I don’t usually write about mass shooting incidents here on the blog. I cry every time one of them happens, and I wish desperately that they would stop happening, and I support Moms Demand Change. But writing about someone else’s pain is hard for me–I worry about further upsetting the families of the victims, because I’ve been known to seriously shove my foot in my mouth in these situations. 

But a dear friend of mine from the LGBTQ community reached out to me and some other cancer folks and asked us to stand up for her community, and she has stood up for the metastatic community. And she’s right–I shouldn’t sit quietly for fear of saying the wrong thing. We all need to say something, SAY SOMETHING, to show the LGBTQ community that we care about them, and that we have their back.

It’s not OK to hate people. It’s not OK to hate people because they don’t share your religious views. It’s not OK to hate people for who they love. It’s not OK to hate people because they’re Latino. It’s not OK to hate people. IT’S NOT OK TO HATE PEOPLE.

It’s not OK to shoot people. It’s not OK to shoot people because they don’t share your religious views. It’s not OK to shoot people for who they love. It’s not OK to shoot people because they’re Latino. It’s not OK to to shoot people. IT’S NOT OK TO SHOOT PEOPLE.

Nobody needs an assault weapon. Nobody needs extended clips for maximum murdering power. Nobody with a history of domestic violence should have access to any kind of gun. Nobody on a terrorist watch list should have access to any kind of gun. Nobody with a history of mental illness should be able to buy a gun. NOBODY NEEDS AN ASSAULT WEAPON.

I can only imagine the pain that the LGBTQ community is experiencing right now, but I want to wrap them all up and hold them close to my heart and tell them that I love them, that I’ll always stand by them, that their love is just as beautiful as mine. That no matter how many people try to shower them with hate and death, they have allies–we are their allies and we will stand with them to reject the ideology that says they’re less than us.

On this mets Monday, I hope that we in the metastatic cancer community will stand with our allies in the LGBTQ community who have supported us in our fight to stay alive. I hope that we’ll show our allies that we are also their allies, and ask how we can help them. I hope we’ll stand with them at Pride events this month, and call out homophobia and prejudice every time we see it. And I hope that the LGBTQ community will feel our love.