It's a sad world we live in where caring about things is looked down on, when fighting to make the world a better place is sneered at or dismissed as bad for people's mental health.

The thing is, you don't see people on the right worrying about people's mental health. It's the left, always the left — intent on looking inward instead of outward.

I take criticism from the left pretty much every day for being "negative" about the LGBTQ matters I write about – despite the fact that I almost always end my stories in action statements and almost always have ideas about how to help to make things better.

You know who doesn't criticize me for being negative? The right. They just call me wrong, engaging on substance.

What the fuck are we supposed to do to fight for a better world when the left is telling us to be quiet because we're making them feel bad, and the right is telling us to shut up because we're wrong?

All I can say is, that Black civil rights activists, Vietnam War protesters, suffragist activists, and my own Act Up colleagues in the early 90s always and necessarily put mental health on a back burner, because mental health is trivial compared to the issues harming the world. Anyone suppose the Freedom Riders agonized over how the injustices they were exposing harmed people's mental health? The very thought is laughable. They had important work to do.

Complaining about Jessica harming people's mental health is offensive, especially when people complain she might be getting paid for her writing, which – hello – shouldn't she be? Worse, the complaints are a symptom of selfishness and apathy. They're the kind of whining that will stop the world from a progressing to a better place if too many people emulate the whiners.

We need more people writing like Jessica, not fewer. We need more people inspired by Jessica, moved to action by Jessica, and standing up to create positive change.

Nobody should even have to say that, but apparently it needs saying.

So, thank you very much, Shannon, for doing it.