I posted the following on Facebook this morning, and Facebook immediately removed the posting:

William Lindsey :toad:

@sharonecathcart I'm sorry that happened — if you mean you found yourself at odds with your family after the election. I'm assuming you mean Trump-voting relatives have made you an outsider? I may be misunderstanding, and, if so, apologize for doing so.

William Lindsey :toad:

@davidpnice I can totally understand.

William Lindsey :toad:

@brucetheknife I definitely understand.

William Lindsey :toad:

@murodegrizeco Yes — and this is a recognition so many of us are having to come to now, in a big social awakening.

William Lindsey :toad:

@peachfront Yes — and I do also understand why people work hard to keep up ties to family even when they know full well that family is defective and even abusive. Cutting ties and finding oneself devoid of family can be a frightening experience. But a necessary one in many cases, too….

William Lindsey :toad:

@Savvyhomestead I share your sense of being both exhausted and apprehensive. From October right through now, I have recurring nightmares, horrible ones, about the sudden arrival of a fascist society full of cruelty, torture, murder. I have not had recurring nightmares about this previously in my long life.

William Lindsey :toad:

@jawarajabbi Yes.

Pat 4 Resistance

@wdlindsy @Savvyhomestead

Speaking of dreams, I asked my partner if she knew if Ivanka did a "viva il duce" post to her dear dad on his win or did I dream it-I still don't know.
This is my first time back since the election. This hurt more than Hilary's loss, so I took a break. I was so hoping I wouldn't have to worry about the country and all of us and those we love as I approach my middle 70's but no such luck, so resist I must open a BlueSky acct.
I hope your nightmares stop soon, Bill.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅

@wdlindsy No, no ... for the Klukkerbots to take down the article.

Sugar :verified:

@wdlindsy Just having family is already a privilege, so many people lose loved ones, families are torn apart by war, drugs, unexpected deaths... let's not add to that needlessly with politics. If you love your family that love is unconditional, politics be damned.

William Lindsey :toad:

@InvincibleSugar I think that attempting to put politics over there, as if it's not integral to our lives and as if the choices we make about it don't have radically significant effects on family members, is impossible. LGBTQ family members have tried to tell other family members about this for a very long time now. A lot of us prefer not to be honest about how our choices affect others and about the right others then have to distance and protect themselves from us when our choices are harmful.

William Lindsey :toad:

@sharonecathcart Ah, thanks for explaining. I'm sorry I misunderstood. And sorry that happened. I appreciate your telling me. Others have reported exactlhy the same. Klukkerbots is such a great name for them.

William Lindsey :toad:

@Terypat @Savvyhomestead Thank you for the good wishes. I know that sense that something you may have dreamed may also have happened. I've experienced that, too.

Sugar :verified:

@wdlindsy politics are not integral to our lives. And the choices we make in who we vote can't be boiled down to simple black and white issues. I have friends who supported Kamala, I have friends who supported Trump. I wouldn't be friends with any of them if they were horrible people.

Yeah, there are some people on either side voting for a candidate that represent the most extreme and horrifying example of what a voter could look like, but they don't represent most voters.

William Lindsey :toad:

@InvincibleSugar Politics absolutely are integral to our lives. Ask African Americans who lived for many years with no autonomy, without the right to vote. Ask women who organized and pressed for the right to vote. Ask LGBTQ people whose bedrooms could be invaded by police and who could be arrested on the spot, and who were not for years accorded the right to marry. It would take astonishing privilege to be able to pretend that politics are not integral to our lives.

Sugar :verified:

@wdlindsy I wouldn't be able to ask them because none of them are still alive. You're talking about political issues from many decades ago. That's so disingenuous.

LGBTQ people are not threatened by police coming to arrest them, you're just making things up now. Or do you actually believe that? Is that why you're willing to put politics over family? Because you've been indoctrinated into believing LGBTQ people are actually going to be arrested? Where are you getting that idea from?

Sugar :verified:

@wdlindsy Now... if you want to discuss broader systemic issues, I completely agree there’s still work to do—like fighting gerrymandering, limited polling places in heavily minority areas, or attacks on trans rights (e.g., bathroom bans, gender options for government documents).

But your claims—saying Black people can’t vote at all and LGBTQ people face imminent arrests—are factually inaccurate and misrepresent reality. Let’s focus on real issues without exaggeration, please...

William Lindsey :toad:

@InvincibleSugar

William Lindsey :toad:

@InvincibleSugar History is not ever over and finished. What has happened historically continues to have important ramifications today. Anyone who imagines that issues of race and gender were not front and center in this election did not pay attention, as Sherillyn Ifill reminded us in a statement only today.

Homosexuality was not decriminalized in the US — from the federal level — until 2003, when the Supreme Court issued its Lawrence v. Texas ruling. You may want to read about that case.

Sugar :verified:

@wdlindsy nothing you said there is wrong, but it's also not how you originally framed your argument.

Your previous claims implied black people cannot vote today, and LGBTQ people are under immediate threat of arrest once Trump becomes president.

This is entirely different than what you're saying now, that the past inequities of our country still impact people in smaller ways today, or that progress with LGBTQ rights is slow and ongoing.

Exaggerating doesn't help anything.