Cuban-American broadcaster Enrique Santos shared a lengthy reflection on Instagram this Tuesday to respond to the avalanche of homophobic attacks he received after posting a photo celebrating the wedding of two of his friends.
It all began on Saturday, when Santos posted a picture with the newlyweds Louis and Grey at an outdoor ceremony by the sea, with the message "Congratulations and blessings to the newlyweds Louis & Grey. Welcome Baby Ashton!!". The post garnered thousands of likes and hundreds of comments, many of which were filled with insults and discriminatory expressions.
Two days later, Santos decided to respond to those insults with a post that surpassed 3,799 likes and in which he described what he experienced after sharing that photo.
"This weekend I had the opportunity to be present at the wedding of my friends Louis and Grey. I saw them happy, surrounded by family and friends celebrating their union and the family they have formed today. I hugged them and was genuinely happy for their happiness," he wrote.
The announcer acknowledged that he anticipated negative reactions, but not the magnitude of what he encountered: “I knew there would be comments. I know that not everyone understands, shares, or accepts marriage between two men. What I didn’t expect, or perhaps I did, was such a level of hate.”
What disturbed him the most was not the insults themselves, but the profiles of those who wrote them: "What impacted me the most was entering some of those profiles and finding Bible verses, messages about God, and declarations of faith. Then I wonder... what is the point of quoting God so much if you use your words to destroy your neighbor?"
Santos also directed his message to those who believe that his words only affect strangers on a screen, reminding them that hate speech can hurt very close individuals who have not yet openly discussed their sexual orientation.
“When you write 'maricones', 'pájaros', 'mierda', and so many other atrocities, you might think you’re attacking strangers in a photograph, but you could be destroying someone you love from the inside,” he warned.
The message also included a call for coherence between religious beliefs and how we treat others: "Before using God to justify contempt, ask yourself if your words truly reflect the love you claim to profess. Because the way you treat your neighbor says a lot about you."
Her post from this Tuesday concluded with a phrase that summarizes the tone of the entire message: "Less judgment, less hate, more empathy, more respect."
Enrique Santos is recognized by Billboard as the first openly gay radio host in Spanish in the United States, a role he has embraced with a sense of responsibility towards the Latin LGBTQ+ community. Born in Chicago to Cuban parents, he heads iHeartLatino and hosts the syndicated morning show Tu Mañana with Enrique Santos from Miami.
In an emotional conversation with his father in 2022, Santos revealed that his father sensed his sexual orientation before he made it public and that he received his support. He has spoken on multiple occasions about the machismo and the taboos that persist around homosexuality within the Latino community.
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