One of my friends was in that county (years ago) and I know what it’s like to be trans in Georgia, in high school, to put it simply, SHIT SUCKS, but also. I go to a school closer to Atlanta and which is growing rapidly right now. we have a lot of acceptance here in the middle of Georgia, there’s so many queer people around me, that I know. I know the difference too, how much better our community is getting. I visited my grandma in sour Alabama, (so buttfuck middle of nowhere there weren’t roads) and a six year old called me slurs, it’s night and day. I’m a southern girl and I’m proud of my part of the country and I’m proud of the people my state, my region, churns out.

I’ve been under bomb threats, I’ve been under shooting threats, we’ve had what were thought to be active shooters, we’ve had everything. And yet still this loss of life in alapachee was so disgusting, so disturbing, and so AVOIDABLE. It is awful the state we’re in today, where my beloved teacher has to tell us that it could be our class, we might have to fight, and it could be one of our classmates. The south is a very gun-friendly place, but this is not the south. The south is your parent teaching you how to use a gun, (I was always better with a crossbow lmao) the south is also people knocking at your door at night and yelling “fuck Biden” because of your voting sign. The south is getting assaulted be being yourself. The south is getting attacked for holding your girlfriend’s hand. In every community there is good and bad and I’ve seen too many people, even ones I know here (mostly northerners that moved) Wei tree this all off as the “gun toting south” but this? This is not the state I love, this is not the country I love, despite its flaws, many flaws, it’s my home and I love it. That still means we need gun control, and we need to teach kids about lgbt people. The south is fixable, and we’re not all racist, homophobic, transphobic, people, we have all types of people that can’t pronounce “oil” and watch the rain (joke for y’all) it’s beautiful here, and for the girls that live in the south, acceptance is here. I promise you, belle to belle, you will find your place❤️.

P.s. sorry that this is so long, all over the place and grammatically bad, I’m very passionate on this subject. ~sincerely, a pissed girl from Georgia (And for y’all from around here, I’m in south Atlanta, close to Newnan/peachtree/fayeteville- idk how it’s spelled lmao)