There’s no way around it tonight; I’m pissed. As we prepare to head to Florida to see family for Spring Break, I read that the governor there is planning to do even more to add to the stress and anxiety of some of the most marginalized people in his state. And it’s part of a growing, troubling trend around the nation.
People much more knowledgeable than I have been tracking the restrictions on people’s bodies which are moving through state houses across the country. Whether it’s limiting access to reproductive medicine or dictating who gets to have what kind of health care, we are quickly moving toward a reality where we don’t get to decide who is a human and who is a subject of the state.
And, as I told some online friends earlier tonight, I feel helpless. Sure, I donated to causes and bought some t-shirts to wear while we’re in the Sunshine State, but what more can a person like me, who lives in a place which respects and protects an individual’s right to make the choices for themselves they deem appropriate, do to make the changes necessary to let a person live as they want to live? I don’t really know. So, I’m asking here. Because it’s the platform I have.
But I feel like I need to do more. We all need to do more. When bathroom bans were proposed in Indiana in 2015, CEOs like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff pressured other corporate giants to band together to prevent the laws from staying in place. It happened in Georgia and North Carolina, too. But where are they now? How come our corporate titans haven’t spoken out now? When Disney tried to stand up for its employees, nobody stood with them. Why? What has changed in the years since? Except for everything.
Like I mentioned briefly in last night’s post, we have fundamentally failed to protect the least of us when we had the opportunity. And the assaults on them are getting more pronounced. I ask, again, what are we to do? I honestly don’t know where to start. Pressure politicians? Sure. Push corporations to speak out? Hell yes. Support candidates who will repeal these backwards laws. Obviously. But without a unified coalition, speaking as one, we are going to be a bunch of tiny little voices shouting at a jet engine.
Whether you know it or not, someone in your life is scared about what’s happening. It might even be you. I know I’m afraid, and none of these laws put any direct restrictions on my body. Yet. I cannot emphasize this enough: Those of us with privilege need to be using it. Now. Tonight. Do something right this second to make this better. It could be sharing your own rant-y blog post like this. Posting a note about protecting people to your professional network on LinkedIn. Tweeting (gawdforbid) your opposition to laws like this out to your followers, if you still have an audience there. But enough is enough. Our silence is complicity to the current and future marginalization of an already at-risk population. If you care about people — all people — now’s the time to show it.
Nazi Driver
22 March 2023
HAshtag activism.
There’s no way around it tonight; I’m pissed. As we prepare to head to Florida to see family for Spring Break, I read that the governor there is planning to do even more to add to the stress and anxiety of some of the most marginalized people in his state. And it’s part of a growing, troubling trend around the nation.
People much more knowledgeable than I have been tracking the restrictions on people’s bodies which are moving through state houses across the country. Whether it’s limiting access to reproductive medicine or dictating who gets to have what kind of health care, we are quickly moving toward a reality where we don’t get to decide who is a human and who is a subject of the state.
And, as I told some online friends earlier tonight, I feel helpless. Sure, I donated to causes and bought some t-shirts to wear while we’re in the Sunshine State, but what more can a person like me, who lives in a place which respects and protects an individual’s right to make the choices for themselves they deem appropriate, do to make the changes necessary to let a person live as they want to live? I don’t really know. So, I’m asking here. Because it’s the platform I have.
But I feel like I need to do more. We all need to do more. When bathroom bans were proposed in Indiana in 2015, CEOs like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff pressured other corporate giants to band together to prevent the laws from staying in place. It happened in Georgia and North Carolina, too. But where are they now? How come our corporate titans haven’t spoken out now? When Disney tried to stand up for its employees, nobody stood with them. Why? What has changed in the years since? Except for everything.
Like I mentioned briefly in last night’s post, we have fundamentally failed to protect the least of us when we had the opportunity. And the assaults on them are getting more pronounced. I ask, again, what are we to do? I honestly don’t know where to start. Pressure politicians? Sure. Push corporations to speak out? Hell yes. Support candidates who will repeal these backwards laws. Obviously. But without a unified coalition, speaking as one, we are going to be a bunch of tiny little voices shouting at a jet engine.
Whether you know it or not, someone in your life is scared about what’s happening. It might even be you. I know I’m afraid, and none of these laws put any direct restrictions on my body. Yet. I cannot emphasize this enough: Those of us with privilege need to be using it. Now. Tonight. Do something right this second to make this better. It could be sharing your own rant-y blog post like this. Posting a note about protecting people to your professional network on LinkedIn. Tweeting (gawdforbid) your opposition to laws like this out to your followers, if you still have an audience there. But enough is enough. Our silence is complicity to the current and future marginalization of an already at-risk population. If you care about people — all people — now’s the time to show it.
See you tomorrow?