Sorry about all the obnoxious bot posts in your comments here, I'd say they're being insensitive but I don't think they can read...

I did read this whole post, thank you so much for sharing with this kind of depth and honesty, it's commendable. While I'm obviously much younger (first year I could vote was 2012), and figured out the shams of the conservative and republican values I was surrounded by as a kid sooner in life, I can relate to a lot of aspects of this, like your feeling like being a fish out of water in Portland.

I'm sorry for all the shit you've been through man, but for what it's worth, you seem to have become a strong, articulate, and convicted person in spite of it.