“I’m going to match Jack [Antonoff] and eat a banana while I donate 10K to the LGBT center in Houston also,” Ruby Rose tweeted yesterday, as Hurricane Harvey’s second landfall descended on Southeast Texas with another lashing of rain. Can you guess why people are mad? Hint: it’s not the banana.
Most of Rose’s fans are thanking the Orange Is the New Black star and queer icon for her generosity. But it didn’t take long for the All Lives Matter crowd to start trolling her specific choice of beneficiary. “Hopefully you’re [sic] donations would be going to help everyone down there in need and not just the LGBT community there. People are people right?” asked one commenter. “So you are only willing to help out gay people suffering from the floods in Houston?!?!” wrote another charming fan. “You are a disgusting human being.”
Most of the negative comments don’t warrant a measured response. (Example: “Wow only 10 k ….. Pussy … but i guess you are what you eat….”) But rather than clap back at the haters with a round of personal attacks, Rose has outlined exactly why LGBTQ centers are such valuable places of refuge during devastating disasters.
“The LGBT center does not just help LGBT members in a crisis like this, it does not discriminate people in need based on gender, sexuality, race, or religion,” Rose wrote on Instagram. “It is one of the most inclusive organizations I can think of. It is not as though they check how gay you are upon entry.” She added that, in the past, places of refuge have not always been accommodating to the LGBTQ community, and thanked Texas’s mosques for opening their doors while a certain unnamed 16,000-seat megachurch kept its own ones shut until Twitter pretty much forced them open.
Rose explained that she had also donated to an animal organization in Houston, she just didn’t feel the need to post receipts because “it’s far more rewarding to donate anonymously by a long mile.” Luckily, Rose has experience dealing with bizarre backlash against her personal decisions. Earlier this year, she was compelled to put forward her side of the story after being kicked out of a restaurant by a derisive bartender. Still, defending your sobriety while flicking fries at someone is a bit different to donating $10K to help hurricane victims while eating a banana.
If you can afford to give financial aid to displaced Texans — gay, straight, or four-legged — you can find a list of local and national relief funds here.