The reactions from the Chicago LGBTQ community and its allies to Donald Trump's electoral college win Nov. 8 was initially included shock, revulsion, sadness and fear. However, in the best traditions of the community, those feelings were quickly followed by a defiant resolve to wage a battle against the toxic hatred and despotism a Trump administration represents.
In a letter to the organization's supporters, Equality Illinois CEO Brian C. Johnson stated that the election was "so devastating because we have elected to the presidency a man who has publicly targeted immigrants, children and grandchildren of immigrants, Muslims, the disabled, women, and many others."
The organization also noted the danger represented by Vice President-elect Mike Pence given the former Indiana governor's alliance with radical Christianity and his accompanying desire to eliminate LGBT individuals through legislation.
"We have elected to the vice presidency a man who served as a key architect in an attempt to legalize religious discrimination against the LGBTQ community in every facet of our public lives," Johnson added. "Even more alarming, these candidates, now our President-elect and Vice President-elect, have whipped up and legitimized a fear-based world view which pits a large base of Americans against many historically marginalized groups in our country."
That fear is especially palpable from individuals in the transgender community whose battle not only for civil rights but the recognition of their personhood has been one already plagued by setbacks including anti-transgender legislation passed in states like North Carolina and an unprecedented high in the murders of transgender individuals and violence against transgender women of color.
Greta Gustava Martela is the co-founder and executive director of the Chicago-based Trans Lifeline—a transgender crisis hotline staffed entirely by transgender people.
She told Windy City Times that, between Nov. 9 and Nov. 12, the organization fielded 1,200 calls from transgender individuals across the United States.
"This is about five times our normal busy call volume," she said. "I'm really proud that our volunteers were able to answer so many calls in one day. It's beyond my wildest expectations about what they could achieve."
Gustava Martela noted that callers were "worried about losing their healthcare. It's something we just won recently. Under the Obama administration it was difficult enough to be a trans person. It's tough for folks to imagine things getting harder. I don't think that most of the people in this country are on the same page as Donald Trump, but that's my optimism."
A more optimistic tone was struck by Illinois Safe Schools Alliance Executive Director Owen Daniel-McCarter.
"Despite the deep fear our communities are feeling, this week the Alliance has experienced moments of profound hope," he wrote in a letter to the community. "Just this morning, we trained all staff at New Trier High School and were stunned to receive a standing ovation from tearful teachers and administrators who just kept saying: 'thank you for existing.'"
"In the midst of the confusion, angst and sinking reality that all that we hold dear—inclusivity, equity and justice—has been shaken to the core, let's remember to support and affirm each other," Crossroads Fund Executive Director Jeanne Kracher stated. "In the aftermath of an election cycle that exposed a divided country, we commit to continuing to create resources, space, and dialogue for communities to plan, think, dream, and make change. It's time to keep moving."
There were similar words of defiant resolve from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago ( AFC ) and Howard Brown Health.
"As we try to make sense of the election results and their implications, we avow the fundamental values rooted in Howard Brown Health's mission," Howard Brown Health President and CEO David Ernesto Munar wrote in a statement. "As an organization, Howard Brown upholds a steadfast commitment to healthcare equity for all people regardless of their race/ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. We celebrate diversity and rejoice in the creativity and resilience we possess as a community of racial/ethnic, gender, and sexual minorities."
"Our lives as diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning people matter. Our fight against oppression, stigma and discrimination matters," he added. "Our mission to support health and wellness among the people in our community remains at our core."
"We are AIDS advocates. We FIGHT BACK," AFC Director of Communications Brian Solem asserted. "We fight for women to be treated with respect. We fight for Black lives, trans lives, Latinx lives, and Black gay men's lives. We fight to support immigrants. We fight for the National AIDS Strategy. We fight for the Affordable Care Act. The AIDS Foundation of Chicago is committed like never before for fighting for equity and justice for people living with and vulnerable to HIV and related chronic diseases."
In her statement, Affinity Community Services Executive Director Imani Rupert Gordon offered a few solutions as to how that fight should be conducted.
"More than ever before, it is important that we work in coalition with one another, as individuals and as organizations," she wrote. "We need to support groups doing the work that needs to be done in this world. We need to give what we can. Our time, our money, our expertise. We need to join the boards of organizations that mean something to us. We need to be active on the boards that we are on. We need to support our friends, families, communities and networks to do the same and contribute to their communities. We need to mentor. We need to listen. This work is not cheap. It's not easy. There are no short cuts. And it cannot be done alone."
Rep Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, who serves as vice-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus on Capitol Hill, may face an uphill battle beginning Jan. 20 but his statement echoed the community's resolve.
"To those who still don't think their voices are being heard by those who represent them, we must keep fighting for what is right," he wrote. "The work to promote opportunity and ensure equality and justice for all continues."
Transgender individuals in crisis are urged to contact the Trans Lifeline at ( 877 ) 565-8860.
