A Massachusetts family had some unexpected holiday jeer to deal with after a bigot left a rude note in their mailbox, taking aim at their pride flag and their politics.
Melissa Sheehan and her wife, Kelly, are raising two teenagers in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. She says that last year, her son asked why they didn’t have anything outside the house for pride month, so they put up a rainbow flag and a transgender flag, and added a Black Lives Matter flag to the bunch as well.
They also used to have an “any functioning adult” campaign sign in their yard as a joke, but it was taken down after the last election cycle.
However, at least one of their neighbors has apparently been holding onto a grudge over all of this, and decided Christmas was the best time to confront the couple about their beliefs — anonymously, of course.
“Sheehan’s — I drive by regularly and wanted to drop you a note about your signs and flags,” reads a note Melissa found in her mailbox and shared to Facebook. I love your = and Pride Flag but if you are = why do you have to put it in everyone’s face? Seems you want to be special…”
The LGBTQ+ community has constantly dealt with accusations that showing any sort of pride in an identity that heteronormative society long tried to scapegoat or dismiss is nothing more than attention-seeking behavior. It’s an ignorant, outdated perspective that lacks empathy. But the anonymous letter writer wasn’t stopping there.
“Any functioning adult???” they continued, referencing the Sheehans’ past political sign. “How did that work out for you. Record inflation, record illegals crossing, record debt, record low favorability rating for Joe the rapist even with a media that kisses his _____ you fill in the blank.
“I don’t understand you people you would believe CNN, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow if they told you the sky was red. Just remember… you wanted this!”
The note was signed “your unequal neighbor,” reminding us all just how much its contents stem from a deeply ingrained homophobia.
Fortunately, sharing the letter on their town Facebook page brought a wave of support for Melissa and Kelly, along with their children. It’s unclear if the original writer ever saw it, or if they were too busy spiraling down QAnon rabbit holes on other sections of the social media platform, but the rest of the community made the family confident that person was in the minority for their town.
One neighbor even helped organize a fundraiser for the Trevor Project in response to the unwarranted hate mail.
“Two hateful comments between the two pages that it was posted on, probably 500 comments,” Sheehan told MassLive. “I mean, that says a lot about our community for the good.”
