full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lyra McKee: How uncomfortable conversations can save lives


Unscramble the Blue Letters


There are people in the world who if they're teinllg you a story need to tell you 19 other stories first before they can get to the point. I'm one of those people. I want to tell you a srtoy about a conversation I witnessed in a mosque, which changed my life. But to tell you that story, I have to tell you another story first, and I've only got 12 minutes. And that story strats in late night, early June, this year. I got the opportunity to go on a trip to the ueintd States with a delegation from around the UK - I was the only one from Northern Ireland - and we were going there to lrean about 'American values'. We were going to be tvirenlalg across wosianhtgn, Florida, and Texas, meeting with everyone from guns rtihgs lytsobbis to religious leaders and LGBT groups, ppeole who spanned the spectrum of aaericmn values. So the thing about these trips is they offer you a nbmuer of prkes. They ofefr you carrots they can dangle in front of you whenever the going gets tough, when you are in the 100th meeting of the day with someone whose views you find absolutely reprehensible and you're really struggling to stay the course. In our case, they took us to denlisaynd, which I can confirm is definitely one of the happiest places on earth. I was in my element. Then they took us to NASA, which, as a Star Wars nerd, I have to say, competed in my heart for the tltie of 'Happiest Place on Earth'. Someone very helpful poenitd out to me - because I was posting selfies of myself at that time, running around Florida in vest tops - and someone very helpfully pointed out that I seemed to have more vests than Rab C. ntbesit. (Laughter) I know the theme of the conference is 'bridges': I felt like burning that one, to be quite fnark. Then we got to go to this beautiful bcaseihde resort called Cocoa Beach and sip ctcilkaos on the beach; it was absolutely wonderful. You're probably thinking, "Where do I sign up for this trip?" "This sounds amazing, it's a free jolly!" That's what I thought it was when I looked at the itinerary. But I had to go through hell to get these perks. I realise that Disneyland and NASA, that these were all ctrraos they were dangling in front of us, whenever I found myself less than 10 feet away from the ciehf orangutan in the White House. (Laughter) El tumrp. People ask me, "What's the hardest thing about standing 10 feet away from Donald Trump?" I think it was seeing how badly his fake tan was applied. (Laughter) I did redeem my cescniocne when I got to Florida, I should say, and we met these lovely protestors, who, in case you can't see, are holding a 'Stop Trump' sign. They were right up my alley; I tuhohgt they were fantastic. Our next visit was to a place called the National Rifle Association. It is all the guns rights lobbyists who come out in wake of every mass stohnoig and defend the right of Americans to bear arms. For a number of people in the group, this was the most difficult part of the trip. They found it very difficult to sit there and listen and exchange views, which was what the whole trip was about. For me though, the hardest part of the trip was when we got to Orlando and they told us we were going to be visiting a mosque. Now you ask yourself, Why would I find it hard to visit a mosque? Well, for those of you who don't have Gaydar, I'm gay - don't worry, you can lguah, it's okay. (lgahtuer) I hated myself for much of my life because of what religion taught me about people like me. And when I stopped hating myself, I started hating religion. But I was intrigued by this mosque because it was in Orlando, and a year to the week that we were in Orlando, 49 people were srgeelhtaud in a gay nthlguicb claeld Pulse. This mosque had led the response to that tragedy and had condemned it. I was intrigued by that. This was at a time when csatihirn chreuhcs in Orlando were refusing to bury some of the dead because they were gay. To have a msuqoe come out and condemn this was a big deal. One of the victims of Pulse that always stuck with me was Brenda mqeaurz Mccool. She was a woman who was out with her gay son that nhigt in Pulse, supporting him. When the gunman ueaslenhd his bullets, she threw herself in front of her son. He survived but she didn't. So I decided that I would go into this mosque with an open mind. I did, and we met with this lovely man called basesm, who was one of the leaders in the mosque. We talked about everything, and eventually, Bassem and I had a cerovisnaton