by Roy Steele

As a gay man, I’m acutely aware that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community is feeling nervous right now, because I’m feeling anxious too. There are lots of gay ‘survival guides’ online related to surviving the impending ‘climate change’ that’s happening in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately those guides do nothing to alleviate my fears.

From Barack Obama to Mister Big Mouth, Oh My!

I will miss the calm and steady captain of our ship of state tremendously. Barack Obama worked his ass off for eight years, and I’m sure he’s looking forward to a rest and a break. He deserves it.

I’m not looking forward to the nasty and divisive political rhetoric, and the personal attacks, that occur every day because of ‘Mister Big Mouth’s’ lack of self-control and personal introspection. He is riddled with insecurities, an uneven temperament, and extreme mood swings, that makes us all uneasy and wary about our collective future together.

‘Mister Big Mouth’ wants to “drain the swamp” and blow up Washington, so is it any wonder that we’re all reaching for the xanax? We rely on our government to be a dependable problem solver, mediator, provider, and protector. Blowing up the place seems a bit extreme to me.

The gay news magazine The Advocate noted why the LGBT community is under duress.

The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States is a disaster for LGBT people throughout the nation. There can be no doubt that the Trump administration, together with a Republican-dominated Congress, will roll back hard-fought victories and stall the push for ever greater equality. Bleak as the situation may be, however, it is not hopeless — and it is not at all inevitable that Trump and his allies will irreversibly alter the ascendancy of LGBT rights.

Barack Obama Was Our Champion, Mister Big Mouth Champions Himself

In less than a week we’ll have a brand new head cheerleader who received 46.1% of the popular vote. He calls his opponents ‘sick people,’ and they received 53.9% of the vote. ‘Mister Big Mouth’ won’t acknowledge that he lost the popular vote. How can he unite us when he can’t embrace the truth?

President Obama has been the most ardent champion of LGBT civil rights to ever occupy the White House. Imagine how he's going to feel as he hands ‘Mister Big Mouth’ the keys to the White House. That wealthy, old, white, straight guy, doesn’t give a shit about gay rights or racial equality. He doesn’t give a shit about much outside of himself. One reason gay people are fearful is that the most consequential president to advance gay rights in our nation’s history, won’t be around anymore.

‘Mister Big Mouth’ mentioned the LGBT community in several speeches during the campaign, and he says he’s an ally to the gay community. Do you buy that? I don’t buy that baloney.

He has cozy relationships with several anti-gay hate group leaders, including Tony Perkins of the Family Besmirch Council, James Dobson of DeFocus on the Family, and Tim Wildmon from the  Un-American Family Association. Plus he’s loudly opposed to gay marriage and promised to sign the First Amendment Defense Act  (FADA). FADA will elevate and protect the rights of church leaders, religious groups, and their members, to discriminate against the LGBT community in employment and public accommodation. If he was such a big ally, would he approve and sign that legislation? Nope. Would an ally consort with hate group leaders? No way.

The gay agenda has always consisted of ONE word --- EQUALITY --- and that agenda hasn’t changed. Equality is a right we all should enjoy. It’s also a distinctly American value that’s been extremely difficult to achieve. Equality represents being treated the same way, having equal status, equal rights, and the same opportunities that everyone else enjoys. While the premise might be simple, LGBT people, women, and people of color, experience systemic institutional discrimination and ill treatment every day, and it’s wrong and it's frightening.

Mister Big Mouth, Latino’s, And Telling The Truth About The Great Wall

Like us, people of color are very apprehensive about the future, due to ‘Mister Big Mouth’. ‘Dreamers’ are worried that a parent could be deported in the middle of the night, and parents are terrified because they fear deportation, and leaving behind their kids who might be orphaned.

‘Mister Big Mouth’ denigrated and demonized Mexico and the Mexican people, on the day he announced he was running for President. If I was from Mexico or of Mexican descent, I’d worry too.

For nineteen months we’ve been hearing about the gleaming new structure he is going to build, and his entire campaign was built on this pledge. ‘Mister Big Mouth’ promised supporters he would build a wall on our southern border, and said it would cost the people nothing. On January 4th, 2017,  ‘Mister Big Mouth’s’ transition team asked Congress to allocate funds to construct and pay for the wall. Really ‘Mister Big Mouth’? A broken promise already?

The truth of the matter is that building a wall is wholly unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer money. ‘Mister Big Mouth’ used lies, a mountain of misinformation, and fear, to justify building that wall. Immigration from Mexico is a negative number because more people are leaving the U.S., than entering and crossing the border. When people enter the United States and overstay their visa, they arrive by plane, not on foot. Duh!

More immigrants from Mexico are leaving the United States than coming into the country, according to a report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center, a finding that indicates the end of the largest wave of immigration from a single country in American history. 

The shift is the first time since immigration from Mexico began to rise in the 1970s that fewer Mexicans came into America than returned home, the Pew report found. The reversal is primarily the result of a steep drop in Mexicans coming into the country.

