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2012 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival - Day 1

In a poignant essay posted to Tumblr on Tuesday (June 21), Frank Ocean broke his silence to address hate and violence in the LGBT community.

“Many hate us and wish we didn’t exist,” he said. The open letter finds Ocean confronting Orlando’s Pulse massacre, as well as the transphobia he witnessed as a child in the presence of his father.

I read in the paper that my brothers are being thrown from rooftops blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs for violating sharia law,” he begins. “I heard the crowds stone these fallen men if they move after they hit the ground. I heard it’s in the name of God. I heard my pastor speak for God too, quoting scripture from his book. Words like abomination popped off my skin like hot grease as he went on to describe a lake of fire that God wanted me in.”

Many remain in a state of shock and horror after 49 were killed and 53 injured at a nightclub in Orlando earlier this month. Like countless others, Ocean continues to grapple with the harrowing turn of events.

He then writes, I heard on the news that the aftermath of a hate crime left piles of bodies on a dance floor this month. I heard the gunman feigned dead among all the people he killed. I heard the news say he was one of us. I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a faggot as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty. That was the last afternoon I saw my father and the first time I heard that word, I think, although it wouldn’t shock me if it wasn’t.”

Ocean came out as bisexual back in 2012. Fans are still waiting on the release of his sophomore album.

Read his letter in its entirety.

SOURCE: Tumblr | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Frank Ocean Pens Open Letter To Orlando: “We Are All God’s Children”  was originally published on globalgrind.com