Chicago Pride!

Sunday, June 25, 2017 Permalink 0

Dear President Trump,

Since today is the Chicago Pride Parade, I am going to use this opportunity to draw your attention to: the Chicago community and LGBTQ community.

Chicago is my hometown for twenty-three years now. It is the best city in the world! People associate us with the 2016 World Series Chicago Cubs, stuffed pizza and Second City. We are so much more than that. We are a beautiful town. Daniel Burnham planned the city around keeping the lakefront accessible for the public. His visionary stance ensured corporations and rich people were not allowed to build on the lakefront. And today, anyone can enjoy the lakefront and the miles of public park available. Besides our public parks, we also have a rich history of architecture, theatre, dance, culture, music, and sports.

You’ve mentioned Chicago plenty of times as an example of violence. You are right. Violence is a problem in Chicago and across the country. You are not right that the fix is federal intervention in the form of armed troops. Fighting violence with violence doesn’t solve the ultimate problem. It is much more complicated than that. The solution is dramatically shifting the paradigm to stop the cycle of poverty. The violence stems from despair and hopelessness. The violence is the reaction of people angry at the economic disparity.

I know you are committed to the coal miners but how about the single mom working for minimum wage? How about the young boy joining a gang because it offers more benefits than staying in school? How about the person struggling with mental illness that ends up on the street because she can’t afford treatment?

I believe your perspective is limited by your situation. You inherited money and that led to more opportunities that ultimately allowed you to become President. You need to broaden your vision to see an imbalanced country. To ‘make America great again’, you must close the massive divide between the rich and the poor. You must prioritize funding education and healthcare initiatives. You’re a businessman. Look around at other countries to see how their investment in their citizens, results in a higher quality of life for all. To fix the violence in Chicago and across the country, you must focus on ending poverty.

Chicago is a proud city!  And today, we’ll celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning/queer (LGBTQ) community. Although in your early campaigning you spoke supportively of the LGBTQ community, you are oddly silent as President. You even chose a Vice President who actively promotes legislation to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. 

The country has made great strides in the last decade. Gay marriage was legalized. LGBTQ youth found support and sensitivity in federally funded programs. LGBTQ citizens were protected from sexual orientation discrimination. The country wasn’t perfect but we were moving forward together in LGBTQ pride. And we must move forward not backwards into a closet.

It’s time for you to speak up or tweet up. You must ensure that you are supporting that all citizens, heterosexual or homosexual, have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s not enough for your daughter and son-in-law to support LGBTQ rights, you must too! You are our nation’s leader. Stand with Chicago today and be proud of our LGBTQ community.    

As always, President Trump, have courage and be kind.

Katy

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