The false narrative that ‘Mister Big Mouth’ sold to Americans about the urgent need to secure our southern border, and hire more border guards, and build a giant wall, and spend billions and billions of dollars to do it, is the falsehood of the year. If he goes ahead with the wall, it will antagonize our neighbors to the south, and breed anger and resentment among Latinos and others here at home, and feed another myth that Mexico and Latin America are sending throngs of criminal  immigrants across the border illegally, and that’s patently untrue.

Mister Big Mouth’s Rhetoric And Bluster Sews Hate And Violence

If you attended or watched the campaign rallies for ‘Mister Big Mouth’, you know that he employed bullshit and baloney to whip his crowd of acolytes into a frenzy, and to describe and justify the construction of his great wall. When the rallies were over there are numerous reports about supporters using his contentious speech as a license to violently attack others. They targeted people because they perceived them to be Latino. Attacking someone is criminal, and attacking another human being because of the color of their skin, or the mere perception that their skin color reflects their immigration status, is reprehensible and reckless and a hate crime. Is it any wonder that people are scared today?

The Latino community isn’t alone in their fears. Some of the worst campaign discourse was directed at the Islamic faith. Our Muslim neighbors and friends are concerned about their safety too. They’re also worried about the proposal to create a national Islamic registry, in addition to banning adherents of the Muslim faith from entering the United States.The proposals are unconstitutional because the Constitution forbids any law prescribing a ban or registry based on religion. Unfortunately, that isn’t common knowledge and we have to do a better job communicating that information.

Whenever ignorant politicians discuss or recommend these schemes, they frighten the American Muslim community, and word travels around the world. Whether he knows it or not, ‘Mister Big Mouth’ inflames the purveyors of hate and Islamophobia, and they slander a religion and physically assault good and decent people of faith.

In just a little over two months since the election on November 8, 2016, there’s been an astronomical rise in hate crimes and violence. Is it a coincidence that ‘Mister Big Mouth’ used derogatory language whenever he spoke about race and heritage? Nope. To be fair, he did say “Stop it” a week after the election. Who was listening?

‘Mister Big Mouth’s’ supporters are targeting and assaulting LGBT people, people of color, Latinos, undocumented immigrants, and non-Christians (Muslims and Jews alike).

We know from history and experience that hatred is informed by ignorance, fear and misinformation. I acknowledge that the problems are monumental and difficult to solve. I also don't give a whit about what anyone says, ‘Mister Big Mouth’ is largely responsible for this, and he needs to devote his abundant energy to mending and healing these divides.

Identity Politics And Fighting For Equality Are P.C.

We are all afraid right now. We wonder if our government will be there to protect us? Will the law will be applied equally? Will our rights be preserved?

This uncertain climate makes the fight for equality more urgent today than it’s ever been. Since there’s strength in numbers, we must stick up for each other and stand tall together.

I’m urging everyone to embrace the gay agenda and fight for equality, because it’s not solely an LGBT issue, it’s affects everyone. It’s yours, it’s mine, and it’s ours, because it applies to us all. We demand equality and expect our government to stand with us, and to fight for us, whenever our rights are abridged.

If you watch Fox Snooze  you are very aware of what they deride as ‘identity politics.’ Whether you are Protestant or Jew, gay or straight, black or brown, Native American or Mexican, they scold us and tell us to ignore our DNA, shed our labels, and disavow our heritage. They slam ‘identity politics’ and claim we’re living in a post-racial world, or a gay marriage world, and criticize our identity and who we are, and falsely claim we’re being divisive. Well they’re wrong about that, we can’t change who we are, but we can change the channel, and vote en masse to  change who represents us. What they don’t know is that we can maintain our identity and still be an American, and that’s what ultimately counts.

‘Mister Big Mouth’ is poised to take the oath of office this week and we can’t do anything to change that. We CAN be vigilant and fight for what’s right, and that includes equality. As a diverse country, we have to acknowledge, recognize, and respect what makes us different, because those differences are an asset, and they make us unique, and that’s what we’ve always done, and that's what we do, in these United States.

I almost finished these thoughts without mentioning political correctness. I tried to avoid using the term, but I have to bring it up because that’s what this crap is really all about. Being politically correct is effective, and it’s just, and it’s nice, and it's polite, and it's respectful. It’s what got us here today. It’s how we advance our society, and honor the diversity of our people. It allows us to move forward together, and we feel united as a people and a country. Political correctness fuels our American dreams, and American dreams the world over, and we need to get back to it as soon as possible.

Despite ‘Mister Big Mouth’ or in spite of ‘Mister Big Mouth’ - we’re indivisible. Remember? We are indivisible damn it, and we all want liberty, and will fight for equality and justice for everyone until we win.

Indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all. That's OUR pledge - not theirs. It's OURS.

Straight talk indeed.