Once upon a time, I didn’t care about politics. I lived in my own “little world,” and it didn’t occur to me that the changes in our government had any effect on my everyday life. I was like Princess Aurora, living in the forest, blissfully unaware of Maleficent’s curse.
In every fairy tale, there is a day when the princess realizes there is more to the world she grew up in than she ever realized. In 2008, the future President Barack Obama ran for President. I didn’t like him in the primary — whether because I was just so ready for a woman to be president, or because of an innate racial bias I didn’t know I had, I’ll probably never know. But Hillary Clinton had gone to college in Massachusetts, where I live, and had done a lot for Massachusetts children. Although Barack Obama won the primary, I didn’t know much more about him than what I read in the papers. I still liked his ideals better than George W. Bush’s.
On the night of Barack Obama’s inauguration, he gave a speech guaranteed to slay dragons. (Okay, my metaphor gets a little jumbled here, but it was a great speech.) The newly-elected president called for every American to answer a call to duty. He spoke of a woman named Ann Nixon Cooper, who had lived through a time where women and people of color were not allowed to vote:
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
–Barack Obama
I knew at that moment, whatever else happened, I wanted to see where our country would go from there. Within that 8 years, I saw our potential. President Obama made mistakes. Every president does. But he tried — he encouraged equality and discouraged violence. He encouraged congress to pass the closest we’ve gotten to universal healthcare (not sweeping enough, certainly, but he passed what he could at the time). His support of artists ,who were also people of color, attempted to bring attention to the racism still prevalent in our society; it started a long conversation that still hasn’t ended. He governed, for the most part, with compassion. He was, comparatively, the prince — or maybe the Fairy Godmother.
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My children, who are LGBTQ, got to see a White House lit up in rainbow colors. They heard the term “LGBTQ” from the President’s lips. We lived in blissful contentedness, that moment when Snow White blithely cleans the dwarves’ cottage without a care in the world, singing and chatting with the birds, making the best of things.
But fairy tales don’t last forever.
When Donald Trump showed up on the political scene, no one gave him the credit he deserved. We all laughed at the idea of him getting through the primary. How could he? He was crass, insulting, and had run several businesses into bankruptcy. Surely, no one would believe this was to right person to run the country…right?
Apparently, some people did. Like a wicked stepsister he got an invite to the ball.
The night of the election, I stayed up all night. My gut roiled, and my pulse threatened to jump out of my throat. I couldn’t believe that the man who had said all of these foul things was elected President. I couldn’t believe that my kids would have a guy who had done his worst in an effort to destroy the LGBTQ community as a Vice President. Like Hans in Frozen, he’d convinced millions he was a good guy who spoke the truth instead of a big, bad wolf out for himself.
I tried to give the new administration the benefit of the doubt. Old habits die hard, and no one wants their president to falter. But every day, it got worse. I didn’t worry so much about a man who didn’t know how to run a country. There have been many presidents who didn’t enter the position with that knowledge. But they surrounded themselves with people who did. This president’s cabinet picks were, for the most part, unsuited to their positions. He expected the country to run like a business — despite our Constitution, which says it should not run like one. Our Constitution allows for freedom of expression, even against the highest power. Our Constitution says that the president is not an island unto himself, but rather has equal partners in Congress and the Judicial Branch.
And the attacks on the LGBTQ community broke my heart. Bad enough to have all mention of the word LGBTQ erased from the White House website, but to have protections for LGBTQ federal workers removed, protections for trans students removed, and to tweet — TWEET — that trans soldiers would no longer be allowed to serve, felt like the moment it turns midnight and Cinderella’s coach turns back into a pumpkin and bunch of rats.
….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..
I became an activist in that period of time. My LGBTQ children might one day realize that the government doesn’t have their backs; but I always will. I will be a voice speaking to power.
Somehow, almost a year since President Biden was inaugurated, the last administration still refuses to leave us in peace, but I am still here, too. Over the past five years, I’ve refused to avoid politics like a Sleeping Beauty or damsel in distress. I’ve rallied against the previous president during his tenure and since, called out his administration for both committing injustices and refusing to meet justice, and been called a snowflake for it.
For most of my life, I was the one who shut out the world in the hopes it will all just blow over. But like Elsa, I’m never going back. The past is in the past.
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S.M. Roffey is a writer, mother, former early educator, comic book lover, and volunteer cosplayer who lives in the Northeast with her genderqueer spouse and 3 LGBTQ kids. By day she is a virtual assistant to #RevPit’s Jeni Chappelle, and at night she writes adult fiction fantasy. She has studied Anthropology and Early Education, and her personal essays have been featured on The Good Men Project, Shethority, Huffington Post and BlogHer. She is currently writing a novel and blogging about books and writing at www.smroffey.com.
