September 2017

By Mx. Sam Love

I am blessed and privileged to have spent this past weekend in Portland attending a Training of the Trainer workshop with GLSEN. The conference lasted three days, with participants and trainers from across the country—some of the most passionate LGBTQ+ minds, some of the most dedicated ally leaders, some of the most invested and fearless instructors I’ve ever met.

As I was sitting in the hotel lobby late Sunday evening, chatting with the facilitators and a few participants from the weekend, sharing how excited we were to go back into our communities and do the work of keeping our kids safe, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I received a text message notifying me that a Missouri youth had been brutally murdered.

Her name is Ally Steinfeld.

I had never met her in person, but we were members of the same online community. She was so young. Her life was ended so soon after she began telling the world who she was. The reports of her death have been heartbreakingly undignified—using the wrong gender, using the incorrect name, focusing on the perpetrators and the acts they committed.

I’ve heard it said that it’s hard to imagine the impact of a tragedy until it happens to you. A tragedy has happened in our community.

Ally Steinfeld deserves to be honored.

Ally Steinfeld deserves to be remembered the way she saw herself.

Ally Steinfeld was one of our youth, and we failed her.

Ally Steinfeld deserved more from us when she was alive, and she deserves more from us in her death.

Ally Steinfeld, I am so sorry for your pain; I hope your release brings you peace, and may we all be better in your memory.