about LGBT rights and what Muslims think of gay people. Difficult, thorny subject, but we had a really pleasant conversation, but neither of us knew what was about to happen next. There was a young man on our trip who I'll call mahumd, a young Muslim man. He was ltsnienig to the ehxcagne between Bassem and I, and when we were finished talking, he spoke up and addressed Bassem. And he said, "My best friend was gay, he was mulism, and he comitted sudicie." And at this point, Mahmud burst into tears. He said, "I did everything I could to save him, but I couldn't." And he told us this story of how this young Muslim man couldn't live with being Muslim and being gay; he felt that the only option he had was to die by suicide. We were all cyrnig in the mosque, I think, by that point. We were all mourning for this young Muslim man that we had never met and now that we would never get the chance to meet. You know, when I left religious education at 16, I srwoe that I was done with religion and I was never going back to it. I was never going to have another conversation that I could not help with another perosn of faith again. When I was in that mosque that day and I was there to learn about American vauels, I ended up getting schooled on my own culture by a Muslim. Because I realised that I couldn't run away from religion anymore. Within the LGBT citonmmuy, we have a saying that we tell people. We tell them that 'It Gets Better'. What I rliesaed that day was that it gets better for some of us; it gets better for those of us who live long enough to see it get better. I realised that I couldn't run away from religion anymore, because religion shapes how LGBT people are treated in the world. It shapes the laws and how they treat LGBT people, which we can see from the lack of equal marriage in this country. And it sepahs how we, LGBT people, feel about ourselves. The first lesson I learned about being gay was that it was evil and that I was going to hell for it. I learned that from the Bible. There were times I would cry in my bedroom as a tgeneear, bargaining with God, asking him not to send me to hell, because I was so convinced that I was going there. This text, this Bible, I know for so many people it orfefs them hope, it offers them salvation, but for me it offered a prison sentence. I think it's the same for a lot of other LGBT yuong people. LGBT suicide rates are through the roof. This is the percentage of trans yuoth alone in the UK who have attempted suicide over the course of the last year. We see these numbers play out in Northern Ireland locally, and we know this from trans youth services, who say they see it play out among their young people. What do we do about this? I feel the only aswner is to change religious teaching of homosexuality and LGBT iuesss. I don't mean we batere Christians and sohut at them or berate mmiulss and shout at them. We need to do the one thing that I didn't want to do when I left school at 16: we need to have conversations, difficult conversations, and fight for the hearts and minds of those who oppose us. I've studied this, and when you ask people like mgean Phelps-Roper, who was a member of the wtrsobeo Baptist chcurh, a hate group in America, when you ask people like this, when you ask former neo-Nazis, the most extreme people, when you ask, "What ceghnad your mind? What made you abandon your views?" they'll tell you the same thing: It was a conversation. Someone who they were opposed to struck up a conversation, and they learned that that person was not who they thought they were, and they got to a point where they could no lgneor hold those vweis. People tell me this isn't going to happen; there's no way the churches will change their teachings or the mosques will change their teahgnics. "You're mad." And I would have agered with them. But six weeks ago, I was out in a gay bar - not this one - with my friend Jordan. He's from a Free Prebystarian DUP-voting family, from "County lnedreergy." I avoid that Londonderry-Derry thing, I hate that. We were out there with his mum, who is a ssttocih Free-P who goes to church every Sunday, and she was out in this bar, supporting her gay son, just like Brenda Marquez McCool was out in Pulse that night supporting her gay son. Don't tell me there's no hope because for too many LGBT young people, that is the only thing they have that keeps them living. And by the way, that Free Presbytarian mother went into work the next day and told everyone about this amazing thing she'd been to called a 'drag show'. (Laughter) Now if you had told me that I'd be sitting in a gay bar