Yes, I think there is definitely a problem with the fact that people who live in progressive bubbles don’t understand the reality of religious oppression in much of the United States. That’s one of the reasons I write about it so much. It’s wonderful that people who live in those bubbles wield a lot of power and influence, because I appreciate and love their values. But the other side of the coin can be a display of a certain (and I mean this in a factual rather than judgmental sense) ignorance of the obstacles many LGBTQ people face in the U.S.

If I were still living in Manhattan or Montreal, where religious homophobia is mostly socially unacceptable and rarely seen, I would probably not write about it. Not out of lack of caring, but out of a lack of personal, direct knowledge.

But since I live in part of the country that is much more typical than NYC, Philly, or San Francisco (for example) I directly experience powerful religious people’s hatred of LGBTQ people — constantly. My neighbors would not hesitate to vote equality measures down if they could.

They would shut down GSAs in local schools, forbid same-sex marriage, forbid Pride parades, and burn rainbow flags — all in the name of Jesus — if only the law let them.

I’m afraid that often my former activist and advocacy colleagues who stayed in NYC or who live in Chicago or Los Angeles or wherever, forget this; and since they’re the ones driving LGBTQ rights organizations today, I fear their lack of prioritization — even though it stems from no ill will on their part — — hurts LGBTQ Americans who don’t live in progressive bubbles.

I think that explains why I write the way I do.