I’ve sat back and watched my rights dismantled for the last two years with not a thing I could do about it. I live in Texas, where being out is dangerous at best, and the the new state department language about trans people a little insane. But I can’t put my identity back in a box, put it on the shelf and forget about it. It wasn’t an easy decision to come out. I knew it could effect my relationships. All of them. With my family, with my friends, with my kids, with my partner. I made the decision because I couldn’t live like I was anymore. I was miserable.
I know this blog gets read by only a small handful of the country. I’m inside a small sub sect of romance where most of the people think like I do. It’s preaching to the choir here. But this is why it’s imperative to vote. It’s life or death for a lot of people. It’s heath care and jobs and children dying on the front lines of this war in our country. And if you don’t think it’s a war you’re not playing by the same rules as the politicians. They are making changes that could last a life time while kids sit back and don’t think any of this affects them. The supreme court alone is going to pave the way for republican held policies for a generation.
I’m not upset about the turn out of this election. Most of it went how I thought it would. I wanted people to be better and I wanted Texas to be better but we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Votes mattered in this election. There is an avenue for justice as well as some fight left, but bigger I think than even that were the woman elected last night. Women of color fighting it out and winning. So many firsts for women of color.
From here on out we are going to have to fight old white men for every single inch of our country we want back. We are going to have to fight the gerrymandering and corruption which runs rampant under the orange tyrant. It has to be rebuilt, but it can be. This was a practice run for two years from now, and we have to come out swinging. Ask yourself, could you have done more? Could you have made more calls? Could you have donated more? Could you have knocked on doors? Knocking on doors scares the shit out of me, but I should have been doing it. I need to be doing it. I need to battle my short comings and fight for my rights and the rights of those like me. Because the truth of the matter is, no one else is going to put my best interests first. I have to stand up and fight for myself.
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