Dear President Trump,
To be honest, even using that title made me queasy, but on January 20 it will indeed be part of American history and our reality. I believe you have done nothing to earn it and have only increasingly demonstrated a dangerous and un-American set of principles, values and intentions.
I am not a gambler, but I imagine I am feeling what someone in one of your failed casinos felt when rolling the dice or watching the roulette wheel spin — uncertainty, fear, bracing for loss because in your gut you believe the house always wins.
Since the election you and your surrogates have continued to demonstrate that a vote for you was not dissimilar to a hate crime. My relatives on my father’s side in Italy were stunned and fearful when the results came in. “Should have learned from our mistake electing Berlusconi,” they joked. But there is another Italian leader you are much more similar to, and we should heed the history lesson of their past. My father grew up in Italy when Mussolini was in power. As we know, he ruled the country constitutionally as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1925, then dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship. Now, I wouldn’t compare you to Hitler. Yet. So if the shoe fits, it would be a Dolce and Gabbana. Because when people talk about a potential constitutional crisis, this is what I believe they are alluding to.
But this is something you will never achieve. Because I believe in the core values of America and our constitution and we, as a nation, would never let this happen. Like Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights hero and icon you dismissively berated when he called your presidency illegitimate, we will march. We will resist. We will stand up and say no, not in our America.
My daughter is about the same age as Barron. What kind of world will she grow up in? Will it be one that considers her “less than” your child? Not if I can help it.
In his second inaugural speech, Barack Obama said, “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths, that all of us are created equal, is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forbearers to Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall.” I am not alone in being guided by that star that our great President of the last eight years alluded to, a star that will get us through this next period of American history like no other, one that will test us but also one we will face undaunted.
Cathy Renna
LGBTQ Activist
Principal, Target Cue
@cathyrenna
Read more Letters to Trump:
The opinions expressed in these letters are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations and this magazine, its staff and contributors.
By John Riley on June 3, 2022 @JohnAndresRiley
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait has received backlash from the government of Kuwait for a tweet supporting LGBTQ Pride Month.
On June 1, the United States Embassy in Kuwait posted a tweet supporting Pride Month. In the tweet, President Biden is quoted, explaining the need for pride.
“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity,” the quote read, “and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love.”
This tweet received immediate backlash from the Kuwaiti government. The country’s foreign ministry released a statement demanding that the embassy not “publish such tweets,” and summoned the Acting Charges d’Affaires James Holtsnider for a meeting, during which it reprimanded the embassy for the tweet, which they argue violates diplomatic protocols.
By Joseph Reberkenny on June 3, 2022
The press secretary for the governor of Florida has been called out by an LGBTQ lawmaker for her hateful comments surrounding the LGBTQ community.
Christina Pushaw, the press secretary for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, posted a thread questioning the use of the acronym “LGBTQ” on June 1, as many around the world were celebrating the first day of LGBTQ Pride Month, which was officially recognized by many officials, including President Joe Biden.
In the thread, Pushaw posted erroneous definitions of what the letters in the acronym mean, in an attempt to exploit an existing – but small and rarely acknowledged – rift between some members of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities and transgender and queer or questioning individuals.
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