. And it has left me… feeling suicidal.”

SOUCE: LGBTQ NATION

WILL SMITH SAYS SON JADEN'S GENDER-BENDING STYLE IS THE GIFT OF FREEDOM

Actor Will Smith’s son Jaden Smith not only has a reputation for donning feminine apparel, he’s made a career out of it.

His father Will, who first rose to fame as the goofy teen in “Fresh Prince of Belair,” has spent much of his career playing masculine leading-man roles in action flicks. So how does the former dabbler in Scientology feel about his son’s penchant for more feminine clothing?  BET recently asked Will what advice he had for parents of gender fluid kids.

“What I do with my children, that I feel that the greatest gift that I can give my children is the freedom to be who they are,” he said. “Jada and I are very serious about finding what they are, and encouraging them to be what they are because you can never be happy being what you’re not.”

Will added that there’s no point trying to make kids something that’s not authentic to who they are.

“I feel like a lot of times, when I was growing up, I would see parents force a child to be what you want them to be,” he explained. “As a parent, if it’s an oak tree, I want it to grow as an oak tree. I’m not gonna try to force it to be an apple tree.”

Jade served this year as a face of Louis Vuitton’s womenswear campaign and strutted his stuff in a skirt for Vogue Korea.

“I feel like people are kind of confused about gender norms. I feel like people don’t really get it,” Jaden told Nylon. “I’m not saying that I get it, I’m just saying that I’ve never seen any distinction.”

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

CHARLOTTE RESCINDS PRO-TRANS ORDINANCE, SAYING NORTH CAROLINA WILL REPEAL HB2

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory on Monday called for a special session to consider repealing House Bill 2 (HB2), after the Charlotte City Council voted unanimously to rescind their expanded nondiscrimination ordinance.

After months of the majority of the Charlotte City Council refusing to compromise on its ordinance offering protections to the LGBTQ community, including the controversial transgender bathroom and locker room protections, they decided Monday to do just that, with a 10-0 vote.

HB2 nullified all nondiscrimination ordinances passed by cities and municipalities in the state, as well as requiring trans individuals to use the bathrooms and locker rooms matching the gender on their birth certificates when in government-owned buildings. Private businesses are left to make their own policies regarding the issue.

It also capped the state’s minimum wage and prevented people from suing for employment discrimination in state court, which was later amended.

The Charlotte expanded nondiscrimination ordinance offered protections for the LGBTQ community against discrimination in public accommodations, passenger vehicles for hire and by private businesses. It also allowed trans citizens to use the bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity. This prompted the state to pass HB2, which has since cost the state millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs due to boycotts.

The Charlotte City Council voted against a repeal in May. After that compromise attempt failed, both Gov. McCrory and House Speaker Tim Moore both admitted a full repeal of HB2 was never on the table.

“Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore assured me that as a result of Charlotte’s vote, a special session will be called for Tuesday to repeal HB 2 in full,” Governor-elect Roy Cooper said in a statement released shortly after Charlotte’s vote to rescind their ordinance. “I hope they will keep their word to me and with the help of Democrats in the legislature, HB2 will be repealed in full.

“Full repeal will help to bring jobs, sports and entertainment events back and will provide the opportunity for strong LGBT protections in our state.”

Councilmember Julie Eiselt told The Charlotte Observer that Cooper called her personally Sunday night to encourage her to vote for repeal.

She says he told her, “If we cleaned up our books that the General Assembly was motivated to call a special session to repeal (the law) and we felt this was our best opportunity.”

The city included a clause saying its nondiscrimination ordinance will be enacted again if HB2 isn’t repealed by Dec. 31.

Mayor Roberts said the vote “should in no way be viewed as a compromise of our principles or commitment to non-discrimination.”

Mayor Pro Tem Vi Lyles said the city council would try to pass some LGBTQ protections in the coming year without expounding upon what those might be, but one can assume they will not include protections for trans accommodations. The North Carolina General Assembly remains under Republican control and to do so would almost certainly trigger another fight.

Lawsuits challenging HB2 will likely be dropped or be declared moot by courts should the law in fact me repealed.

“Gov. Pat McCrory has always advocated a repeal of the over-reaching Charlotte ordinance, but those efforts were always blocked by Jennifer Roberts, Roy Cooper and other Democratic activists,” McCrory spokesman Graham Wilson said. “This sudden reversal, with little notice after the gubernatorial election, sadly proves this entire issue originated by the political left was all about politics and winning the governor’s race at the expense of Charlotte and our entire state.”

“Governor-elect Cooper has briefed us on a deal he brokered with state lawmakers to reach a complete and total repeal of HB2,” said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin. “HB2 is precisely why North Carolinians went to the polls and ousted Governor McCrory last month. It’s time to chart a new course guided by the state’s values of dignity and respect, not discrimination and hate — and to ensure non-discrimination protections exist in cities, towns and across the state of North Carolina. It’s been 271 days since the shameful and archaic HB2 was first passed, and the entire country has witnessed its devastating impact.  It’s time for state lawmakers to repeal HB2 and begin repairing the harm this bill has done to people and the damage it has done to North Carolina’s reputation and economy.”