with one of Ian Paisley's disciples drinking cocktails, watching a drag show, I'd have told you you were mad. (Laughter) What can you do? If you thought you were here to palsiesvy listen to me rant on: No, I've got a job for you all. If any of you are urnaltobfocme with the thought of someone like me, please come up to me after this event and talk to me. I won't bite your head off, I won't call you a homophobe. We'll just have a conversation, and I'll show you that I'm hamun just like you. If you are comfortable with the thought of someone like me, have a conversation with someone who isn't and try to change their mind. Because you could be saving a life. fnalily, I'd like to send a message to all LGBT young people that are currently struggling, especially those from faith backgrounds. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a ftruue." Jeremiah 29:11 This talk is in moemry of the Pulse 49 and all LGBT people who died by suicide. Thank you very much, folks. (Applause) (Cheers)

Open Cloze


There are people in the world who if they're _______ you a story need to tell you 19 other stories first before they can get to the point. I'm one of those people. I want to tell you a _____ about a conversation I witnessed in a mosque, which changed my life. But to tell you that story, I have to tell you another story first, and I've only got 12 minutes. And that story ______ in late night, early June, this year. I got the opportunity to go on a trip to the ______ States with a delegation from around the UK - I was the only one from Northern Ireland - and we were going there to _____ about 'American values'. We were going to be __________ across __________, Florida, and Texas, meeting with everyone from guns ______ _________ to religious leaders and LGBT groups, ______ who spanned the spectrum of ________ values. So the thing about these trips is they offer you a ______ of _____. They _____ you carrots they can dangle in front of you whenever the going gets tough, when you are in the 100th meeting of the day with someone whose views you find absolutely reprehensible and you're really struggling to stay the course. In our case, they took us to __________, which I can confirm is definitely one of the happiest places on earth. I was in my element. Then they took us to NASA, which, as a Star Wars nerd, I have to say, competed in my heart for the _____ of 'Happiest Place on Earth'. Someone very helpful _______ out to me - because I was posting selfies of myself at that time, running around Florida in vest tops - and someone very helpfully pointed out that I seemed to have more vests than Rab C. _______. (Laughter) I know the theme of the conference is 'bridges': I felt like burning that one, to be quite _____. Then we got to go to this beautiful _________ resort called Cocoa Beach and sip _________ on the beach; it was absolutely wonderful. You're probably thinking, "Where do I sign up for this trip?" "This sounds amazing, it's a free jolly!" That's what I thought it was when I looked at the itinerary. But I had to go through hell to get these perks. I realise that Disneyland and NASA, that these were all _______ they were dangling in front of us, whenever I found myself less than 10 feet away from the _____ orangutan in the White House. (Laughter) El _____. People ask me, "What's the hardest thing about standing 10 feet away from Donald Trump?" I think it was seeing how badly his fake tan was applied. (Laughter) I did redeem my __________ when I got to Florida, I should say, and we met these lovely protestors, who, in case you can't see, are holding a 'Stop Trump' sign. They were right up my alley; I _______ they were fantastic. Our next visit was to a place called the National Rifle Association. It is all the guns rights lobbyists who come out in wake of every mass ________ and defend the right of Americans to bear arms. For a number of people in the group, this was the most difficult part of the trip. They found it very difficult to sit there and listen and exchange views, which was what the whole trip was about. For me though, the hardest part of the trip was when we got to Orlando and they told us we were going to be visiting a mosque. Now you ask yourself, Why would I find it hard to visit a mosque? Well, for those of you who don't have Gaydar, I'm gay - don't worry, you can _____, it's okay. (________) I hated myself for much of my life because of what religion taught me about people like me. And when I stopped hating myself, I started hating religion. But I was intrigued by this mosque because it was in Orlando, and a year to the week