Dopo la strage di Orlando. Dalla gioia al dolore, cosa faremo adesso?

Reflections* by Susan Cottrell** published on her blog Freed Hearts (United States) on 22 June 2016, freely translated by Silvia Lanzi

The world is saddened by the horrific mass murder of so many innocent LGBT people (in Orlando). Hearts are broken, and we wonder where we will go.
Moms in my secret Facebook support group are desperate for their LGBT children, wondering how to help them navigate a course when a place of refuge can be destroyed in a single terrible night.

LGBT people sent tender messages, sorry for their lives – many lost their friends that very night – but they are tired of living in fear. This is what it means to live in hiding and they don't want to do it anymore.
They are just sensitive, kind, funny, intelligent and courageous people who want to live in peace.

Just a year ago we cried tears of joy when same-sex marriage became state law (in the United States). Now we cry tears of unspeakable pain and sorrow.
We are all wondering where the world is going. How can we pick up the shattered pieces overnight and move forward?

Here's the main point: your life matters.

Your life is beautiful, and lovely, and full of light. Your life is a tapestry of 10,000 tears and 10,000 prayers, endless examinations of conscience, these difficult rites of passage have formed a beauty that no one can diminish.

SB was broken by a tortuous “exorcism to make him straight”, he found the courage to free himself and speak up to say never again. The road to healing the wounds that Christians have inflicted on you is still long and hard, but the light shines in your eyes and hope fills your heart, I am sure that you will emerge wonderfully whole and finally at ease, just as God made you made to be.

L. and C., had to move for your own safety because the father of one of them tried to kill the other, remember that you have your whole life ahead of you and wonderful contributions to make.

C. fought long and endless battles against his family and a conservative and misguided (Christian) teaching, showed great courage and finally emerged in his rainbow colors to say: “This is who I am. Point".

Shane, who came out in her forties, after years of prayer and struggle, finally admitting that no "therapy", no matter how long, will change her. You are smart, funny and an inspiration to others, I'm happy to know you.

I am sorry to those who told me about the people they lost in the Orlando massacre. How desperate your heart must be. You will feel pain, you will cry, you will wonder why, and you will heal. You will have to move forward to find more courage and realize that you have had it.

To all of you – to all the countless people I love dearly and your beautiful families who just want you to be safe – I say we will heal, we will be strong and we will express our love and our beauty, you can count on it.

There will always be fearful people who will turn their anguish outward because they will no longer be able to hold it back. It has always been this way and I believe it will always be this way.

Don't live in fear of them. Don't deny your life and your reality to avoid people who want to hurt you. They don't know you, they don't care about you, they are not your boss.

Choose your path, live as fully as you can, until your days are done, no matter when. Be honest with yourself because it's the only life worth living.
We who love you stand beside you with courage, against those who terrorize you – whether with weapons, from the pulpit or on Facebook.

You are the ones who make a heroic journey with extraordinary courage. You are the ones who are showing the world – and the Church – how to love.

I thank you with all my heart for knowing how to love.

Parents, who are wondering how to move forward, do not retreat in fear. No one knows what the future holds for us, we cannot avoid risk because we are stuck in a life with walls closing in around us.

We must win consistently as we are, that is, love, which must be experienced in the community, fully and with hope. There are many things to do, many people to love, many truths to live. Let's live life together, to the full.

Original text: Obergefell & Orlando, From Joy to Grief… What Do We Do Now?