HRC had previously said there should be no compromise. So too did Equality North Carolina, whose executive director, Chris Sgro, mirrored Griffin’s statements.

“We look forward to working with Governor-elect Cooper to win protections community by community and statewide,” he said, calling HB2 “wrong.”

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

LADY GAGA VOWS TO USE HER VOICE 'TO PROTECT SOCIAL PROGRESS' IN TRUMP'S AMERICA

Lady Gaga is not buying the “Perfect Illusion” being spread by most Republicanssince Election Day, the sentiment that all will be fine for the LGBTQ community under president-elect Donald Trump.

As PinkNews reported, the pop icon spoke on a London red carpet with a British TV interviewer, and vowed to stand up, and not be silent:

“What is very important to me is that the LGBTQ community in America knows myself as well as everyone else who loves them are going to do everything that we can to protect the social progress we have made over the last eight years.

“The truth is, political progress cannot happen unless there is social progress… things cannot work unless people like each other, unless people are kind to one another.

“I am here to be, in any way that I can, a person that reminds us all that above anything else is kindness.

“We need to stay in a kind place and we need to bond during this time, and be as harmonious as possible, and intelligent in the way we approach this.”

Asked about her new image, she said: “I’ve done a lot in my career. I’m sure there’s many people who would say ‘Lady Gaga’s not role model. Did you see this performance? Did you see that performance?’

But the truth is that when I was younger… I didn’t quite understand the amount of attention that I had [or] the amount of people that would listen to me.

“I am older now and I am aware of my voice in the world and I want to be as much of a role model as I can be.”

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

PULSE OWNER DECIDES NOT TO SELL CLUB TO CITY OF ORLANDO

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The owner of the Florida nightclub where the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history took place said Monday that she is no longer interested in selling the property to the city of Orlando.

Pulse nightclub owner Barbara Poma said in a statement that she can’t walk away from the property, where 49 people were killed and dozens more injured during a massacre last June. Gunman Omar Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with SWAT team members after a three-hour standoff, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Poma said she plans to use the space to create a “sanctuary of hope” and a welcoming area where people can reflect on those affected by the tragedy.

“I feel a personal obligation to ensure that a permanent space at Pulse be created so that all generations to come will remember those affected by, and taken on, June 12,” she said.

Last month, the city of Orlando announced plans to purchase Pulse and eventually convert it into a memorial. The city had planned to pay $2.25 million for the gay nightclub property.

City spokeswoman Cassandra Lafser said in a statement that city officials respect Poma’s decision “and are hopeful the Pulse site continues to be a place of hope and healing that honors the victims.”

Since the June massacre, dozens of people stop by each day to lay flowers, stuffed animals or candles outside the nightclub located south of downtown.

City staffers will continue to research how other communities have built memorials to tragedies, Lafser said.

“We believe it is important for the community to have input into a memorial that honors the victims and pays tribute to the resiliency of Orlando,” she said.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

VIDEO: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S LAST WORLD AIDS DAY MESSAGE

President Obama issued his final World AIDS Day message this morning. The two and a half minute video highlights his administration’s accomplishments fighting HIV and notes the work still undone.

“Together, we can do this,” Obama says in the video. “And long after I leave this office, you’ll have a partner in me.”

Via press release from the White House:

December 1 marks World AIDS Day across the globe, and serves as a way to recommit ourselves to ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat. Throughout his Administration, President Obama propelled America’s leadership on HIV/AIDS by both developing the first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States and expanding our investments in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This World AIDS Day, we mark the successes we’ve made together, both domestically and globally, by demonstrating leadership, enhancing our commitment, and achieving measurable impact. We also recognize the challenges in reaching affected communities, and continued work needed to achieve our 2020 national goals and end AIDS worldwide by 2030.

The majority of people living with HIV reside in low- to middle-income countries. The United States is leading the world’s response to this crisis, working in partnership with countries and communities to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030. Including the President’s FY 2017 Budget request to Congress, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is investing over $70 billion from FY 2004 through FY 2017 to accelerate our impact and work to control the epidemic to accelerate our impact and work to control the epidemic with comprehensive and data driven efforts. PEPFAR’s success is measured in saving lives and changing the course of the pandemic. Building on the work of the previous Administration, we have exceeded our 2016 target for treatment and are now supporting nearly 11.5 million men, women and children across the globe with life-saving anti-retroviral treatment.

Watch the video below.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

AN OPEN LETTER OF THANKS TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Dear President Barack Obama,

Before you set off writing the next chapter of your life, I want to take this occasion to thank you for your service to our country and to the global community.

