A gay man shares the mass email to his Republican family that changed their minds
"To vote GOP is to divide the family."
A gay man’s mass email to his Republican family has gone viral after it changed his father’s mind.
The post garnered more than 15,000 likes and more than 3,000 retweets.
Ryan Short, a gay man living in Seattle, Washington, was told by his 80-year-old retired war veteran father that he’s still a Republican.
“We were just having one of our random catch-ups and he just casually said, ‘I’m still Republican,'” Short told Insider (16 March).
“This letter was a boundary, not a persuasion.”
Short recalls that also on the call, his father expressed support for the party despite it’s anti-LGBTQ stance.
That comment led Short to write an email to his family, which he says has several LGBTQ members, to ask them to stop voting for the GOP.
“Hear me clearly — you cannot vote for the GOP and continue to have a relationship with me. No exceptions. I am inviting no dialogue, and I have no interest in nuance,” Short wrote in the email.
“The safety and peace of me, my husband, and my community is baseline, non-negotiable, and unrelated to politics. To vote GOP is to divide the family.”
Short explained to Insider: “This letter was a boundary, not a persuasion. It was not intended to persuade anyone.”
After sending an email to the family, he posted a screenshot to Twitter.
While some criticised Short many have supported him. He’s also been thanked for supplying the email template for others to use.
“Thank you for posting so others can use your experience as a resource,” actress Sarah Greyson replied. “I’m sorry you had to say it, but it needed to be said!”
Short shared that nearly everyone on the email chain responded positively and confirmed they would no longer be voting for Republicans as he asked.
Speaking to Insider, Short’s father noted he had since resigned from the Republican Club he belongs to in Collin County, Texas.
“Being a hard head, I’m a little bit hard to get through to,” he said. “But then I’m one of these people, I’ll sit back, reflect and think on what I said, and I’m very quick to apologize.”
It comes amid a mounting wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation and rhetoric across the states led mostly by Republicans.
Last week, the HRC blasted legislation in Idaho that could force schools to out LGBTQ students.
The American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking 409 anti-LGBTQ bills across the states.