I remember around 2005-ish walking through the grocery store parking lot and noticing nearly every car had one of those "W" stickers on it. If you remember, George W. Bush campaigned in those days with a lot of "traditional marriage" and "family values" talk. Basically using fear of the gays for votes. When all those "W" stickers starting appearing it felt homophobic to me. That "W" meant all these people were taking a stand... against me and my kind.
It sucked. But I accepted it. We accepted it. Those were different times. We grew up in a culture that did not accept us. We were used to feeling "less than." I couldn't even fathom that a decade later one might spot a same sex couple holding hands in the park, in broad day light even, right here in Nashville, Tennessee. No idea that gay marriage would be legal and that I would even be engaged. Didn't seem even remotely possible. So all those "W" stickers... what was a gay guy gonna do?
Every single cabinet member that Trump has chosen so far has an anti-gay record. Some of them pretty extreme. That's the impending era. But there's one huge difference between what's ahead and where we've been -- something the new anti-gay government doesn't see coming: we've tasted freedom.
We've been living our lives with more equality. Celebrities and athletes have come out. Trans people, while still struggling, are more visible. Most Americans are now fine with same sex marriage. Millennials are the most liberal generation yet. Whatever amount of intolerance acceptance we were putting up with a decade ago has been cast aside for a new gay world.
If you thought we tough and persistent during Stonewall and the AIDS crisis, we're about to blow the minds of bigots who think we are about to shrink back into a closet. We are organized, we are many and the majority of America is on our side.
Try and come for us mother fuckers.