Are Portions of America Unsafe For You Or Someone You Love?

Or is love and kindness blooming near you?

Innocently enough on June 1st, I took to social media to acknowledge the start of Pride Month. I identify as queer, and I know that no matter how we identify, we all want to be treated with dignity and kindness. So I try to do what I can to support not just communities I’m a part of but all humans in being able to live their lives unobstructed by the prejudice of others.

Instead of authoring an original post for Pride Month though, I decided to re-post this message from Clarie Willett:

I liked Claire’s post because it spoke to the fact of Pride Month occurring yet in a somber way also drew stark attention to the state of things in our America. Claire wanted Pride Month to be a wake up call, and I agreed that that was a worthy goal in this moment, so I amplified it.

Naively, I guess, I thought my post would get a lot of likes, comments with hearts and other positive emojis, and maybe even some written declarations of what folks would do to protect queer and trans people in their community. Instead I received a swift and stunning rebuke - especially on Facebook (for some odd reason).

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The swift and stunning rebuke included quotes of biblical scripture, a meme of a stick figure holding a bible and throwing the pride flag in the trash, comments referencing “grooming” and “pedophiles,” and images of the American flag in black and white with the words “Straight White Pride” which gave me a sick feeling in my gut. And then the kicker. This personal attack: “What ARE you? An ugly dude or a hideously ugly chick.” Ouch.

Personal attack aside, I was really stunned by the sheer volume of hate which poured like a waterfall down my facebook page. Who are these people? I wondered. Where are they? How many of them are there? Are they even real people, or are they bots?

As I’ve written about recently, I tend to engage trolls a few times just to be sure they know they’re interacting with an actual human, in the hopes that it will deescalate the meanness. (You can read about my efforts here). But my Pride Month post had so many trolls that it was impossible for me to take that approach. So with a heavy heart, and in an effort to keep my post a safe and beautiful space for people in the queer community and allies, I began to delete the hateful posts one by one. (Sadly, what also went away as a result were the beautiful pro-queer responses written in response to many of the hateful posts.)

Why am I telling you this.

Well, I’m worried about us.

Let’s look at Florida: our third largest state, with 21 million people (behind California with 39 million, and Texas with 29 million), one of the most popular tourist stops in the U.S., and the home of the “happiest place on Earth,” Disney World. Yet just this week, Nazis brandished their flags along with pro-DeSantis flags outside Disney World. (Read here.) Earlier this year, the Human Rights Campaign (a LGBTQ+ advocacy group) recently said it wanted to highlight new laws in Florida that are hostile to the LGBTQ+ community, restrict abortion access, and allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit. (Read here.) The NAACP recently issued a travel advisory indicating that Florida may not be safe for Black people based on Governor Ron DeSantis’ “aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”(Read here.) Florida Senator (and former Governor) Rick Scott has issued a travel advisory telling “socialists” not to come because Florida is “openly hostile” to them. (Read here.) Like, what does that even mean? And let’s not forget that in 2012 a seventeen-year-old named Trayvon Martin was just walking down the street carrying an Arizona Iced Tea and Skittles and was apprehended and killed because someone thought he didn’t belong, and that someone was acquitted thanks to Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

Y’all I’m queer. I’m Black. Given my political views I might be a socialist. Half of my family is Jewish. And when I see Trayvon’s face, all I see is my son.

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Back in the eighties, when I was a student of American history, politics, and literature, I learned about our country’s evolution away from its hateful, discriminatory, shame-filled past and our journey toward being a more just society for all. I expected this growth to be linear. That the badness of the American past was being replaced by the betterness of tomorrow through the acts of evolved people today.

Maybe at twenty I was too young to know better. Although I think a lot of older folk back then shared some version of this assumption right along with me.

A recent article in the Atlantic is a lovely overview of why what’s going on between Disney and DeSantis in Florida is “the future of politics.” (Read it here.) I think we have to ask, is Florida a bellwether, or is what’s going on there the last gasp of a dying set of ideologies?

This American moment is hard. We would not have asked for it. But it is our moment, so we are the people who have to do something about it. We can’t let someone else decide who we will become.

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We absolutely should be alarmed. But we must also create and celebrate all of the good. So, please comment below about where good things are happening - where love and acceptance are triumphing over hate, and people are able to live with all their differences unfettered by the prejudice of others. I’m sure it’s everywhere, and it’s our job to amplify it.

xo

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