People who have generally followed me the past year know that I am an activist. I support queer rights, I believe in BLM and ACAB, and I absolutely believe in a free Palestine. Racism, colonialism, queerphobia and bigotry do not have a place anywhere.
However, today is a hard day for a lot of non-white folk in the United States. Today, very early this morning, it was announced Donald Trump won the election. But as I write this, there's a lot of circumstances that call into question the results. Allegations of Trump rigging the vote, paying to contest 20 million democratic votes have started popping up. And personally, after 2020's vote being a record turnout and 2024 being stated to break that record, it's absolutely suspicious. Considering how petty Trump has been within the last four years, it's not impossible.
Regardless, even if Harris won, there are still a lot of issues. Both Trump and Harris support Israel in carrying out the Palestinian genocide. Nothing is being done to help the Sudanese people. Colonialism is being pushed to spread capitalism, the system that values money more than human lives. It's being reflected at its worst here in the United States, where political violence often results in the deaths of people of color and queers. Hell, the current state of transgender healthcare is constantly being threatened. In Florida, govenor DeSantis has banned books that don't support republican views, including things like Fahrenheit 451, or anything talking about queer folk. Things have been getting very tense politically in the States for the past decade now. Harris won't fix anything. If anything, she will keep the same, racist, queerphobic status quo. Trump, however, will actively make things worse. He has when he was president in 2016. What's even scarier, is an ex-member of the Heritage Foundation, an organization behind Project 2025 (a project that details a plan for Trump to take over the government, turn it into a dictatorship, strip the rights of women, people of color and queers, reversing everything progressive we've done within the past 200 years), has expressed support for Harris. That's not good news.
I've personally been struggling since George Floyd's death to keep hope in seeing things get better in the States. His unjust death radicalized me into seeing the suffering of everyone around me, including myself. It made me realize that society is failing everyone. Unfortunately, we are currently living through a historical moment in the States. To give up now though, would in simple and cheesy terms, mean evil wins. And they're evil.
Conservatives in the States are the enbodiment of evil to me. They do not like anyone who isn't a straight, cisgender man. If you're a cis woman, they want control over you. If you're a person of color, they either want you dead or to return to slavery. If you're queer, they want you dead, period. And this isn't even touching what they think of mental health, where they would rather throw those facing mental illness and disabilities into a corner and forget they ever existed. The only thing they truly have ever loved is money, which is why all of their "good" policies are formatted to be "beneficial" for any business, but in reality, it's for enpowering the rich. This isn't to say that the Democratic party is better, because they're horrible too. They promise change, only to do nothing. In the States, conservatives are the far-right. The Democratic party isn't even left-wing, they're centrist. They'd rather say "we can have a little bit of racism, to appease the conservatives" instead of disincentivizing it. This is what they're doing with the Palestinian genocide right now. It doesn't matter if you're "one of the good blacks and/or queers." It never did. If you look at World War 2, Hitler employed a lot of the same tactics that Trump is using right now. Hell, both parties are. The United States is failing its people.
Undeniably, everything is horrific. Things will be getting worse for the next four years, no matter what. But it's also why we need to keep going. Whether it be through hope, spite, or whatever else, we need to stay alive.
Conservatives want us to be afraid and silent. In the most basic of terms, they believe us to be under their control. But this isn't true. It never was. It's more important now than ever to flaunt yourself. We've come so far a hundred years ago. To quit now would deny not only yourself, but the rest of your queer neighbors and folks of color that freedom and happiness that the States falsely promised. The States were founded on racism, slavery and genocide, but the fact that slavery was illegal outside of prisons is impressive. Gay marriage was legalized in 2015. Information about queer folk has become so widespread, we're impossible to ignore anymore. Everyone is more knowledgeable now than ever about the genocides happening right now in our world. No longer can the government lie to the faces of their people and believe it, now that the internet connects everyone in any part of the world together. It's undeniably easier to understand that the politicians in the States were never your friend. They lie, cheat, and push hate to get power. The number one tool conservatives loathe is knowledge and unity. They'll do anything to make sure their opponents do not have it. This is why they would attempt to pass laws pushing for censorship.
The odds are stacked against everyone. People are scared, tired and afraid for their friends and their own lives. But we have to keep fighting. If not for ourselves, for the future that the people of tomorrow deserve. One day, we won't have to fight anymore. But until then, you have to be unabashedly queer. You have to unite and stand with your people of color, together. You have to stand against the violence towards those simply trying to exist. Protect yourself, and protect others. Fight for a love-filled world, where everyone is free to be themselves.
The cycle cannot continue. You are loved, and not alone.