From Despair to Defiance: Reigniting the Fight for Our Community
Like many of you, I have been completely numb to everything around me in my life: my wife, my neighbors, and my family since the results of the election became painfully clear. I have wallowed in despair and fear. I saw no reason to have hope. I felt completely defeated and exhausted. “Another four years of this!?,” I thought to myself. “I can’t go through that again, especially when any media outlet that I trust is telling me that it might actually be WORSE this time around?!” You know what I’m talking about: the whole “no guardrails” argument. And, hey, who am I to argue with that?
I was, and only until a day or so ago, completely paralyzed by an unbearable and unshakable sense of dread.
I have always said to anyone who cared to listen, that among many other things, “if you cut me, I bleed – just like you, I pay taxes – just like you, and if you cut me off in traffic I’m going to be really pissed off – just like you.”
It is only those who actively trade in fear and hate that cannot see what is patently obvious to everyone else: we are all Americans. We are all Humans, living in a society that is, in fact, strengthened by our differences: the cultures we grew up in, our traditions, and our choices to live authentically in the only place in the world where our ancestors and relatives felt they could have a better life.
When my book was first published, back in 2021, my dear friend and publicist at the time, Cathy Renna, secured an op-ed for me in The Advocate. As I sat down to put my thoughts into these words, I immediately thought of that piece and how it still resonates to this day. While I do not claim to be any sort of Nostradamus by any means, it struck me that the issues I addressed then are even more relevant today. The transgender community isn’t just being thrown under the bus, we are being set up for nothing less than total eradication by those who seek to “govern” our country. Harsh words? Perhaps. The reality of today? Absolutely!
Please take a moment to read it here:
But as hard as it may be for many of you – including me! – to get up and shake off the malaise that the outcome has produced and get back to work at defending our community, we simply have to, there is no other choice.