Episode 41: The "End-Hate" Rally

“Roxy, Roxy, Roxy, Roxy!” The chants reflected off the rainbow-banner-bedecked courthouse façade.

“Roxy, Roxy, Roxy, Roxy!” the cheers hit a crescendo as Senator Castillo stepped out from behind the rainbow banners and raised her arms triumphantly in victory.

“Good evening! Bienvenidas! Welcome to EVERYONE who wants equity, fairness, justice, and above all, to END the HATE! END the HATE! END the HATE!”

“End the hate! End the hate! End the hate! End the hate!”

The crowd took up her call.

Senator Castillo held up her hands to silence the crowd. “All across our country,” she continued, “doctors, nurses, and children’s hospitals have been targeted and threatened for providing gender-affirming health care. Our medical professionals and the patients they serve have been placed on the front lines of a war fought by the enemies of evidence-based medicine. Children’s hospitals have had to increase security to ensure the safety of patients, their families, and the medical staff who take care of them in the wake of bomb threats and calls for violence.

“These centers of gender-affirming health care face an increasing avalanche of threats and harassment via social media. A torrent of emails and phone calls creates an atmosphere of fear and distracts doctors and nurses from their mission to help people.

“These coordinated attacks on our nation’s health care system are the result of a deliberate campaign of disinformation rooted in the hate and transphobia on trial here this week. High-profile influencers and, even as we have seen in the courthouse behind me, certain so-called ‘doctors’ are sharing false and misleading information. They’re trying to mislead the public and inflame passions against health care workers and institutions with their rapidly-escalating threats and harassment, disrupting medical care all across the country. They provoke violence with impunity.

“Responsible lawmakers have appealed to our technology companies to reign in the hate and vitriol, all to no avail. We need to re-think our policies that allow hate speech and disinformation without consequences. We need comprehensive MANDATORY online AND offline fact-checking to ensure that those provoking these devastating attacks are shut down and brought to justice. I will have more to say about this tomorrow in my closing statement.

“We cannot allow this hate to continue.

“We live in a country dripping with xenophobia.

“We live in a country drowning in gender negation.

“We live in a country drenched in transphobia.

“We live in a country consumed by fear and hatred.

“We live in a country where lies and disinformation spread unchecked.

“We live in a country that tries to turn back the refugee, to exclude those with the wrong skin color, to thwart those with a different gender, to other the outsider.

“It is a time of fear.

“It is a time of hate.”

She paused, allowing the energy of the crowd’s expectation to peak.

“Now it is time for us to take the first step to END the HATE!”

“End the hate! End the hate! End the hate! End the hate!”

The crowd picked up the chant again.

As the crowd carried on, President Buchmann led forward an obviously nervous superintendent to stand beside Senator Castillo.

Senator Castillo raised her hands to silence the crowd. “Superintendent White wants to help us begin to end the hate,” she announced, “and begin the healing.”

The superintendent pulled out a statement from his pocket and read it. “There can be no place for hate in our schools or in our community,” he began. “We all must act together to end the hate, to reject transphobia, and to stop racism and gender negation wherever we encounter it.”

The superintendent’s hands were trembling. “Dr. Andrews’s hateful, racist, transphobic conduct does not live up to the high standards our community expects. On behalf of the school district, I want to announce that – effective immediately – Dr. Andrews’s employment is TERMINATED!”

The crowd erupted in cheers and jeers.

“End the hate!” Senator Castillo shouted, pumping a fist into the air.

“End the hate! End the hate! End the hate! End the hate!” the crowd chanted.

Superintendent White flinched at the waves of energy and hostility the crowd was projecting at him. He took an involuntary step back.

Senator Castillo placed a hand on his shoulder and directed him back forward to the microphone. She looked at him, nodded, and raised a hand to silence the crowd.

Superintendent White continued.

“On behalf of the school district and the people of our community,” the superintendent swallowed nervously, “I apologize for failing to take action sooner.

“I accept responsibility for my actions and attitudes, and I promise to do better in the future.”

The superintendent was met with tepid applause.

“We are all one race: the HUMAN race,” the superintendent continued. “As Americans, we all bleed red, white, and blue! We’re all of us Americans, and…”

His platitudes fell on disinterested ears. His job was done. His mission, accomplished. President Buchmann guided him away from the microphone, and Senator Castillo stepped forward to recapture the crowd’s energy.

