One British man is showing us all how to be good and loving this holiday season.
Many people got a happy gift in the mail this year when they received a Christmas letter spreading love and cheer. But who sent these letters? None other than Ellis Roberts-Wright.
As a bisexual transgender man, Roberts-Wright knows how difficult it is to be LGBTQ in this world. But instead of wallowing in that fact, Roberts-Wright decided to do something about it. Specifically, the 21-year-old from Axminster, England created the organization Rainbow Cards Project to send letters to LGBTQ people disowned by their families. This way, even those dismissed from their original homes can find comfort and support during the holidays, their birthdays, and special occasions.
According to the New York Daily News, Roberts-Wright created the organization four years ago while recovering from myalgic encephalomyelitis. The chronic fatigue syndrome left him bedridden, and during that time he received several letters from friends and loved ones. That then gave him the idea of spreading love and sentiment with LGBTQ people who need it.
“Not getting Christmas cards is a symptom of a much larger rejection,” Roberts-Wright told DevonLive.com. “It’s not the Christmas cards, it’s that their family doesn’t love and support them anymore.”
“For trans recipients, it’s quite a big thing,” he said. “A lot of them don’t have people in their life who call them by their own name, or address them by the right pronoun.”
This year, Ellis was able to send 4,000 Christmas cards to LGBTQ people. And to him, sending each letter is worthwhile because of the hopeful effect it brings others.
As he said on his website, “I knew I could never replace someone’s relatives, but I figured I could reach out with a little kindness and help them feel like a part of a bigger family; a family that doesn’t care who they love or how they identify – the international, multi-racial, hundred-language-speaking family that so many of us find within the LGBTQ+ community.”
Do you want to get a card from Ellis Roberts-Wright? To get a card, you simply have to enter your address to the Rainbow Cards Project’s website.
Sources: The New York Daily News, Devon Live
