A gay man who lives in Washington State has been branded ‘a spoiled brat’ after demanding his entire family stop voting Republican and forcing his father to leave the GOP.
Ryan Short, 42, was speaking to his 80-year-old father Richard, a veteran who lives in Dallas, Texas, when he discovered his dad was still a Republican.
‘We were just having one of our random catch-ups and he just casually said, ‘I’m still Republican,” Short said, with his dad reaffirming his stance after Ryan pointed out what he sees as the GOP’s rhetoric against LGBTQ people.
The next day, Short fired off an email to dozens of family members saying ‘you cannot vote for the GOP and continue to have a relationship with me. No exceptions.’
He added: ‘The safety and peace of me, my husband, and my community is baseline, non-negotiable, and unrelated to politics. To vote GOP is to divide the family.’
Ryan Short (pictured left), 42, was having a conversation with his 80-year-old father Richard (pictured right), a veteran who lives in Dallas, Texas. When his father said he was a Republican, he asked his entire family to stop voting GOP
He also claimed he was ‘inviting no dialogue’ and had ‘no interest in nuance.’
Short told Insider that at 42, he didn’t want to ‘waste any more time on things that aren’t bringing light to my life.’
‘This letter was a boundary, not a persuasion,’ he added. ‘It was not intended to persuade anyone.’
He tweeted out the email, as well as a negative reaction from a family member, with it gaining over 15,000 likes.
However, many were enraged by his post, with one user commenting ‘you’re an ungrateful disrespectful brat and I’m sure your parents regret having you after that hateful letter.’
Another called it ‘narcissistic and painful to read. I had to write a letter when younger because my family was aggressively trying to ‘un-gay’ me for several years. Would that our greatest dispute was over politics. Feels a whole generation has no idea what actual discrimination looks like.’
Short, however, has seen positives from posting the letter, noting that young people who are of various identities have been asking if they could use it themselves.
‘I was like, ‘go for it, man, like open-source that s**t! We’re only free if we’re all free.”
Short sent the email to dozens of family members saying ‘you cannot vote for the GOP and continue to have a relationship with me. No exceptions.’
Short wanted people to know that he has several LGBTQ relatives and even those who aren’t are supportive – but thinks their political beliefs let them down.
‘We don’t have anyone in my family that doesn’t like the queer family, or doesn’t support issues, it’s just one specific action of voting for the people that do.’
Short, whose Twitter account is currently suspended, said he received mostly positive responses and affirmations from family members who agreed to stop voting Republican.
He even eventually got his father on his side, despite an initial reaction he described as given ‘quickly, without thinking.’
‘Family is family,’ Richard Short said. ‘Being a hard head, I’m a little bit hard to get through to,’ Richard Short said. ‘But then I’m one of these people, I’ll sit back, reflect and think on what I said, and I’m very quick to apologize.’
He not only agreed not to vote GOP any longer, he resigned from the Collin County Republican club where he was a member.
‘I was so worried that I had lost my son.’ Richard Short said. ‘And luckily, I have a son in Ryan who accepted my sincere, open, and honest apology.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk