A public library has always been considered a safe place, but the Jimmie B. Keel Library located in Florida’s Hillsborough County was anything but that for an elderly pair of women.
The ladies, who remain anonymous, are in their 70s and one walks with a cane. They are a lesbian couple who happened to visit the library one evening to attend a meeting of the Hillsborough County Women’s Democratic Club. Apparently, their small equality sticker visible on the back of their car had offended someone who allegedly took the time to pen a harassing note to the couple.
When the women emerged from their meeting, they found the handwritten note stuck to their car’s windshield. When they read it, they were both upset and saddened by the note’s cruel comments.
Here is what the note said in its entirety to the lesbian couple. It’s a note found all over social media now:
The letter writer is only known as “John Q. Republican,” and we don’t know for sure if he is indeed male. What we do know are the author’s intentions, telling the women that they had recognized their “screwed up” way of being by the sticker on their car.
The writer of the note also told the couple that they hated what these lesbians were about and scolded them, suggesting that folks were sick of the former administration under President Obama. The note also took aim at Hillary Clinton and her unsuccessful run for president.
The writer ended the nasty note by saying they would be casting their vote once again for Donald Trump in a re-election vote four years from now.
There was nothing the library could do, because it was basically a private matter involving another party with opposing views. It upset the women, however, and many others who learned of the occurrence. One of these was Patty Cohn, who also attended the meeting that evening with the kind couple at the library.
Ms. Cohn represented the ladies and read the ugly note aloud for TV’s ABC Action News.
Ms. Cohn was fuming and said that no one deserves to be targeted for who they are, no matter where their sexual preferences lie. Unfortunately, that appears to be a growing problem in the Sunshine State. ABC Action News reports that post-election bias incidents have been recorded by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
These numbers show 1,372 bias incidents reported to police across the United States between November 8th through February 7th. Sixty-nine of those bias incidents came from the state of Florida alone.