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'Spoiled brat': Gay man slammed for email urging family to stop supporting GOP over anti-LGBTQ stance

'You're an ungrateful disrespectful brat and I'm sure your parents regret having you after that hateful letter,' a user said

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: A Washington gay man has been labeled as a "spoiled brat" after reportedly pressuring his family to abandon their support for the Republican party and demanding that his father leave the GOP altogether. Ryan Short, 42, was randomly chatting with his veteran father Richard, 80, who resides in Dallas, Texas when he learned that his dad was still a Republican.

"We were just having one of our random catch-ups and he just casually said, "I'm still Republican". Short noted that his father had reaffirmed his position when he brought up the GOP's anti-LGBTQ attitude. The next day, Short sent out an email to a large number of family members warning them that they couldn't support the GOP and still be close to him adding "no exceptions".' He added and said, "The safety and peace of me, my husband, and my community is baseline, non-negotiable, and unrelated to politics. To vote GOP is to divide the family," according to DailyMail.

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However, he asserted that he "invited no dialogue" and had "no interest in nuance." Short told Insider that at the age of 42, he didn't want to "waste any more time on things that aren't bringing light to my life." "This letter was a boundary, not a persuasion, It was not intended to persuade anyone," he added. He tweeted the email in his now-suspended account, a family member's unfavorable response and it received more than 15,000 likes.

'You're an ungrateful disrespectful brat'

The Twitter post wasn't well-received by the users while an enraged user commented, "you're an ungrateful disrespectful brat and I'm sure your parents regret having you after that hateful letter." "Narcissistic and painful to read," said another adding, "I had to write a letter when younger because my family was aggressively trying to 'un-gay' me for several years. Would that our greatest dispute was over politics. Feels a whole generation has no idea what actual discrimination looks like." Another added, "Wow. This is pitiful, manipulative, narcissistic, and borderline abusive to your parents. You should be embarrassed of yourself. Do you know how many gay men are disowned by their parents just for being gay and you’re giving ultimatums to your parents—who evidently love and accept you—because of how they VOTE? Absolutely pathetic behavior. Not healthy. Definitely not cool or noble. Homosexuality is punishable by death in 72 countries and you’ve somehow convinced yourself that a political party in modern-day America is oppressing *you* so severely that you need to cut your parents out of your life if they vote for them? Get a grip dude. Your dad is right. You’re being vicious and you owe your parents an apology." Another user added, "Imagine emotionally blackmailing your family like this and then bragging about it on Twitter. Your dad clearly loves you, too. A shame". "I didn’t talk to my dad for 2 years over something as trivial as politics too. Reconcile your differences through engaging discourse and don’t make the same mistake I made. Life is entirely too short.", someone chimed in.

'I'm sorry you had to say it'

Some backed his Twitter post writing "Thank you for posting so others can use your experience as a resource," LA-based actress Sarah Greyson tweeted. "I'm sorry you had to say it, but it needed to be said!" "I'm very sorry you had to send this," another user commented, saying they wanted to be a "fly on the wall" when the email is read.  While another supportive user added, "EXACTLY. I hope your family wakes up and smell the fascism."

Short told Insider that after sharing the email on Twitter, college students and "trans-20-somethings" started messaging him to ask if they could replicate what he said and send it to their own families. One individual requested permission to distribute the letter in a Google Doc. "I was like, 'go for it, man, like open-source that shit! We're only free if we're all free.'" Ultimately, Short is glad about what he did, stating "I came quickly to a place of feeling very proud for putting that message out there. Especially once people said they wanted to copy and paste this to help their situation."