Unfortunately, no matter how much progress we make, some problems never seem to go away. Bullying is one of them. Kids, just like grown-ups, can be mean, finding little things they don’t like or are scared of about other children and using those things to insult and harm them. Millions of children suffer from bullying for all kinds of reasons, from their physical appearance to their favorite hobbies. And when this young girl got bullied, she decided to seek help from one of the men she admired most: former president Barack Obama.
10-year old Sophie Bailey-Klugh wrote her letter back in 2012, and it was shared on the Letters of Note blog.
Sophie had been getting bullied at school because she was the daughter of a couple of gay men.
LGBT rights have come a long way in America in recent years, particularly under President Obama.
The 2015 decision of the Supreme Court to recognize and support marriage equality was a big step, and we’ve seen increasing acceptance and equality for people of different sexualities across the United States over the course of the last decade, but a lot of progress still needs to be made and many people still have to deal with judgments, criticisms, and cruelty because of the way they are and the people they love.
Little Sophie was terribly hurt by the fact that other kids found her dads to be “gross and weird”, and she wanted to ask Barack for his advice. Here’s her letter:
In case you can’t quite make some of it out, here’s a transcript:
Dear Barack Obama,
It’s Sophia Bailey Klugh. Your friend who invited you to dinner. You don’t remember okay that’s fine. But I just wanted to tell you that I am so glad you agree that two men can love each other because I have two dads and they love each other. But at school kids think that it’s gross and weird but it really hurts my heart and feelings. So I come to you because you are my hero. If you were me and you had two dads that loved each other, and kids at school teased you about it, what would you do?
Please respond!
I just wanted to say you really inspire me, and I hope you win on being the president. You would totally make the world a better place.
Your friend Sophia
P.S. Please tell your daughters Hi for me!
Former president Obama was clearly very touched by the letter, and wrote a reply:
Barack Obama wrote a truly beautiful reply, with phrases like “our differences unite us” really standing out and holding a lot of power and importance.
President Obama always had a special way with words, managing to convey bold and important ideas succinctly and poignantly. He receives huge numbers of letters, and he could have simply overlooked this one, but he took the time to reply to a young girl in need, and he definitely deserves a lot of credit and respect for that kindness. Many people could learn a lot from reading this letter.
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