Now must be the time to expand our gaze, and extend our hands out to all peoples who will be persecuted under the newest version of American fascism, which comes into power in January. I have been politically minded and active for years now, but now I feel as though I have to commit more, and draw upon the true understanding of politics that I have found over the years.įor too long LBGT politics have been myopically fixated on the problems of “our people,” an agenda set by wealthy white gay men that somewhat forgets that within the realm of LGBT exist women who need reproductive healthcare, undocumented people, people of color, and Muslim Americans. To dig deep into myself and the people around me to find an active and affective way to combat this evil that threatens even the lives of those who sought to put it in power. Not just sitting on the Internet and spouting truths and opinions by curating a long list of things I care about, but by doing something concrete and physical. Now, in new and much more aggressive ways, I must engage. It was a moment of commitment to myself to the course I have to undertake. This may seem strange, in light of the event, but I knew I needed something to commemorate the change I needed to make in my life. The next day, as I awoke to a silent and depressed Los Angeles, I made an appointment to get a tattoo. America’s history has yet again been bent backwards by the iron grip of fear and bigotry toward an uncertain future with the false promises of an idealized past. No longer can I rest easily on the old adage that the course of history bends toward liberty. No longer can I trust blindly in the facts and figures that are handed me, assuring me that everything is going to be alright. No longer can I simply trust that people will listen to facts. So, yes, the course of my life has changed. While the proverbial “they” of the middle of the road political commentators “may not know” what’s going to happen, we already do. “We do not yet know” what this horrible man and his collection of white supremacists and robber barons are truly capable of, but we see glimpses of where they have set their sights: Healthcare, the environment, deregulation, deportation, widespread policies that subjugate the rights of people of color, women and peoples all along the LGBT spectrum. But that is exactly from where I draw my concern.

You may feel this is hyperbolic, and perhaps drear, and the contemporary apologists on both sides of the spectrum of political talk would have you believe that we do not know what is ahead of us, and, thereby, do not know what to fear. I said aloud, “The course of my life changes tonight.” The night of the election, I watched the results roll in from one state after another, turning a red that seemed bloodthirstier with each passing result.

Husky by Justin Sayre