that we were in Orlando, 49 people were ___________ in a gay _________ ______ Pulse. This mosque had led the response to that tragedy and had condemned it. I was intrigued by that. This was at a time when _________ ________ in Orlando were refusing to bury some of the dead because they were gay. To have a ______ come out and condemn this was a big deal. One of the victims of Pulse that always stuck with me was Brenda _______ Mccool. She was a woman who was out with her gay son that _____ in Pulse, supporting him. When the gunman _________ his bullets, she threw herself in front of her son. He survived but she didn't. So I decided that I would go into this mosque with an open mind. I did, and we met with this lovely man called ______, who was one of the leaders in the mosque. We talked about everything, and eventually, Bassem and I had a ____________ about LGBT rights and what Muslims think of gay people. Difficult, thorny subject, but we had a really pleasant conversation, but neither of us knew what was about to happen next. There was a young man on our trip who I'll call ______, a young Muslim man. He was _________ to the ________ between Bassem and I, and when we were finished talking, he spoke up and addressed Bassem. And he said, "My best friend was gay, he was ______, and he comitted _______." And at this point, Mahmud burst into tears. He said, "I did everything I could to save him, but I couldn't." And he told us this story of how this young Muslim man couldn't live with being Muslim and being gay; he felt that the only option he had was to die by suicide. We were all ______ in the mosque, I think, by that point. We were all mourning for this young Muslim man that we had never met and now that we would never get the chance to meet. You know, when I left religious education at 16, I _____ that I was done with religion and I was never going back to it. I was never going to have another conversation that I could not help with another ______ of faith again. When I was in that mosque that day and I was there to learn about American ______, I ended up getting schooled on my own culture by a Muslim. Because I realised that I couldn't run away from religion anymore. Within the LGBT _________, we have a saying that we tell people. We tell them that 'It Gets Better'. What I ________ that day was that it gets better for some of us; it gets better for those of us who live long enough to see it get better. I realised that I couldn't run away from religion anymore, because religion shapes how LGBT people are treated in the world. It shapes the laws and how they treat LGBT people, which we can see from the lack of equal marriage in this country. And it ______ how we, LGBT people, feel about ourselves. The first lesson I learned about being gay was that it was evil and that I was going to hell for it. I learned that from the Bible. There were times I would cry in my bedroom as a ________, bargaining with God, asking him not to send me to hell, because I was so convinced that I was going there. This text, this Bible, I know for so many people it ______ them hope, it offers them salvation, but for me it offered a prison sentence. I think it's the same for a lot of other LGBT _____ people. LGBT suicide rates are through the roof. This is the percentage of trans _____ alone in the UK who have attempted suicide over the course of the last year. We see these numbers play out in Northern Ireland locally, and we know this from trans youth services, who say they see it play out among their young people. What do we do about this? I feel the only ______ is to change religious teaching of homosexuality and LGBT ______. I don't mean we ______ Christians and _____ at them or berate _______ and shout at them. We need to do the one thing that I didn't want to do when I left school at 16: we need to have conversations, difficult conversations, and fight for the hearts and minds of those who oppose us. I've studied this, and when you ask people like _____ Phelps-Roper, who was a member of the ________ Baptist ______, a hate group in America, when you ask people like this, when you ask former neo-Nazis, the most extreme people, when you ask, "What _______ your mind? What made you abandon your views?" they'll tell you the same thing: It was a conversation. Someone who they were opposed to struck up a conversation, and they learned that that person was not who they thought they were, and they got to a point where they could no ______ hold those _____. People tell me this isn't going to happen; there's no way the churches will change their teachings or the mosques will change their _________. "You're mad." And I would have ______ with them. But six weeks ago, I was out in a gay bar - not this one - with my friend Jordan. He's from a Free Prebystarian DUP-voting family, from "County __________." I avoid that Londonderry-Derry thing, I hate that. We were out there with his mum, who is a ________ Free-P who goes to church every Sunday, and she was out in this bar, supporting her gay son, just like Brenda Marquez McCool was out in Pulse that night supporting her gay son. Don't tell me there's no hope because for too many LGBT young people, that is the only thing they have that keeps them living. And by the way, that Free Presbytarian mother went into work the next day and told everyone about this amazing thing she'd been to called a 'drag show'. (Laughter) Now if you had told me that I'd be sitting in a gay bar with one of Ian Paisley's disciples drinking cocktails, watching a drag show, I'd have told you you were mad. (Laughter) What can you do? If you thought you were here to _________ listen to me rant on: No, I've got a job for you all. If any of you are _____________ with the thought of someone like me, please come up to me after this event and talk to me. I won't bite your head off, I won't call you a homophobe. We'll just have a conversation, and I'll show you that I'm _____ just like you. If you are comfortable with the thought of someone like me, have a conversation with someone who isn't and try to change their mind. Because you could be saving a life. _______, I'd like to send a message to all LGBT young people that are currently struggling, especially those from faith backgrounds. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a ______." Jeremiah 29:11 This talk is in ______ of the Pulse 49 and all LGBT people who died by suicide. Thank you very much, folks. (Applause) (Cheers)

Solution


  1. swore
  2. marquez
  3. changed
  4. young
  5. finally
  6. mosque
  7. conversation
  8. views
  9. longer
  10. agreed
  11. learn
  12. offers
  13. memory
  14. pointed
  15. shout
  16. bassem
  17. american
  18. trump
  19. person
  20. lobbyists
  21. values
  22. issues
  23. uncomfortable
  24. starts
  25. rights
  26. slaughtered
  27. human
  28. teachings
  29. scottish
  30. shapes
  31. people
  32. carrots
  33. cocktails
  34. number
  35. legenderry
  36. crying
  37. beachside
  38. listening
  39. teenager
  40. called
  41. title
  42. thought
  43. suicide
  44. youth
  45. perks
  46. nesbitt
  47. telling
  48. offer
  49. muslim
  50. westboro
  51. story
  52. realised
  53. shooting
  54. nightclub
  55. conscience
  56. chief
  57. christian
  58. frank
  59. exchange
  60. passively
  61. churches
  62. answer
  63. united
  64. future
  65. berate
  66. travelling
  67. muslims
  68. night
  69. disneyland
  70. megan
  71. community
  72. washington
  73. laugh
  74. laughter
  75. unleashed
  76. mahmud
  77. church

Original Text


There are people in the world who if they're telling you a story need to tell you 19 other stories first before they can get to the point. I'm one of those people. I want to tell you a story about a conversation I witnessed in a mosque, which changed my life. But to tell you that story, I have to tell you another story first, and I've only got 12 minutes. And that story starts in late night, early June, this year. I got the opportunity to go on a trip to the United States with a delegation from around the UK - I was the only one from Northern Ireland - and we were going there to learn about 'American values'. We were going to be travelling across Washington, Florida, and Texas, meeting with everyone from guns rights lobbyists to religious leaders and LGBT groups, people who spanned the spectrum of American values. So the thing about these trips is they offer you a number of perks. They offer you carrots they can dangle in front of you whenever the going gets tough, when you are in the 100th meeting of the day with someone whose views you find absolutely reprehensible and you're really struggling to stay the course. In our case, they took us to Disneyland, which I can confirm is definitely one of the happiest places on earth. I was in my element. Then they took us to NASA, which, as a Star Wars nerd, I have to say, competed in my heart for the title of 'Happiest Place on Earth'. Someone very helpful pointed out to me - because I was posting selfies of myself at that time, running around Florida in vest tops - and someone very helpfully pointed out that I seemed to have more vests than Rab C. Nesbitt. (Laughter) I know the