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    lime_greenJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:31pm

    I’m a gay man and I lost my fiancee to a brutal car accident just days ago. I’m still in shock and my grieving process is going through all sorts of motions. Sudden death is the worst heartbreak. I feel for the victims and their families and friends.

    I’d say this past week has been tragic for many, many people, but tragic is not a strong enough word.

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      BlondeGoddesslime_green
      6/12/16 6:36pm

      I’m so sorry for your loss.

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      I'm Fart and I'm Smunnylime_green
      6/12/16 6:43pm

      I'm so incredibly sorry to hear about your fiancé, and I'm sorry about this violence. It is just so unfair.

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    femi-what?!JE Reich
    6/12/16 6:29pm

    What is wrong with this country? Why are we too stupid to stop handing out assault rifles and high capacity magazines as if there could possibly be a legitimate purpose for owning one? Why can’t we put a shock collar on Fox News as an entity and just zap them every time someone blames this on Obama? Why can’t we excise this hatred against the LGBTQ community like the cancer it is?

    I feel so heartsick over this. Why can’t God just let us all crumble into the ocean, since we so obviously don’t deserve to continue as a nation?

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      imaginaryfriendfemi-what?!
      6/12/16 7:06pm

      Because as the collective population that makes up this nation, we’re shitty people. If we really wanted to do something about access to the weapons that multiply the death tolls when someone snaps, we’d do it, no matter what.

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      Poodletimeimaginaryfriend
      6/12/16 7:31pm

      Sadly, no. It really isn’t about us. It’s about the three American gun manufacturers exploring a loophole/Iron Triangle that has accidentally appeared/persisted in our legal/political system. The gun manufacturers want to keep making money and living high on the hog. They pay to support the NRA, which has a relatively small number of members, and the support of only a small fraction of gun owners. The NRA bribes, threatens, and provides lobbying cover for a number of members of Congress, who then derail gun control legislation at the Federal and State levels. Politicians kowtow to the NRA (the gun lobby,) thanks to the pressure they exert, which benefits the gun manufacturers, who then use part of their profits to support the NRA, and around it goes.

      It has become completely divorced from us as citizens or voters.

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    kinjakatroinaJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:39pm

    Sorry but I just need to vent. If I see one more news story on this where they neglect to mention that this attack was directed at a Gay Nightclub, I might scream. So many news shows are clearly avoiding the fact that it was directed at the LGTQI community and is a hate crime. They keep saying “Nightclub” and that’s it. But they’ll do 5 minutes on Isis but can’t even bother to mention that the Queer community was specifically targeted. Also please stop imply that this guy was gay and just repressed it. Straight people that do violence against the queer community 9 times out of 10 are just that... ie straight.

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      JE Reichkinjakatroina
      6/12/16 6:46pm

      Wouldn’t imply, and it’s my responsibility as a reporter to state the shooting took place at an LGBT safe space. Also mentioned it took place during Pride month in my first report.

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      Paranoid Android (sometimes says dumb things)kinjakatroina
      6/12/16 6:54pm

      What news are you reading? Everywhere I’ve read and watched mentioned that the massacre happened at a gay nightclub.

      In my head, I believe that guy was a closet case. It’s always the squeaky wheel that begs to get greased. At the very least, he believes that’s an insult to his memory.

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    I'm Fart and I'm SmunnyJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:08pm

    I just keep thinking about this mother who hasn’t heard anything about her son. I want to believe the son is okay but I’m not feeling optimistic. http://abcnews.go.com/US/mother-man-...

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      NotMe6I'm Fart and I'm Smunny
      6/12/16 6:09pm

      Fuck.

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      grapesIickI'm Fart and I'm Smunny
      6/12/16 6:09pm

      I want so much for her son to be okay.

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    halenawwwJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:14pm

    Thanks for this space. I’m having a really hard time with this. I just keep thinking about being in my early 20's and going to gay bars for the first time and feeling so elated to be in such a fun and SAFE feeling space, to really feel a sense of community and to be able to let loose in a way that normal spaces would never allow. Before this morning I think I had forgotten how important finding that space was for me. I’m just devastated knowing there were people feeling those same feelings: safety, community, connection, expression, love, and possibly that was the only place they had the opportunity to feel that way, and then someone acting out their own fears took all that away from them. Just tears all day.

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      Wife on Marshalenawww
      6/12/16 6:20pm

      Sadly in this day and age it is so hard to find a truly safe accepting space. I’ve found it here.

      Love to you, to the community, to those who have lost loved ones, to those we have lost, and to those who will be judged from one horrible mans actions.

