Monte Mader

That is such a reflection of their ideology as a whole.

They would rather you be suffering and miserable and in line than anything else.

They would rather a woman be in a neglectful, abusive marriage than to be divorced and single.

They would rather a gay man be married in a lavender marriage and end up committing suicide because of appearances.

That for me, I mean, obviously so Islamophobic and horrific, but it was such a testament to what their ideology is, is that they don't care who suffers as long as it looks the way they think it should look.

I was too young for them to really have a meaningful conversation with me about it.

I knew it had happened.

Like some I remember hearing an adult like say the name and them not wanting to explain to me what it was.

I asked my dad about that actually when I got older about the death of Matthew Shepard.

And for many people and it was it was split.

There was a lot of conservative groups in where I grew up that when this would come up years later.

It would be he got what he deserved.

It's the same way that they treated the AIDS crisis, where this is just God's punishment on your lifestyle, quotation marks.

But I will say again, my dad, my dad still opposed his death, saying no one should ever be killed for that.

Like, I don't agree with it.

I wouldn't align.

But my dad would be the person if I came out as a lesbian, he'd throw me out of the house.

He wouldn't kill me or support somebody killing me, but he'd throw me out of the house and cut off all support until I repented.

My dad wrote a book about it.

At the time that he wrote it, he wrote it in the very early 80s.