theme of the conference is 'bridges': I felt like burning that one, to be quite frank. Then we got to go to this beautiful beachside resort called Cocoa Beach and sip cocktails on the beach; it was absolutely wonderful. You're probably thinking, "Where do I sign up for this trip?" "This sounds amazing, it's a free jolly!" That's what I thought it was when I looked at the itinerary. But I had to go through hell to get these perks. I realise that Disneyland and NASA, that these were all carrots they were dangling in front of us, whenever I found myself less than 10 feet away from the chief orangutan in the White House. (Laughter) El Trump. People ask me, "What's the hardest thing about standing 10 feet away from Donald Trump?" I think it was seeing how badly his fake tan was applied. (Laughter) I did redeem my conscience when I got to Florida, I should say, and we met these lovely protestors, who, in case you can't see, are holding a 'Stop Trump' sign. They were right up my alley; I thought they were fantastic. Our next visit was to a place called the National Rifle Association. It is all the guns rights lobbyists who come out in wake of every mass shooting and defend the right of Americans to bear arms. For a number of people in the group, this was the most difficult part of the trip. They found it very difficult to sit there and listen and exchange views, which was what the whole trip was about. For me though, the hardest part of the trip was when we got to Orlando and they told us we were going to be visiting a mosque. Now you ask yourself, Why would I find it hard to visit a mosque? Well, for those of you who don't have Gaydar, I'm gay - don't worry, you can laugh, it's okay. (Laughter) I hated myself for much of my life because of what religion taught me about people like me. And when I stopped hating myself, I started hating religion. But I was intrigued by this mosque because it was in Orlando, and a year to the week that we were in Orlando, 49 people were slaughtered in a gay nightclub called Pulse. This mosque had led the response to that tragedy and had condemned it. I was intrigued by that. This was at a time when Christian churches in Orlando were refusing to bury some of the dead because they were gay. To have a mosque come out and condemn this was a big deal. One of the victims of Pulse that always stuck with me was Brenda Marquez Mccool. She was a woman who was out with her gay son that night in Pulse, supporting him. When the gunman unleashed his bullets, she threw herself in front of her son. He survived but she didn't. So I decided that I would go into this mosque with an open mind. I did, and we met with this lovely man called Bassem, who was one of the leaders in the mosque. We talked about everything, and eventually, Bassem and I had a conversation about LGBT rights and what Muslims think of gay people. Difficult, thorny subject, but we had a really pleasant conversation, but neither of us knew what was about to happen next. There was a young man on our trip who I'll call Mahmud, a young Muslim man. He was listening to the exchange between Bassem and I, and when we were finished talking, he spoke up and addressed Bassem. And he said, "My best friend was gay, he was Muslim, and he comitted suicide." And at this point, Mahmud burst into tears. He said, "I did everything I could to save him, but I couldn't." And he told us this story of how this young Muslim man couldn't live with being Muslim and being gay; he felt that the only option he had was to die by suicide. We were all crying in the mosque, I think, by that point. We were all mourning for this young Muslim man that we had never met and now that we would never get the chance to meet. You know, when I left religious education at 16, I swore that I was done with religion and I was never going back to it. I was never going to have another conversation that I could not help with another person of faith again. When I was in that mosque that day and I was there to learn about American values, I ended up getting schooled on my own culture by a Muslim. Because I realised that I couldn't run away from religion anymore. Within the LGBT community, we have a saying that we tell people. We tell them that 'It Gets Better'. What I realised that day was that it gets better for some of us; it gets better for those of us who live long enough to see it get better. I realised that I couldn't run away from religion anymore, because religion shapes how LGBT people are treated in the world. It shapes the laws and how they treat LGBT people, which we can see from the lack of equal