Thank you for your alerting the world to the threats and dangers of “crude nationalism” presented in the guise of “popularism,” which feeds on people’s fears and prejudices resulting in the separation of people and nations from one another.

Thank you for your audacity to hope for a better, more inclusive country and world, one that comes closer to fulfilling our founding goal of ensuring liberty and justice for all, one that cherishes our diversity while truly exemplifying E Pluribus Unum.

Thank you for your brilliance of intellect that guides your every decision, and filters the noise and distraction in the cacophony of voices around you.

Thank you for your charm that often disarms even your most ardent skeptics once in your presence.

Thank you for your commitment to the most important of your priorities, your family, by never allowing your work to cloud your connections with loved ones.

Thank you for your dedication in protecting the environment by working to save and sustain the earth for current generations and those yet to come.

Thank you for your dignity in how you express and carry yourself, even when others do not reciprocate in kind.

Thank you for your empathy in reaching out to the marginalized, dispossessed, and scapegoated among us, and in attempting to bring them into the center of our society.

Thank you for your fortitude among the onslaught of obstructionism cascading like torrents from across the ever-widening aisle.

Thank you for your gentleness in redefining the truly gentle man in a world and a nation of increasing toxic hyper-masculinity.

Thank you for your grace under tremendous odds by those who have attempted to bring you down from the beginning of your tenure, and in the face of the incessant barrage of criticism and attacks on your very humanity and your qualifications to hold the highest office in the land.

Thank you for your heroism in never giving up even in tough times when the hill you have chosen to climb in the distance is, in fact, a seemingly unassailable mountain the closer you approach it.

Thank you for your humor and your tendency never to take yourself too seriously, and your ability to roast yourself when the occasion calls for it.

That you for your integrity, which you are never willing to sacrifice in exchange for mere material or political rewards.

Thank you for your judgment in keeping forever on course and attentive, preventing you from swerving into potentially dangerous political terrain.

Thank you for your kindness that comes forth in your treatment of the people you meet, especially when you are in the company of the youngest among us.

Thank you for your love of people, love of country, love of service, and your evident love of life itself.

Thank you for your mensch-ness (Yiddish, “a person of integrity and honor”), the qualities that have secured your place in that great pantheon of “the good.”

Thank you for your mindfulness in concentration, focus, study, and understanding of self, and your ability to “be here now” at the moment.

Thank you for your nobility, that virtually indefinable quality emanating from deep within.

Thank you for your oratory precision in presenting a clear and sustained message, and in mobilizing your enthusiastic supporters to rally beside you.

Thank you for your patience in seeing the big picture and in continuing your course in reaching your goals, even when others deposit giant boulders to block your way.

Thank you for your pragmatism in your continued efforts to unite the disparate states of the fractured United States of America.

Thank you for your pride in your multiple identities, and in serving as a positive and constructive role model to others who may had never imagined reaching the pinnacle of their potential.

Thank you for your principles, which you never sacrificed for the sake of mere expediency or popularity.

Thank you for your quick wit that often delights your supporters and challenges your detractors to raise the level of discourse ever higher.

Thank you for your respect for other nations, and by so doing, bringing back respect for our country and for the office of the presidency from people and leaders worldwide.

Thank you for your steadfastness to diplomatic negotiations in conflict resolution whenever and wherever possible rather than the raising of arms.

Thank you for your temperament, one of the most, or possibly the most, crucially important qualities in functioning effectively and responsibility in the highest and most critical position in our country.

Thank you for your understanding of the full enormity of the awesome responsibilities you inherited upon election, responsibilities you have never shirked, relegated, or denied.

Thank you for your values that serve as the foundation of your beliefs, actions, interactions, responses, and initiatives.

Thank you for your vision in seeing the true potential of the United States to ultimately attain the end goals in this great experiment in democracy.

Thank you for your warmth and your willingness to listen and truly to hear others’ opinions in carefully weighing numerous options before coming to a final decision.

Thank you for your xenial nature allowing people who do not know you well to relax in your company.

Thank you for your xenophilia amid conditions where some political leaders and would-be leaders promote xenophobia to divide and conquer in their quest for power.

Thank you for maintaining your youthfulness in your boundless exuberance and optimism, especially when the going was difficult in repairing a ruptured economy and bringing peace to an endangered world.

Thank you for your continued zest for life, and for serving your country and the planet these past eight years during all the ups and downs in world and domestic events on this roller coaster called “politics.”

Though you may take all I have stated as too high a praise, know that you are loved and truly admired by a great many people around the world.

I predict you will conduct one of the most exciting and impactful post-presidencies in our history.

I can also see in my mind’s eye your return for an extended stay in the White House.

We will remember to go high when they go low. MICHELLE IN 2020!

Go in peace and health,

Warren J. Blumenfeld

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION