If ever there was a time to speak up, it’s now. Calling all allies…

Friday. Today I got up and had coffee and sat reading my chapter homework for later tonight. 

I tended to little chores in my home and added to the family grocery list. 

I went to work and put in a full day of phone calls and answering questions. A lot of that time was spent being called condescending pet names a man reserves only for women and never used to address male counterparts or male receptionists even.

I came home and was a present member in my family’s life for a brief moment to enjoy dinner together and talk about our day. Then I went back into my homework. Then I saw SB406 was suddenly scheduled for hearing the following Monday…

So then I tended to other little chores around the house and used my sweeping to meditate on the gravity of SB406 - the bill to stop changes of sex markers on the birth certificate in Texas. What that means for the people I know… 

And the next day I repeated much of that. Swap work for a workshop in allyship. 

More homework and worry on Sunday. 

Monday. I’m calling my Senators and urging them not to vote that horrid bill out of committee. Spreading the word to my network to raise the alarm. And go to work. And do my homework. And try to be a present member of my family. 

And I am tired. 

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

—Martin Niemöller

I ponder this over and over.

If ever there was a time to speak up, it’s now. Calling all allies… 

• H from East Texas Rainbow Network