Recently I heard someone say that the Trump administration hadn’t affected them at all and I had to do a double take. Really? Not in the slightest? It’s hard for me to believe, if only because the last few months have been an endless stream of attacks on me and others for no real reason at all beyond petty hatred or so a rich donor of the president can make a few bucks.
Let’s go over the last two weeks or so. Nikki Haley, former member of the college's board of trustees and current UN Ambassador, voted against a resolution that condemned executing people because of their sexual orientation. That’s right. Someone who used to have influence over USC’s decisions decided that it would be perfectly fine if I was dead because I’m queer. And she was touted as a moderate, anti-Trump voice of the party not so long ago. It’s just like the “reasonable” vice president once nearly tanked his state’s economy to make it easier to bully LGBT Hoosiers.
Oh, and the “Trump had a bad week” narrative overlooked one little detail. The Alabama Senate candidate, Roy Moore, who apparently dealt a blow to Trump and Mitch McConnell, isn’t better than them in any way. He was previously suspended for telling Alabama officials not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, even if the Supreme Court itself had ruled they had to. He’s also a pretty open believer in the supremacy of his interpretation of Christianity over the Constitution and the law. So now there’s a good chance I get to watch a man with actual legislative power stand on the floor of the United States Senate and rant that we should burn the whole country to the ground to keep queer people from having any rights. Yup, he might somehow be worse than Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.
Speaking of the white supremacist imp, Sessions' Justice Department argued in court this week that employers should be free to fire their employees simply because they’re gay. And the Department of Education is doing its best to roll back Title IX, meaning that the only legal protections I enjoy as a trans person and woman attending a public school are being destroyed in real time before my eyes.
That was the news affecting queer people in a two week span. None of that covers the racism, misogyny, ableism, xenophobia and general scumbaggery that permeates every week of Trump's administration. In the last two weeks the government has blamed hurricane victims for their plight, urged the NFL to fire employees protesting police brutality, released an updated travel ban, launched a raid targeting undocumented immigrants in liberal areas and removed protestors with disabilities begging for their lives in the Senate.
Even then there’s always the small risk of cataclysm in the background. Every day Twitter decides they’d rather see the world end because of a social media war between a dotard and Rocket Man than restrict hate speech on their service. And as the world nears the point of no return on climate change, the administration is doing everything it can to push it over the edge with a coal-powered engine.
The worst part? Every day I have to get up and compete with people who aren’t bothered at all by this administration. With all of the stress, fear and anxiety weighing down on me it’s just expected that I meet all of the deadlines and obligations made for the people who don't have to worry which one of their rights is going to be taken away next or how even the moderates in the government wants them dead. And I know that more than 30 percent of the public sees absolutely nothing wrong with this tragedy in slow motion. I become aware of that every time I have to use a bathroom or walk to class and wonder whether today is going to be the day where a gun-owning Republican in a red hat is going to protect “his woman” from the evil trans rapists in the bathroom.
I know others have it worse. The administration’s antagonistic actions towards queer people pale in comparison to its racist actions, and some people get hit by both. And if I’m worn down, I can’t imagine how they get through this mess.
What I’m saying is that if you’re in a position to give queer people, immigrants, Muslims or people of color slack, please do it. If you’re a liberal appalled by the administration but mostly unaffected, please stay angry and help with the work to keep people alive the government would rather see dead.