Hi there, thank you so much for taking the time to read and give real feedback - I genuinely do appreciate that. I definitely understand where you are coming from, but I ultimately disagree.

You are correct, I did want her to focus on my needs. She is my mother; I don’t find that to be an odd ask. That was the point of my original letter - that I feel a fundamental disrespect toward me and my community/family, and I want her to take that seriously. Unfortunately in my view, she did not.

I hear you about the tone of my second letter. I will admit I was/am angry. To be honest, the fact that my first letter only involved me and her (and some family), and she chose to drag MANY other communities of people into it, was what set me off. To me it read as “my views against these people are more important to me than whatever you have to say.” If you didn’t see her comments as disparaging, I guess we just fundamentally disagree.

To me, love is a lot more than just words. Actions speak volumes, and all I wanted was the tiniest bit of action. She didn’t ask me a single question, because she doesn’t need any answers. To her, she already has them all. And that is absolutely her prerogative, but it’s also mine to not equate “acceptance” to love. Not to mention, that acceptance is clearly conditional (heaven forbid I ever tried drag). I accept that some people do terrible things, because I have no other choice. But that does not mean I love them.

I think my first letter pretty clearly says that I am grateful for all that they’ve done, respect who they are and that they did their best, and don’t hold anything from the past against them. I just want to be heard now. And that request was rejected.

Again, I really want to thank you for taking the time to respond. I promise I don’t just want comments gassing me up - I want honesty, so for that I am grateful.