Why do you continue to try to minimize or dismiss the Christian persecution of LGBTQ people in the United States? I for one live in a heavily Christian part of the US, and I can assure you that such persecution here is pervasive and severe. I don't understand your motivation to dismiss that reality by implying it's not important in comparison to persecution of other groups of people in other parts of the world. Like most LGBTQ Americans, I don't aspire to be just a little more free or a little less hated than LGBTQ people in other parts of the world who have things even worse.

Certainly, I don't face the same level of difficulties as queer folks in Africa (or as I mentioned in the story) Lebanon, but that doesn't make the very real persecution here unimportant or not worth exposing and fighting against.