Election 🏳️‍🌈

November 2016

A punch to the gut, though you expected it.

That trans girl and I weren't too far off. Showering in the dark with gloves on. Me, permanent rib damage from compression and disguising. Her, never feeling pretty enough to walk outside alone. Me, my name scratched out in permanent marker, only a torn, weak girl left behind. Her, unable to fully settle in anywhere in public. For us, this is reality.

November 2020
Frozen fear dripping into the crevasses, slopes, and corners of my every thought.

A baby they can't carry
                 
                   A planet burning fiercely, wholly

A trans girl lands herself in the hospital
after her gender-affirming care is cut at
                     the age of 15

This is HIS world, HIS law now.

November 2022
Blood staining their hands scarlet, their knuckles violet. Disgusting clouds of red, surrounding. A solid cloud of orange, trapping.

A life so futile, insignificant that one paper can make the different between a seemingly inevitable decision: life or death. 73% death, 24% life. For immigrants or people of color or LGBTQ+ folks or the starving or the impoverished or the indigenous: death. It leaves me asking:

what
            has
                     changed
??? 

Certainly not...the rates of trans violence in America.

Certainly not...the increasing rates of suicide and self-harm from LGBTQ+ children as young as 11 years old.

Certainly not...the increasing rate of women, non-binary people, and men not being believed when they find the courage to utter "I was assaulted." When the people perpetuating these crimes are our supposed leaders, it's hard to put trust into others who voted for these predators.

Certainly...not the hidden mass killing of indigenous, Black, and brown women in America.

We
                    need
                                          a
                                                            change.