...If they were ever friends in the first place.
I put up with it for decades - trying to be the bigger person, trying to be good and mature, trying to "reach across the aisle." Despite being a trans lesbian, I would have to listen to these people hype up anti-LGBTQ bigots every two years. "Bush is keeping us safe!" "Obama has to be stopped - we need Romney." "Wouldn't Drumpf be great for America?" "Ted Cruz seems like a great guy..." "Drumpf is great and doing an amazing job. Why do you hate him?! Quit listening to Hillary so much!"
All the while, they'd whine about taxes, or immigration, or whatever their favorite issue was... During the Obama years, of course, barely hiding the real issue was seeing a black man being called "Mr. President." So I'd get lectured on what the hell am I doing voting for Barbara Boxer, or Gavin Newsom, or especially the Democratic candidate for president.
I'd try to explain "Look, your party and your candidate hate people like me. They want to deny us rights. They want us to be second-class citizens. They use us as punching bags during their campaigns, then punch down on us if elected." And you know what I'd hear? "Well, you can't always get what you want" and "Sacrifices need to be made" and "Compromise" and "No. They don't hate you. They just disagree with your lifestyle and feel the rights of the majority are more important" and "There are more important things to worry about."
This is my life, people. Along with the lives of others like me. We should not be told to "compromise" on human rights. We should not be treated like lesser people so you can pay a little less at the pump or so that you can look at a white (or orange?) president.
Drumpf was the final straw. I tried to keep an open mind after the fat fuck was sworn in. When he immediately got to "work" targeting and discriminating against the others, I said "That's it." I'll tolerate someone coming along in 2020, regretting their 2016 vote and saying "I've changed my mind and I want Drumpf out." But anyone who wants more of that shit? We're done. Because you cannot say "I'm your friend" while gleefully voting for people trying to destroy me and others like me. Because, no. If you're voting for the QOP in this day and age, you at "best" tolerate me, at worst hate me deep down inside. You are not my friend, and you do not "love" me.
What the hell is going on goes beyond "agree to disagree" and "both sides" and "debate." One party stands for human rights, the other stands for bigotry and hate. And post-2020, that party has put people like me in the cross-hairs... Hard.
Anyone who can continue to support the QOP at this time is no friend to L's, G's, B's, T's, Q's or any combination of the above. If you can sit back and watch your beloved party terrorize people like me, you are not a friend.
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