When I first sat down to write another column, I wasn’t really sure where to start or what to write about. But the truth is, after the events of this past month and week, I cannot seem to think about anything else. The state of the United States right now is horrendous. There are mass shootings occurring on a daily basis, queer and trans-rights are severely at risk and women have lost the right to decide what is best for their own bodies.
The thought of what the future may hold for this country is something that gives me an immense amount of anxiety because no one is safe, unless they are a cis-gendered, straight, white male. Before our very eyes, basic human rights are being stripped away, and to call it unsettling is an understatement.
As of right now, we have just finished the third month of 2023. Within that time span, 434 bills have been made that specifically target transgender people, as well as some bills that target LGBTQIA+ people as a whole regarding the right to marry, and anti-discrimination laws. Four hundred and thirty-four bills that no longer protect people, just because they do not fit into a box of being cis-gender or heterosexual.
While I may not be someone who identifies as transgender, I am still among the 7.1% who identify as LGBTQ. Transgender people have paved the way for the queer community to an extent that is unfathomable, and the fact that we are bearing witness to a regression of human rights in the United States is truly not OK. When we jump onto any social media platform, celebrities are telling us to call our senators to discourage them against these bills and beg them for social justice and gun-reform. But, in all seriousness, what is this supposed to do?
Yes, it can create change and get our representatives moving, but when people begin to lose interest or motivation about doing this, if they even have any at all, we just start back at square one. As allies and a nation, we cannot sit back and watch this unfold before us, we need to do more than that. We need to come together and stand up for these groups that are constantly looked over and torn down. I, personally, do not think it is fair that people, real, living, breathing people, have to live their lives unfairly because it does not fit someone else’s “lifestyle.” The more that we get torn down, the more we see that we all bleed the same.
As someone who has recently had multiple conversations regarding my sexuality and being told multiple times that the community is “too much in my face,” I have realized that when they tear us down, we become stronger. And, if we are in their face, it’s because social justice has still not been reached. Equality should not be withheld just because we do not want to be a cardboard cutout of what they deem “normal.”
The LGBTQ community faces injustices all the time. We aren’t new to this, but we are all exhausted. So, maybe if we are left alone and could stop being verbally, physically and mentally kicked down, we could actually stop “being in their face” because we all want what they seem to have: peace.