A young boy has written a letter to Santa expressing concern that God might not love him for being gay.
The boy, named Will, addressed the letter to the North Pole. Each year, the USPS intercepts letters sent to Santa and publishes some of them online as part of its Operation Santa project. It’s a tradition dating back to 1912. This enables companies, organizations or individuals to sponsor letters and respond to them.
The boy writes: ‘Dear Santa, do you support the LGBTQ community and if you can speak to God, can you tell him I love him, and if he loves me for being gay[?]
‘Thank you, Love, Will.’
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Twitter user Nancy Cruz-Garcia spotted Will’s letter on the site and shared it to Twitter. It has had almost 200k likes since being posted on Sunday.
This letter to Santa broke my heart. pic.twitter.com/NWbum1rvaX
— Nancy Cruz-Garcia 🇲🇽 (@Nancy_Cruises) November 22, 2020
“This letter to Santa broke my heart,” said Cruz-Garcia, following it up with another tweet saying, “Ima cry reading all these letters. Kids are so precious. I can’t.”
Sadly, the letter has prompted several homophobic responses.
Based on the writing, this kid is way too young to know if he’s gay or not. And I’m sure his parents have been pushing it on him.
— PsilosDipous (@PsilosDipous) November 23, 2020
Others were more supportive.
To the people saying his parents are obviously forcing the idea of being gay on him, it’s so obvious that he lives in a Christian household. As well as it’s obvious hes been thought that it’s wrong in gods eyes because hes asking if God still loves him. I swear y’all say ANYTHING pic.twitter.com/ai9sXcjQ8q
— Spooky Sunflowers (@ShookSunflowers) November 23, 2020
Some pointed out that young children are often asked if they have a crush on the opposite sex – so why is it so hard to understand that some may have same-sex feelings?
The venn diagram of people saying this kid is too young to know if their gay and the people who ask toddlers if they have a girlfriend yet is a circle.
— Dahlia (@xodahliagrace) November 23, 2020
Some sought to reassure Will and other young LGBTQ people that God loves them.
He does. This myth they God doesn’t love everyone needs to be abolished. Catholicism doesn’t speak for God, and the idea that they do has blinded millions. God loves each and every one of us because we are created from Him. God is love and those who live in love live in God.
— payton (@paytonagen) November 23, 2020
Others have been expressing sympathy with many of the other letters shared by children. Some are coping with parents who have a serious illness or no money to pay bills, let alone for presents.
To read more of the letters, check the USPS Operation Santa website. December 4 is the day you can start adopting letters.
Related: People are fainting over this children’s book featuring a gay black Santa written by a Jewish man
MikeM
I knew when I was six.
Jim
Not buying what they’re selling!!
michel_banen
Me neither. Looks too perfect to surface this time of the year…. smells like a set-up to see how quickly this can go viral….
Roy Ajax
I agree. It’s on the USPS site but the writing is not consistent with a child’s. If you read the last sentence “… if the loves me for being gay” the “for” is more cursive than printed, showing that the person writing it is probably an adult trying to write like a child. There are other examples in there… the “g’s” are inconsistent and a few more connected letters. Fake
Thad
“Will” didn’t give his age. Even if he’s too old to believe in Santa, he might still have this question. Who would YOU ask?
Celtic
This actually moved me to tears. WOW.
boymikefl
Everybody’s got an opinion about everything. People need to mind their own business. Nobody wants to hear what you think. Shut your piehole.
But I do agree, Catholisism is a jacked religion. Be bad, go to hell with a man in a red leotard, a tail & horns. Who believes that sh*t?
Unless the Trump administration & the GOP went there, THEN I’d believe.
bobbyjoe
You might want to know that that letter– and many others– are featured in a new documentary called “Dear Santa” about “Operation Santa” and related services that try to respond to kids’ letters to Santa.
It’s a well-made documentary (and good to see in this time when it’s easy to be so depressed or cynical). Long story short: these organizations follow through on looking into the background of these letters and through donations and volunteer work try as best as possible to meet the requests of children in need.
The documentary looks at a diverse selection of the letters from kids or families and the workers who try to get them their gifts. Among those workers, we see gay and lesbian volunteers, one of whom is in charge of answering the above letter.
“Dear Santa” was shown at this month’s NYC Doc documentary film festival, so it is either in new release or should be available shortly. If you’re interested in seeing good people work hard to try and do some good for the world, you might want to check it out.
David Hudson
Thanks – the USPS website says the Dear Santa documentary will get released on December, 4 – but good to hear from someone who’s already seen it.
JessPH
So fake. I mean, what nine year old kid uses the phrase “LGBTQ community”?!
wooly101
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.
desertguy
FAKE! FAKE!! FAKE!!! Not the words, nor the writing of a child. Just someone pushing their agenda. Do it right way. Don’t involve children. Grow up, you insecure fools!!!
iminheatlikeacat
This looks fake to me.
On the slim chance that it’s real, Santa and God have yet to be proven to exist so ‘he’ has nothing to worry about when it comes to either of ‘their’ opinions.