Why I Do What I Do

I've taken some flak lately for speaking at a rally where Confederate flags and pro-Trump signs were displayed. I've been asked why I would do such a thing. Well, here are some photographs to tell a story.

The gentleman in the first picture is Darren from Washington state. After I spoke, he came up to me and told me that even though he was a conservative, my speech had opened his eyes and changed his mind about queer people. He bought an OBS patch and gave me a hug.

This next picture is 20 days later. That's Darren working at the Pink Pistols booth in Seattle, gathering signatures to overturn Initiative 1639, the massive WA state gun control bill which was passed into law last year.

As you can see from this third picture, Darren is happy to be working side by side with the Pink Pistols. The lady in the purple is Sharyn Hinchcliffe, head of the Seattle chapter.

This is why I do what I do. There's no benefit to preaching to the already converted; we don't accomplish anything by staying where we're comfortable and only talking within our own little echo chamber. Instead, we need to go out into the world and show people that we're just like them, and we deserve to have the same rights as them and receive the same courtesy as them. That's the only way to effect change, and it WORKS. We won twice that day, because we turned an opponent into a friend who now works alongside us.