It’s not worth caring about.

It wasn’t long ago that figure skater Adam Rippon and skier Gus Kenworthy were making it a point to make their homosexuality the centerpiece of their time at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

That they’re gay isn’t really a concern to myself or many others. What mattered is that we had athletes on the world stage and we wanted them to do their very best while they represented our country. That’s all we wanted to care about, but Rippon and Kenworthy wouldn’t let us. They, like you, made it political by launching jabs at VP Mike Pence. Before you, Rippon also declined to go to the White House in order to make a statement.

They forced people to take sides instead of letting us enjoy the global sportsmanship free of political taint.

I want to be clear. When I say “take sides,” I don’t mean gay vs. straight. I mean the overall political message that these men forced the public to answer in the negative or affirmative. That they were Olympians didn’t matter after that. They made their politics eclipse their accomplishments.

What mattered is that they took political stances that many people couldn’t get behind. That they were gay mattered very little.

Now we have you. Another gay athlete with a cliche political opinion that shouldn’t matter in the wake of your victory on the national stage. Sadly, you made it matter. You made sure it would matter, and instead of the world uniting to rejoice and celebrate what you’ve managed to help pull off, we’re now shaking our heads at your disgusting efforts to hijack something pure and uniting and making it into one more thing to fight over.

We watch as you step on the flag of the country that helped bring you to where you are…

You showed further disrespect by consistently kneeling during the National Anthem, essentially insulting those who died for and helped turn this country in a place where heroes can be made and success is far more easily attained. You do this, according to sources, in order to protest Trump, as if the entire country deserves your ire because of one man.

Never forget the countless times @mPinoe suited up for the @USWNT and knelt for the National Anthem… she doesn’t deserve the captains band today. She doesn’t even deserve to be on this team. pic.twitter.com/ecTniRZZ2M — Chris Bessenger (@chris_bessenger) July 7, 2019

You feel like you’re making a statement and changing things. I’m happy to tell you that you’re likely succeeding, and you’ll likely push people away from your camp and right into Trump’s.

It won’t be hard to figure out why. Your childish behavior rings more like a narcissist with a grudge than a socio-political role model. What’s more, you’re not even original. Rippon already did what you’ve done in the impotent quest to move the public through sports-based LGBT protesting and, like you, failed to move the needle one iota in your direction. What’s more, a lot of your actions are just microwaved leftovers of what Colin Kaepernick already served up, and when his nonsense was trendy to do in the NFL, the league actually lost 33 percent of its audience.

It’s likely that world’s buzz around you will fade, and your divisive advocacy will go with it like Rippon before you. Using your status as an LGBT sports star with an axe to grind will be one more reason for people not to care about what you have to say. Again, it won’t be because you’re a lesbian, it’ll be because you’re beating everyone over the head with it and using it to draw lines in the sand.

Again, nobody cares that you’re gay.

I’ll write for you what I wrote in 2018 to Rippon and Kenworthy.

The bottom line is that being gay doesn’t make you special, it makes you gay. It doesn’t make you a cultural mouthpiece for the western world, nor does it make you a mouthpiece for the LGBT community at large. It’s a diverse crowd with diverse opinions, and I know too many who roll their eyes so hard at the behavior of people like you that their eyes nearly fall out of their sockets.

Outrage about gay outrage is old hat. You need to understand that we are used to it, and that’s all thanks to braver people who came before you. Outside of your ability to play sports well, you are nothing special, just one more blowhard patting yourself on the back for your identity politics while attempting to paint your political rivals as evil.

You’re gay. Get over it. We certainly have.