Some people in my situation are probably telling themselves they don’t have to worry about the next four years in the USA. I’ll try to avoid catastrophizing here - spinning out the multitude of worst-case scenarios - because honestly, that’s stressful to write, stressful to read, and almost certainly pointless.
We are in a situation now where we are on the back foot. On the defensive. Forced into a reactive posture. We have to wait to see what the red tide does (because it’s official, the new Republican party (party of white supremacy, “Christian Nationalism,” and oligarchs) has all three branches of the Federal government locked up for the next two years. As expected, the incoming administration has hit the ground running with nominations and appointments. We can see the shape this government will take.
So what about me? I live in California, the safest place in the USA to be a progressive. I’m a straight white middle-class person with a high-paying job that includes excellent benefits. I’m 59 years old, don’t have kids to worry about, and have more retirement savings than 91% of my fellow Americans.
I also live in a small, elderly house rented from friends at below-market rate; drive a small, 15-year-old fuel-efficient car (which is the only car in the household at the moment); haven’t been on an airplane for anything but family visits since 2013; and have to move out of California within a year for family reasons.
Plus I’m married to a nonwhite person. He’s an American citizen - born in the US, as were both his parents - but he’s been asked many times “what are you.” That’s a common microaggression aimed at nonwhite people. It goes along with commenting on a person’s eye shape, hair, clothing choices, or body art. If a person has an accent indicating that English is not their first language, that person has probably heard “go back where you came from.”
My right as a white person to marry a nonwhite person was not made law until 1967 (Loving v. Virgina), two years after I was born. How many states have amended their constitutions to remove racist language? Not many, I’ll bet.
If the “Christian Nationalists” decide that the legality of inter-ethnic marriages should be left up to the states too, that will leave a lot of people in limbo.
California voters just approved amending our state constitution to specify that same-sex marriages are legal. How many other states have? I’m guessing none.
The new administration may not break out of the gate gunning for the Respect for Marriage Act of 2022 the way they’ve promised to come for the ACA and DACA. On the other hand, they might. They might say “the states should decide what kinds of marriages are legal,” same as they said states should decide if abortion is legal.
If it goes to the states, I don’t think it’s catastrophizing to suggest that some states, including all of those in the former Confederacy, will immediately act to deny recognition to same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships. That puts close friends and family of mine at legal risk. They have businesses, they own homes, they have jobs that come with benefits that are extended to spouses. Some of them have children.
If the marriages of these couples are invalidated in their states, they may lose their legal rights of inheritance or of child custody. They may lose their right to accompany their spouse to the hospital and make medical decisions in an emergency. They may lose their right to speak to their spouse’s insurers. (My husband and I had to do some gymnastics to get our term life insurer to let either of us ask about the other person’s policy - an insurer which keeps “losing” track of premium payments.)
There are legal actions same-sex couples can take to protect these rights: general Power of Attorney; healthcare Power of Attorney (it’s a separate document almost everywhere); Will and Testament; custody agreement and/or adoption papers; amended title to their home; amended membership of an LLC or directorship of a corporation. Where a couple’s financial and personal security depends on both of them having full access to the other person’s legal, financial, and medical matters, these actions need to be taken.
It’ll cost a bit of time & money, but it’s worth doing to take that level of fear and uncertainty off the table.
As for me, I am researching and considering how best to communicate about our new political paradigm. It’s likely that the Federal government we have at the 2026 midterms will be quite different from the one we have now. I’m not opposed to rethinking the form and function of the Federal government; some of what I write here will touch on that.