marriage in this country. And it shapes how we, LGBT people, feel about ourselves. The first lesson I learned about being gay was that it was evil and that I was going to hell for it. I learned that from the Bible. There were times I would cry in my bedroom as a teenager, bargaining with God, asking him not to send me to hell, because I was so convinced that I was going there. This text, this Bible, I know for so many people it offers them hope, it offers them salvation, but for me it offered a prison sentence. I think it's the same for a lot of other LGBT young people. LGBT suicide rates are through the roof. This is the percentage of trans youth alone in the UK who have attempted suicide over the course of the last year. We see these numbers play out in Northern Ireland locally, and we know this from trans youth services, who say they see it play out among their young people. What do we do about this? I feel the only answer is to change religious teaching of homosexuality and LGBT issues. I don't mean we berate Christians and shout at them or berate Muslims and shout at them. We need to do the one thing that I didn't want to do when I left school at 16: we need to have conversations, difficult conversations, and fight for the hearts and minds of those who oppose us. I've studied this, and when you ask people like Megan Phelps-Roper, who was a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group in America, when you ask people like this, when you ask former neo-Nazis, the most extreme people, when you ask, "What changed your mind? What made you abandon your views?" they'll tell you the same thing: It was a conversation. Someone who they were opposed to struck up a conversation, and they learned that that person was not who they thought they were, and they got to a point where they could no longer hold those views. People tell me this isn't going to happen; there's no way the churches will change their teachings or the mosques will change their teachings. "You're mad." And I would have agreed with them. But six weeks ago, I was out in a gay bar - not this one - with my friend Jordan. He's from a Free Prebystarian DUP-voting family, from "County LegenDerry." I avoid that Londonderry-Derry thing, I hate that. We were out there with his mum, who is a Scottish Free-P who goes to church every Sunday, and she was out in this bar, supporting her gay son, just like Brenda Marquez McCool was out in Pulse that night supporting her gay son. Don't tell me there's no hope because for too many LGBT young people, that is the only thing they have that keeps them living. And by the way, that Free Presbytarian mother went into work the next day and told everyone about this amazing thing she'd been to called a 'drag show'. (Laughter) Now if you had told me that I'd be sitting in a gay bar with one of Ian Paisley's disciples drinking cocktails, watching a drag show, I'd have told you you were mad. (Laughter) What can you do? If you thought you were here to passively listen to me rant on: No, I've got a job for you all. If any of you are uncomfortable with the thought of someone like me, please come up to me after this event and talk to me. I won't bite your head off, I won't call you a homophobe. We'll just have a conversation, and I'll show you that I'm human just like you. If you are comfortable with the thought of someone like me, have a conversation with someone who isn't and try to change their mind. Because you could be saving a life. Finally, I'd like to send a message to all LGBT young people that are currently struggling, especially those from faith backgrounds. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 This talk is in memory of the Pulse 49 and all LGBT people who died by suicide. Thank you very much, folks. (Applause) (Cheers)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
young muslim 3
muslim man 3
lgbt young 3
young people 3
northern ireland 2
guns rights 2
rights lobbyists 2
brenda marquez 2
marquez mccool 2
gay son 2
lgbt people 2
trans youth 2
gay bar 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
young muslim man 3
guns rights lobbyists 2
brenda marquez mccool 2
lgbt young people 2


Important Words


  1. abandon
  2. absolutely
  3. addressed
  4. agreed
  5. amazing
  6. america
  7. american
  8. americans
  9. answer
  10. anymore
  11. applause
  12. applied
  13. arms
  14. association
  15. attempted
  16. avoid
  17. backgrounds
  18. badly
  19. baptist
  20. bar
  21. bargaining
  22. bassem
  23. beach
  24. beachside
  25. bear
  26. beautiful
  27. bedroom
  28. berate
  29. bible
  30. big
