ORLANDO

Beautiful, glorious, radiant queer and trans Latinx siblings. You are my people. I love you. I welcome you. This cis-hetero-Latino man is here to hold you, to cry with you, to lay with you and spoon you. I am not complete without you. We are a people, we are us only with you.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry for every school yard joke, the stupidity of dorm rooms and locker rooms, every disparaging word, every expression of derision and fear that permeates this culture when it comes to the beauty that is you.

I'm sorry that you have been listening to this, feeling this, hiding from this, seeking haven from this for all of your precious and glorious life. I'm sorry for the times I played a role, I'm sorry for the times I played along, I'm sorry for the many times that I didn't ask them to stop.

I love you. I have come up short. I make this promise to you - not again, never again, no more silence, not again. If it's a family member, if it's an elder or a distant cousin, if it's a religious person, if it's someone I have never met - never again will I stay quiet if they dehumanize you in even the slightest way. I am here to love you. I am here to stand by you and with you. If they hurt you they hurt me. You make us whole, you make us us. We will not forget this day.

Should anyone even dare to quote a tradition or a so-called holy book to speak any madness against you, they will have to deal with me, they will have to deal with us, they will remember this day.

I love you. I'm here to to hold you. We are us only with you.