When you surround yourself around people who would hate your guts if they knew the truth, you’d be secretive too. He was in too deep in his church and political party to be comfortable as being himself outwardly.

I encourage everyone to be kinder with people you disagree with. When it comes to political discourse especially, it’s very easy to call people names or overgeneralize, but it’s not as constructive. Just the other day I saw someone with a shirt with something along the lines of “every socialist is a dictator in disguise.” Similarly, not every Republican or person who votes Republican is a fascist/nationalist Christian. When talking to my dad, I try to represent a wide range of beliefs on issues in order to bring him out of his fox news bubble. It’s got him to consider looking at the party platforms and to consider voting for policy instead of color.

It’s genuinely terrible that this person was drove to suicide, and I fully believe that the people who were responsible didn’t care about the ramifications of what they were doing. Be better, when someone is shown to be hypocritical, try to understand why and instead of generalizing, name calling, and taunting try to spread acceptance and open a conversation about what needs to change.