  31. bite
  32. brenda
  33. bullets
  34. burning
  35. burst
  36. bury
  37. call
  38. called
  39. carrots
  40. case
  41. chance
  42. change
  43. changed
  44. cheers
  45. chief
  46. christian
  47. christians
  48. church
  49. churches
  50. cocktails
  51. cocoa
  52. comfortable
  53. comitted
  54. community
  55. competed
  56. condemn
  57. condemned
  58. conference
  59. confirm
  60. conscience
  61. conversation
  62. conversations
  63. convinced
  64. country
  65. cry
  66. crying
  67. culture
  68. dangle
  69. dangling
  70. day
  71. dead
  72. deal
  73. decided
  74. declares
  75. defend
  76. delegation
  77. die
  78. died
  79. difficult
  80. disciples
  81. disneyland
  82. donald
  83. drag
  84. drinking
  85. early
  86. earth
  87. education
  88. el
  89. element
  90. ended
  91. equal
  92. event
  93. eventually
  94. evil
  95. exchange
  96. extreme
  97. faith
  98. fake
  99. family
  100. fantastic
  101. feel
  102. feet
  103. felt
  104. fight
  105. finally
  106. find
  107. finished
  108. florida
  109. folks
  110. frank
  111. free
  112. friend
  113. front
  114. future
  115. gay
  116. gaydar
  117. give
  118. god
  119. group
  120. groups
  121. gunman
  122. guns
  123. happen
  124. happiest
  125. hard
  126. hardest
  127. harm
  128. hate
  129. hated
  130. hating
  131. head
  132. heart
  133. hearts
  134. hell
  135. helpful
  136. helpfully
  137. hold
  138. holding
  139. homophobe
  140. homosexuality
  141. hope
  142. house
  143. human
  144. ian
  145. intrigued
  146. ireland
  147. issues
  148. itinerary
  149. jeremiah
  150. job
  151. jordan
  152. june
  153. knew
  154. lack
  155. late
  156. laugh
  157. laughter
  158. laws
  159. leaders
  160. learn
  161. learned
  162. led
  163. left
  164. legenderry
  165. lesson
  166. lgbt
  167. life
  168. listen
  169. listening
  170. live
  171. living
  172. lobbyists
  173. locally
  174. long
  175. longer
  176. looked
  177. lord
  178. lot
  179. lovely
  180. mad
  181. mahmud
  182. man
  183. marquez
  184. marriage
  185. mass
  186. mccool
  187. meet
  188. meeting
  189. megan
  190. member
  191. memory
  192. message
  193. met
  194. mind
  195. minds
  196. minutes
  197. mosque
  198. mosques
  199. mother
  200. mourning
  201. mum
  202. muslim
  203. muslims
  204. nasa
  205. national
  206. nerd
  207. nesbitt
  208. night
  209. nightclub
  210. northern
  211. number
  212. numbers
  213. offer
  214. offered
  215. offers
  216. open
  217. opportunity
  218. oppose
  219. opposed
  220. option
  221. orangutan
  222. orlando
  223. part
  224. passively
  225. people
  226. percentage
  227. perks
  228. person
  229. place
  230. places
  231. plans
  232. play
  233. pleasant
  234. point
  235. pointed
  236. posting
  237. prebystarian
  238. presbytarian
  239. prison
  240. prosper
  241. protestors
  242. pulse
  243. rab
  244. rant
  245. rates
  246. realise
  247. realised
  248. redeem
  249. refusing
  250. religion
  251. religious
  252. reprehensible
  253. resort
  254. response
  255. rifle
  256. rights
  257. roof
  258. run
  259. running
  260. salvation
  261. save
  262. saving
  263. school
  264. schooled
  265. scottish
  266. selfies
  267. send
  268. sentence
  269. services
  270. shapes
  271. shooting
  272. shout
  273. show
  274. sign
  275. sip
  276. sit
  277. sitting
  278. slaughtered
  279. son
  280. sounds
  281. spanned
  282. spectrum
  283. spoke
  284. standing
  285. star
  286. started
  287. starts
  288. states
  289. stay
  290. stopped
  291. stories
  292. story
  293. struck
  294. struggling
  295. stuck
  296. studied
  297. subject
  298. suicide
  299. sunday
  300. supporting
  301. survived
  302. swore
  303. talk
  304. talked
  305. talking
  306. tan
  307. taught
  308. teaching
  309. teachings
  310. tears
  311. teenager
  312. telling
  313. texas
  314. text
  315. theme
  316. thinking
  317. thorny
  318. thought
  319. threw
  320. time
  321. times
  322. title
  323. told
  324. tops
  325. tough
  326. tragedy
  327. trans
  328. travelling
  329. treat
  330. treated
  331. trip
  332. trips
  333. trump
  334. uk
  335. uncomfortable
  336. united
  337. unleashed
  338. values
  339. vest
  340. vests
  341. victims
  342. views
  343. visit
  344. visiting
  345. wake
  346. wars
  347. washington
  348. watching
  349. week
  350. weeks
  351. westboro
  352. white
  353. witnessed
  354. woman
  355. wonderful
  356. work
  357. world
  358. worry
  359. year
  360. young
  361. youth