It seems like we are besieged on all sides, like we are regressing, going back in time to a less tolerant world. That is kind of the problem, tolerance. We (and other races, religions, etc) were tolerated, which to me is like saying ‘we allow you to exist’. I don’t want to be tolerated, I want to be accepted as worthy of life, of happiness and of love. We are people, not jokes or objects to be hated. We are not here to walk cis through their emotions, or to convince them that because we exist their existence isn’t somehow diminished. That is their problem; I don’t doubt my life because of their existence. I’m not in doubt of my gender because my body isn’t the correct gender, I’m not confused by my sexuality because others don’t share the same sexual desire.
A lot of people are asking, “What now?” What now, is you live your life pretty much like you already have. Is it more dangerous? Yes, it is. The people that are a danger to you were always there, but they were held back from fear of reprisal. This reprisal is a lot less now that there are people in office who support it, not so secretly. I know our president-elect said, “Stop it.” Instead of a plea to all those hate groups, to end what they are doing, to denounce them doing these things in his name. “Stop it” Two words that don’t end a 2 years olds tantrums, much less an angry mob mentality. So we have to account for his lack of care about what happens to us, and his running mates agenda which is to get rid of us entirely, shock treatments or lobotomies. Not sure what he has planned, at the very least he will try to pray the gay (or the trans) away, good luck on that.
It’s more dangerous for us. It’s more dangerous if we hide, if we let them have an inch of ground. Hate will not get us through, that is their tool. Anger is useful, tempered with love. We will have to stand up to be counted, to give LGBT a strong support. I know in the past I have said that LGB doesn’t have much T in it, that we are often left high and dry. This hasn’t changed, We still have issues within our own group, but it’s time to set that aside for now, to stand together. What now? Same as always, fight to be recognized as real people with real feelings. This is a battle we lost, but there are many battles to end the war, so we have to bolster ourselves and continue fighting. There are battles ahead that need to be fought and won.
I don’t want this, I want to just be a woman, but then I would be fighting misogyny. We all have battles, this is ours. Own it and deal with it, it’s all we can do.