Fred Phelps

A lot of people are saying that they're not going to dance on Fred Phelp's grave or celebrate that he's gone. They're all straight people, and I'm kind of - I'm not angry or anything, but I feel uncomfortable. There's this movement that people want to be "better than Fred Phelps" and not be a horrible human being, but I feel that it speaks over the feelings of queer people who have been deeply hurt by Phelps' legacy. I mean - he was a man that wanted people like me dead. He celebrated the death of my queer brothers and sisters. I feel relief that he is gone. I am GLAD he is gone. He is another nail in the coffin of a horrible movement and a generation of hate-filled bigots that I will pray to God go the way of the dodo. And I think we queer folk are entitled to those emotions. I am not a bad person for being glad that he's gone. And to bang on the "We're better than that drum" kinda speaks over the real pain and anguish that queer people might want to express as this man's passing. Anger is a right too. I'm angry at him, I hate him, and I'm not ashamed of those things - I have the right to feel that way when someone does the things that this man did. I'm not going to dwell on them or anything, so it's not like it's going to blacken my soul. It's a flush of lightness in my heart that the world has one less asshole threatening the life of people like me on a daily basis. I'm not going to be ashamed of that.