Our existence cannot be erased
For years, supporters of Donald Trump’s platform assured us we were overreacting. With every viral clip of his outdated quips about gender, our stomachs sank.
But we were told to toughen up. They dismissed his rhetoric as harmless — not hate speech, not transphobia, just jokes. We were told to not be so sensitive, reassured it was all for show, a strategy to provoke liberals.“No real harm will come,” they said. “You’re inflating the problems.” The “real” concerns were inflation, gas prices and the cost of bread.
They insisted we would be safe, that we would go on living as we had. But this was a lie. Words matter. And his words turned into immediate action.
Now, those words can no longer be denied, ignored or misheard, they have materialized into our shared reality — a nightmare for my community.
