#senator murphy

PLEASE SHARE: If you know someone in Afghanistan in need of help, here's a list of available resources. And of course, you can always reach out to my office at murphy.senate.gov/contact

– For American citizens in Afghanistan: bit.ly/2W4ndaT

– For those with Special Immigrant Visas, email [email protected] or call 1-603-334-0828

– For contractors with NGOs, media companies and other organizations: bit.ly/3y5pO1X

– And if you’re in Connecticut, IRIS - Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services and other groups are in need of assistance: irisct.org

When I tuned into the live feed tonight and watched you protesting your inability to even get a response from the majority party on gun control measures, I have never been so proud to call myself a Democrat.

I was in high school when the Columbine shooting occurred. I still remember watching footage of kids my age dropping out of windows in an attempt to survive. I have lived my entire adult life in an America where mass shootings are common and expected, and nothing changes. And I understand the political reality, and why it's so hard to effect change.

But I am also a member of the queer community, and I have spent the days since the Orlando attack in a state of despondency. I don't just feel sad, and angry, and scared--I feel a sense of hopelessness, that this will never stop happening. There's no consensus among our leaders that people's lives matter more than universal access to guns, and Congress is too evenly divided to overcome gridlock.

So despite the terrible subject of your filibuster, and the somber circumstances that led up to it, I've found my first real measure of comfort and hope tonight in watching 40 Democratic senators name victims of gun violence, tell their stories, and dismantle arguments that oppose change. Tonight I'm watching leaders stand up.

The minority couldn't make gun control laws pass without a fight; they couldn't even get a vote on their two small proposals. But they did have the right to take the floor in front of their country and the people who voted for them, and protest. And they are.

I do not have a personal connection to gun violence. I have not lost any friends or family members; I do not have to live with that kind of grief. But I live in this country, and I grieve for individuals that I have never met. The federal judge who was shot protecting a wounded staffer of Gabby Giffords. The professor who survived the Holocaust only to be killed at Virginia Tech. The couples who died together at Pulse, celebrating Pride. They weigh on me, because they were victims of attacks that may have been preventable, and it isn’t going to stop unless we stop it.