and neither are allies!

Good morning! Time to go to work, if we don’t want to go back. First, it is time to call and write our Congress critters to let them know we want no human thrown under the bus in the Republican rush to pick on people they think are less than or “other.” Their majorities in our federal legislative houses are thin; razor thin; so if we will let those legislators know what we want, enough of them will see to at least stemming the damage. They have their ways; plus, the Dem minority numbers are big enough to toss rocks in the works, especially with a few Republicans. For more on this, please see this Substack that Janet passed to me:

https://juliaserano.substack.com/p/planned-action-for-lgbtq-and-allies

For the click-adverse, here’s the snippet from which I’m working here today:

I am but one person and cannot speak for our entire community. But here’s what I propose in the spirit of Queer Nation, who in the 1990s carried out myriad protests under the same banner but with no singular leader or directive.

I propose that on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 (the first day that both the House and Senate are back in session), all of us who are invested in this issue and have a platform (whether it be a blog, newsletter, column, podcast, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.) publish a piece with the shared title: “LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back.” Yes, I know, it’s a cheesy title, but it holds Democrats accountable to their own talking points and makes it clear that backsliding on LGBTQ+ rights is nonnegotiable for us.

What you write or say or express in your op-ed or article or video or podcast etcetera is up to you. I encourage you to make it personal and feel free to tailor it to your audience. My only request (other than all of us using the same title) is that you implore people to contact their Congressperson and Senators (and perhaps even local politicians) and tell them that 1) you will not tolerate any backpedaling on LGBTQ+ rights whatsoever, and 2) if they fail to strongly stand up against these attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, then you will take your vote elsewhere next election. (snip-More)

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm , and https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative are where we can write and call our Congress critters. WordPress keeps capitalizing and separating that wonderful compound word, not me, btw. Anyway, there is that. It can be a thing, and it should be, and we can make it a thing. More on that in the Substack linked and snipped above.

So, as to allies going back. For myself, if my friends are somehow rolled back, I will have to resist in different ways than I did in the past, except for the bothering of Congress critters, which continues apace. The past was fun and dangerous and sometimes more fun because it was dangerous but none of us got hurt or even threatened with arrest, unlike some places we read about in history and more recent times. I wrote a whole thing about those experiences, but it seemed to overshadow this, so some other time. Meanwhile, I’m going to schedule this, then copy it to my Substack, then letter blast some Congress critters, then Go To Bed. I’ve stayed up late most of the long weekend, but that doesn’t work well for me, so.

I encourage Scottie and Randy to post something with this title, and to make a call or send an email if they have time. I encourage any other blogger who reads this to please post something with this title, and also to bother your Congress critters about treating people the way they want to be treated, and opposing bills and resolutions that divide and “other” We the People. I hope we all have a great day, and get something done! And, thank you Janet, for passing this along!