“Hate is an open attack on tolerance and acceptance,” she continued. “It tears us apart and pits color versus color, and race versus race, and gender against gender.

“Also, we really have to acknowledge a very central fact: the reporting from the FBI and from Homeland Security… we’ve held hearings on this… there is absolutely no doubt that the data shows that the vast preponderance of incidents of domestic terror and hate crimes comes from white nationalism. White nationalists and transphobes like Mike Andrews. We are really and truly facing an environment of fascism in the United States of America. This type of intimidation brings us back to Jim Crow and harkens back to a very unique American form of apartheid that is not so long past. We have never fully healed from that, and those wounds threaten to rip right back open if we do not strongly defend democracy in the United States of America.

“Tonight, we need to send them a message. A message that hate has no home here.

“Tonight, we need to stand up, to stand together, to stand behind what’s right!

“Tonight, we have taken our first steps to end the hate. We have sent a message that transphobia WILL NOT BE ALLOWED in our schools. Teachers who negate their students’ gender identities will be fired, fired, FIRED!”

The crowd erupted in happy cheers. A few began to chant, “Fired! Fired! Fired!”

“Oh, THERE you are!” Tony found Acey at the periphery of the crowd watching the spectacle. “Didn’t you see my text messages?”

“I’m not in the mood to talk to people right now,” Acey informed him coldly, barely audible over the sound of the crowd.

“Fired! Fired! Fired!”

“We need to know the layout of the basement,” Tony explained. “Which window is closest to where they locked up the transphobes. We might be able to get a twofer!” He seemed giddy with enthusiasm at the thought.

“Fired! Fired! Fired!” the crowd continued.

“What?” Acey asked suspiciously.

“They’re getting ready in the Field House on campus,” Tony explained. “Making enough Molotov cocktails to burn this town to the ground! But they want to know exactly where the transphobes are locked up in the courthouse basement!”

“Fired! Fired! Fired!”

Acey looked appalled. “I’m not going to help you burn down the courthouse,” she frowned.

“Fired! Fired! Fired!”

“Well,” Tony continued, undeterred, “Senator Castillo says we need to get off the streets before it gets ugly.” He paused and gave Acey a suggestive look. “Wanna come back to the hotel with me?”

“No!” Acey replied in barely-concealed disgust.

“You know,” Tony confided, “I’ve been looking for my Juliet.”

“Fired! Fired! Fired!”

Acey glared at the incongruity of the pickup attempt in the middle of a political rally. “Can we skip to the part of this story where you poison yourself?”

“Ha ha ha!” Tony’s laughter seemed forced. “You’re funny. You know, if I had to rate you from one to ten, I’d give you a nine out of ten.”

“Fired! Fired! Fired!”

“A nine?” Acey asked, looking for the most open path to escape through the surrounding throng of people and protestors.

“Yeah, ’cause I’m the ONE you’re missing,” he smirked.

“Fired! Fired! Fired!”

“Well, you’re certainly odd,” Acey replied dryly, “and definitely not prime.”

“Fired! Fired! Fired!”

Senator Castillo raised her hands again to silence the crowd and recapture their attention.

“But THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!” the senator insisted.

“We CANNOT TOLERATE transphobes!

“We CANNOT TOLERATE hate!

“We are not doing ENOUGH to END THE HATE! END THE HATE! END THE HATE!” Senator Castillo pumped her fist into the air to drive the crowd into another chant.

“End the hate! End the hate! End the hate! End the hate!” the crowd called out.

Acey took advantage of the distraction to slip away from Tony, and she disappeared into the crowd.

“The only thing we have to hate is hate itself!” Senator Castillo began again as the crowd began to settle down.

“We must be intolerant of intolerance!

“We must hate those who hate!

“And we must END the HATE, now and FOREVER!

The crowd cheered.

“There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives!” Senator Castillo continued.

“If you see a transphobe in a store, in a restaurant, at a gas station?

“Then you get on their case!

“And you make a big crowd!

“Then you get in their face!

“And you get real, real loud!

“Then you PUSH BACK on them!

“And you tell them they’re not welcome here!

“And you tell them they’re not wanted here!

“And you tell them they’re not allowed here!

“They’re not allowed ANYWHERE!”

The crowd started cheering again.

Acey stood a moment, looking at the woman leading the rally, the woman who called herself Acey’s sister. Acey closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and made a decision.

“You think we’re rowdy here?” Senator Castillo asked.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

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