Orlando

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I have a request. It’s completely free.

On Friday night, Rod and I decided to go out for a drink and got into that typical couple’s argument about where to go. I wanted to go to a gay bar. Rod didn’t want to go somewhere loud. I said, “I just want to go somewhere where we can be gay.”

It was a casual comment. It was about comfort. It was about being in a place where I could hold my partner’s hand or give him a kiss and be completely comfortable. It was never about safety. Or danger. It was because I wanted to be room full of people like me who were happy to be people like me.

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After June 12th a lot of people don’t get to make that casual choice anymore. In plain view, I cried on the subway reading the news and thinking of all of those people.

Some say it’s about faith. Some say it’s about guns. And personally, I think those two subjects intertwine too much. But it really comes down to one thing.

It’s about HATE. Someone HATES some one so much that they feel that have the right to END THEM by any means necessary. And they have EASY access to the tools to do that. All of that is so terrible. So wrong. So sad.

I’m not interested in debates. I’m not interested in de-friending or being de-friended. I’m not interested in being political, religious…anything. I’m only interested in the opposite of hate. Let’s do the opposite of hate.
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So for me, today, please fill my facebook page with hugs. Post a picture of yourself hugging someone. Tweet me hugs. Instagram me hugs. Hug your mother, your father, your loved one, your cat, your neighbor. Hug a stranger. Everyone and anyone. Just hug. And love. Please.