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      halenawwwWife on Mars
      6/12/16 6:22pm

      I’m so appreciative and grateful for Jezebel right now. Love to you too. <3

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    foxGreyjoy and the salty cynicJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:40pm

    I have a hard time not hating the parents that raised me. My mother, who threw up on me when she read my diary at 16 and vomited on me because she read of my attraction and confusion I now identify as bisexuality. My mother who still, spits the work out gay in angry and whispered tone so my siblings don’t hear her. My silent and judgmental father.

    I know there are so many parents who hold these feelings of disgust and rejection, who pass their beliefs to children who don’t dare or care to question. I hate them in these times. I remember they are human and that love is more important, but I hate them and hold them and all the parents, community leaders, and politicians who spread their hate during times like these.

    I’m sad and angry for the lives lost and their mourning community, family, and friends. Thank you everyone who had voiced their emotions and support to the LGBT of Orlando and the world. You remind me to love.

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      HildegardBingen2foxGreyjoy and the salty cynic
      6/12/16 6:52pm

      I’m so sorry you have to deal with that from your family. Internet hugs <3. I know it sucks when the people who are supposed to be there to love and support you unconditionally fail to do that, but for what it’s worth there are those of us out there who do love and support you (and give you mad props for being brave and strong enough to proudly be who you are despite the crap you face for it) And the haters can just fuck right off.

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      Jen-erationXfoxGreyjoy and the salty cynic
      6/12/16 6:55pm

      I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine doing that to one of my children. I wish you were one of mine - I would accept you without condition.

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    miss.elaineousJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:28pm

    I want to feel anything other than sorrow and hurt, but I can’t. All I’ve been doing is crying. My community is bleeding, and all I can do is cry.

    I’m only going to say this on here because no one personally knows me, but I wish I believed in god so I could feel some hope for the people we lost.

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      Marlene Freaktrickmiss.elaineous
      6/12/16 6:33pm

      I know exactly how you feel. I feel that way every time something horrible happens. I wish I had something to pray to, to believe in.

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      miss.elaineousMarlene Freaktrick
      6/12/16 6:37pm

      I just hope that I’m wrong, that there is an afterlife, and that the victims are there and at peace right now. I want them to be okay.

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    Lisa ElizabethJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:28pm

    How are you? I’m thinking of you and everyone else in our community who has to be a journalist today when maybe they just want to grieve.

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      JE ReichLisa Elizabeth
      6/12/16 7:59pm

      Hey, thanks for asking. I’ll be okay.

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      mouthface forgot her burner keyJE Reich
      6/12/16 9:06pm
      GIF
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    Rapunzel's Frying PanJE Reich
    6/12/16 7:25pm

    Thank you for this space. I just keep falling in love with you as a journalist more and more.

    I was good friends with Christina Grimmie. I got the news from a tearful phone call in the early hours of Saturday morning. I walked through the day in a numb haze, unable to talk about it except for a few half-hearted comments on Jezebel.

    And then I heard about Orlando this morning, and I just broke. I felt an almost physical crack in my soul. I can’t stop crying. I am debilitated by my sadness; a sadness that is so deep and raw, it has put on a mask of rage.

    And, just below the disguised grief, there is fear of the next one. I don’t know when the tipping point will occur and America as a country will realise that the price of gun ownership is too high. I don’t know when- or even if- that will ever happen. I don’t know much of anything right now.

    All I know is that today, I am ashamed of my country.

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      randilynisFINDILYNRapunzel's Frying Pan
      6/12/16 7:42pm

      hug

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      Rapunzel's Frying PanrandilynisFINDILYN
      6/12/16 7:49pm

      Thank you. Big hug right back.

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    Angelica SchuylerJE Reich
    6/12/16 6:12pm

    Jesus Christ, I have never read that story but that passage made me tear up.

    All I can say is that my thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, Orlando, and the LGBT community as a whole. My first impulse was to call my friends celebrating Pride in other cities and demand that they stay home, but I thought better of that and just called to say I loved them.

    Love to all.

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      I'm Fart and I'm SmunnyAngelica Schuyler
      6/12/16 6:26pm

      While I’m nothing more than an ally to the LGBT community, I typically always try to go to the DC pride parade. But today my mom begged me to not go and she has awful anxiety when it comes to things like this so I stayed home unfortunately. I did donate some money to the go fund me page but I still feel bad about not going.

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      riceberryI'm Fart and I'm Smunny
      6/12/16 6:51pm

      I went. There was a man in the middle of DuPont screaming his hate and prejudice, but other than that it was magical.

      But don’t feel shame in staying home and safe. Not in this world.

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