I’m a Trans woman from New York City who has lived in D.C. the past 19 years. I never felt you were a serious candidate for POTUS. So, initially, I didn’t pay it much attention. I should have. I never disliked or despised you. But you were always in the center of some tabloid fodder.
Coming of age in the early ’90s, I recall you being critical of President Clinton for not making LGBT rights easy in the workplace. You said you didn’t care what someone was, as long as they did a good job. You defended an outed Canadian Trans contestant in one of your pageants a few years back. And you even commented that the “bathroom bills” were a joke at a press conference with your family.
Pardon my impoliteness, but you have diarrhea of the mouth. And I’m not sure I trust your decisions. Your cabinet appointees are a joke — literally looking like a rogue’s gallery. I truly worry about war and international relations. I worry about my international friends who live in the states, both documented and undocumented, and I worry about the rights of minorities, who as a group are quickly becoming the majority.
I try to see the good in you. But you’ve thrown your ridiculous choice for VP under the bus to cover for your antics. And you have used your wife to do the same. (If your “record” repeats itself, will she still be your wife in four years?)
I’m asking you to think before you talk, and to get the hell off Twitter. You’ve made this country a joke. We’re the laughing stock of the world.
I know you’re a smart man, but you have no filter. And that’s your weakness. Can you keep America great? I don’t think it’s broken. Listen to experienced politicians from all the parties, and change your cabinet. We shouldn’t be working against each other — we need to work together to keep this country great.
Everything is so black and white with you. You can’t treat policies and politics like you treat Rosie O’Donnell. This isn’t a tabloid paper anymore — welcome to the real world. The joke is over, and the jokes will be on you.
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.
Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis has sold his California home and auctioned three of his Olympic medals as part of a major life change: relocating to Panama.
“As life moves forward, what are you prepared to leave behind?" he wrote in a Facebook post announcing the move. "I am 65 years old, and I am asking just that. I am no longer who I used to think I was."
The decision marks a shift from a 2023 statement in which Louganis said the proceeds would help fund the Damien Center, Indiana’s oldest and largest AIDS services provider, which recently lost government funding for critical health care programs.
Thanks to my dad's career, the Army was a huge part of my upbringing. When I was little, vaccinations, swimming lessons, and commissary shopping meant a trip to Fort Belvoir, Virginia. My elder brother followed in our father's Army footsteps, becoming an Army helicopter pilot. My stepfather was in the Navy during World War II, serving on a submarine in the Pacific.
When I hit 18, when I was most likely to consider joining the military myself, even "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a few years away. If you were found to be gay, out you went. Poring over reams of court documents, during a college internship, regarding the murder of Naval officer Allen R. Schindler Jr., assured me that I was better off as a civilian. Schindler, who was gay and born the same year as me, was beaten to death by two shipmates during shore leave in Japan.
Jack Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and the Republican nominee for New Jersey governor, recently aired a digital ad attacking Democratic opponent U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill for backing the state’s LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum standards. Established under a 2019 law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy (D), the standards require middle and high school students to learn about the political, economic, and social contributions of LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.
The premise behind the law is based on the belief that teaching students about figures like Bayard Rustin, Harvey Milk, and Alan Turing helps reduce bullying of LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming peers.
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