I had frequently joked in conversation that come November, our long national nightmare would be over. I may have jinxed it. Either that, or as several comedians have joked, some Cubs fan made a wish on a Monkey’s Paw and is now greatly regretting their decision.

As for me, as a person with Autism, I’ve got to contend with a president-elect who has openly mocked and called for the harassment of people like me. I also have to contend with the fact that should the ACA be repealed without any sort of replacement, the field that I majored in, and I am trying to find work in – Medical IT, may undergo a major contraction, and even the longest running employer of people in this field – the Veterans Administration – will likely undergo a hiring freeze, if not a contraction as well. Ironically, whether I want to stick it out in the US and fight or not, it may be the case that in order to get experience in my field, I may have to move to Canada, since they have universal health care, and will have to manage the sharing and securing of patient records across the whole country.

So, this has not been an issue in the past – not on this blog, not in my fanzine, and barely on my YouTube Channel (which considering most YouTube comments, is quite impressive – or possibly a sign of how small my audience is) – but I’m going to try to get ahead of things and say this well before this even has a chance of becoming an issue: My fanzine, my blog, and my YouTube channel are safe spaces. I have no tolerance for harassment of someone because of their gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or disability. Also, people’s life experiences should be respected – people who have faced misogyny, sexual harassment, racism, and homophobia have the right to speak up, and speak out about their experiences, and I have no truck with those who seek to shout them down, shut them up, and drive them from public discourse, or who seek to dismiss, minimize the hardships they have faced, nor will I be silent when people attempt to normalize that harassment or make it publically acceptable.

I’ve never really gotten into political discussion here, but by Ghu, I’ve got a soapbox. Hell, I’ve got three – my Fanzine, my YouTube Channel, and this blog. I’ve been public about my disability on my YouTube channel, and somewhat on this Blog, but I’ll repeat this here. Because of the way my disability manifests, marching in protests like the ones that have been occurring daily in PDX since election day are not something that I’d describe as ideal for me. However, when the mood strikes me, I reserve the right to speak up, and speak out on political topics. When I do, I expect users in the comments to keep my above policy in mind.