Everyone is entitled to their opinions but our opinions have consequences.
Words have consequences.
The reality is that what happened in Orlando is more complex than what is portrayed in Lavender's recent "Editorial: Spirit of '76 (A Coward Strikes Again)"; that religion is to be blamed solely. The editorial partly states, "this is not an issue of access to guns, nor it is an issue about immigration. This cowardly attack is solely an issue of religion." Later, it says, "Our founding fathers believed that we should attract the best and the brightest and those seeking freedom to worship as they wished."
Where to even begin?
First, if the issue was only religion, then why only mention Muslims? We have so many examples of Christians perpetrating heinous crimes in the name of religions but somehow, that never is the issue.
Second, this is an issue about access to guns used in war. How many shooting of this kind do we need to convince people that the easy access to this type of gun and magazines with so many bullets is a problem?
Third, yes it is an issue about immigration. People are using the Orlando tragedy to point out why immigrants are essentially bad. To ignore this is to dismiss a rift in the country that, again, matters because of the way immigrants are being targeted due to the rhetoric around the country and the world.
Lastly, this whitewashing of history is maddening. There were not just magically 13 colonies or that the nation would "attract the best and the brightest." While American is an admirable experiment, this erasure of how the nation was founded and built upon genocide of indigenous people can only come from people who cannot see how problematic these lies are.
The Editorial goes on to say, "He was stuck in the 12th century." So now all Muslims in the 12th Century are murderers? This Editorial continues to push a narrative that Muslim people are violent, that they are to be feared.
A major issue of many publications is the lack of diversity in who makes decisions and who writes. People often say, "Well you can write for this or that." But, for example, I often do not approach places because I do not know anyone there or do not see some obvious diversity or outreach being done to our communities.
Overall, Lavender is an important place for Minnesota’s LGBTQ+ and can do better (as well as other places) when it comes to representing better our diverse community. In the meantime, sign a petition calling for a public apology by Lavender's Editorial here.
UPDATE: Levender published a #SorryNotSorry “apology.” Read their awful response here.