This is how I cope
I wrote a piece for the GSC newsletter about the election results. Originally it was supposed to be results and what it means, but I realized as I sat down to write it today that there was no way I could write something newsy. The following is what I came up with instead, and I wanted to share it with all of you. Because this is what is keeping me from going crazy right now - this is how I am dealing with the dissappointment.
It’s the day after the election and I’m sitting down to write a news story on the results and what they mean for those who care about issues of gender and sexuality. I have to admit, the election has left me emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. So much of my life had been focused around this election, in one way or another, and now it’s over. You all know the results of the election by now. Who won, who lost, how big the turnout was, and maybe even the exact number of ballots cast in Ohio. So I’m not going to get into that. Quite frankly, I don’t think I can write impartially about the election results right now. Not without crying.
Instead, I turn to the thought that helped me make it through this election: Where do we go from here? It’s not a happy thought or a quick salve to heal the wounded spirit. Things are going to be hard the next four years, maybe worse than they’ve been in a very long time. Abortion may be declared unconstitutional by newly-appointed conservative Supreme Court Justices. Abstinence-only health education will fail to teach students how to be safe while having sex. Education will become increasingly standardized and sap students’ ability to think for themselves. Vital governmental services will go underfunded. And LGBT people will be forced into second-class citizen status as they are denied the right to marry someone of the same sex.
Eleven states had anti-marriage amendments on their ballots this election, and eleven more states have now written discrimination into their constitutions. My own home state of Oregon is unfortunately one of those states. Oregon was the only state where the issue was close, but in the end it fell too, making me wonder if I can ever again truly love the state that I have been fortunate to call home.
So how is what comes next a happy thought? Well, it’s not, really. What it is is determination, commitment, and the power of action. We may have lost this one, but all that means is that we need to fight a little bit harder. We have the grassroots foundation laid; we need to continue to take advantage of that. It is in times of adversity that the most amazing things can happen, that the most effective organizing can occur. I realized, as I waited to hear the election results on Tuesday, November 2nd, that if Bush won, I knew what I would be doing for the next four years: I will be out there fighting for what I believe in. I will be organizing, I will be educating, I will be campaigning. I will be a clinic escort at abortion clinics under siege or I will join the legal team that challenges the anti-marriage amendment passed in Oregon. I will teach kids that there is more to learning than memorization and filling in bubbles on tests or I will protest our loss of Civil Liberties. I will make my voice heard. And I hope you will join me. Because we need all the help we can get. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." I, for one, cannot accept silence.
It’s the day after the election and I’m sitting down to write a news story on the results and what they mean for those who care about issues of gender and sexuality. I have to admit, the election has left me emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. So much of my life had been focused around this election, in one way or another, and now it’s over. You all know the results of the election by now. Who won, who lost, how big the turnout was, and maybe even the exact number of ballots cast in Ohio. So I’m not going to get into that. Quite frankly, I don’t think I can write impartially about the election results right now. Not without crying.
Instead, I turn to the thought that helped me make it through this election: Where do we go from here? It’s not a happy thought or a quick salve to heal the wounded spirit. Things are going to be hard the next four years, maybe worse than they’ve been in a very long time. Abortion may be declared unconstitutional by newly-appointed conservative Supreme Court Justices. Abstinence-only health education will fail to teach students how to be safe while having sex. Education will become increasingly standardized and sap students’ ability to think for themselves. Vital governmental services will go underfunded. And LGBT people will be forced into second-class citizen status as they are denied the right to marry someone of the same sex.
Eleven states had anti-marriage amendments on their ballots this election, and eleven more states have now written discrimination into their constitutions. My own home state of Oregon is unfortunately one of those states. Oregon was the only state where the issue was close, but in the end it fell too, making me wonder if I can ever again truly love the state that I have been fortunate to call home.
So how is what comes next a happy thought? Well, it’s not, really. What it is is determination, commitment, and the power of action. We may have lost this one, but all that means is that we need to fight a little bit harder. We have the grassroots foundation laid; we need to continue to take advantage of that. It is in times of adversity that the most amazing things can happen, that the most effective organizing can occur. I realized, as I waited to hear the election results on Tuesday, November 2nd, that if Bush won, I knew what I would be doing for the next four years: I will be out there fighting for what I believe in. I will be organizing, I will be educating, I will be campaigning. I will be a clinic escort at abortion clinics under siege or I will join the legal team that challenges the anti-marriage amendment passed in Oregon. I will teach kids that there is more to learning than memorization and filling in bubbles on tests or I will protest our loss of Civil Liberties. I will make my voice heard. And I hope you will join me. Because we need all the help we can get. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." I, for one, cannot accept silence.