Why do you believe I was speaking to you or your experience?

This article is deeply personal and reflective of the trauma I’ve experienced. If you can’t respect that or accept that others may view the world differently than you, I can’t help you there.

And re: the caricature of black voters — I’m happy to document my conversations with my friends (which is the only thing I spoke about, not everyone’s perspective, again). But if you’re not old enough to remember the handwringing “Is Obama Black enough” conversations of 2007–2008, perhaps you can Google and read up on that lovely chapter.

Whether you are interested in my experience or not is beside the point. Plenty of evidence suggests gay men are uniquely self-loathing and self-destructive. For example, did you know that 25% of LGBTQ folks voted for Trump in 2016 (and the real number is probably higher). What gives?

What would you say to the 8% of African Americans that say they voted for Trump?