Ring out the old; prepare for the new

After a year of extremes in 2024, we have to be ready to fight for community in the years ahead

I feel sure we won’t forget the year 2024 any time soon. Aside from the madness of the election, it’s been a year of extremes.

Let’s start with the climate: 2024 is the hottest year on record, with global temperatures exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius — that’s 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit — above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.

Temperatures are not the only thing heating up. Across the country, LGBTQ rights are under fire. According to the ACLU, there are 574 anti-LGBT bills that have already been introduced into state legislatures.

That’s a lot, but of those, most likely only a handful will see a vote.

Still, that doesn’t mean we can afford to sit back and watch. In the current political climate, we have to push harder than ever to maintain our rights.

It would be hard to look forward toward the new year without acknowledging the elephant in the room — a big, orange elephant.

It seems we are headed into uncertain and frankly surreal times. When we have an administration appointing a vaccine denier to watch over our country’s health education and welfare, we have truly “jumped the shark.”

Does that mean we should pack up our rainbow flags and leave?

I have friends who have already made arrangements to move to Curaçao and others who have moved to Belize. But I have neither the wherewithal nor the desire to move out of the country like that.

I have worked most of my 74 years to build a life for myself and my partner here in Texas. I have been an activist for much of that time as well, and I’m not throwing all that work away.

Here’s the way I see it: Yes, the incoming administration is a circus. But it is a circus we’ve seen before.

Luckily, the wheels of government move slowly, and much of the insane agenda we’ve been hearing about will not happen.

That being said, we have to acknowledge that some of that agenda will come to fruition.

I have lived through this crap before. I survived gay bar raids, the pink panic, don’t ask don’t tell, Ronald Regan and two Bushes.

I may be tired, but I am resilient. And I will not give up. I will not retreat into the closet, put away my kink and leather and try to blend in.

I will not disappear.

I am a stubborn old mule, and giving up runs counter to everything I believe.

If you are feeling despair, know that you are not alone. But also know that wallowing in pity and fear will achieve nothing.

Get involved. Get political. Get busy in your community.

Get involved in local elections. Those officials actually have more effect on your lives than you realize.

In other words, end the pity party and do something.

Volunteer with local organizations. Help out at events and with civic organizations. Infiltrate the school boards; get elected to city councils; get on the boards of political organizations.

Stay out and stay proud. March in the streets if necessary. There is far too much to do to sit around and mope and doom scroll on social media.

Make 2025 a year of grass-roots activism for LGBTQ people, and show the country our determination and our strength.

Hardy Haberman is a longtime local LGBT activist and board chair for the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. His blog is at DungeonDiary.blogspot.com.