After this election, I’ve never been so scared for America’s future

The LGBTQ community will be strongly affected

There have been countless emotions running through the minds of Americans in the past 48 hours. Worry. Anger. Elation. Fear. Disappointment. And in the aftermath of the results of the presidential election, it’s been really hard to put all of this in perspective, especially in regards to what may happen in the future. That being said, it’s important to keep in mind that the election of the Donald Trump to the nation’s highest office will have impact far beyond foreign policy and the building of the wall. It will affect actual people, and the LGBTQ community will be among those that will be most strongly affected. And the consequences of this election are perhaps what scare me the most.

The LGBTQ community at large

The Supreme Court made a landmark decision in 2015 with the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, but with Trump’s constitutional right to nominate Supreme Court justices and a Republican-dominated House and Senate, he could easily swing the Supreme Court more far to the right than it has ever been in recent history. Given his professed opposition to same-sex marriage, this could lead to the overturning of the Obergefell case and a regression of American politics. The joy and pride that people felt when same-sex marriage was legalized is now overcast by the looming potential for this step forward to become two steps back.

Trump has repeatedly expressed opposition to same-sex marriage, so will the nation the nation lose all the progress we’ve made in recent years?

And for Cornell students specifically

Cornell is located in Tompkins County in the Finger Lakes region of New York, a county that is overwhelmingly blue and which strongly backed Clinton in the election. But more than that, Cornell itself is a very liberal campus, where students and administrators alike have taken considerable measures in order to create an open accepting environment for every student, without regard for race, gender, sexual orientation, or family background (among other things). But the areas surrounding Tompkins County are very conservative, so in a sense, Cornell has become a bubble, a safe haven, for Cornellians who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.

But what happens when they step outside of this bubble? Or when they go back home to potentially conservative communities where people are less open-minded and less accepting? Where in the past, they may have felt threatened or unsafe? The election of a president who preaches intolerance will likely validate discrimination for many other people, so what happens to those on the receiving end of that discrimination and hatred? What happens when your peers, classmates, and friends are afraid to go home because they feel unsafe in their own communities?

Tompkins County, located in central New York, is a very strongly Democratic county but is surrounded on all sides by much more conservative neighborhoods

While Cornell is not without its flaws (which is a whole other story), it does at least have a variety of resources for those in the LGBTQ community, from the LGBT resource center to almost a dozen on-campus organizations dedicated to addressing social and political issues that affect the LGBTQ community and its allies. Yet with Donald Trump soon to be at the nation’s helm, they still can’t stay in the bubble forever, and when other communities are far less accepting, what then?

In short…

Donald Trump may have won the election, but is this a win for the LGBTQ community? For all people? I think not. And although I myself do not identify as LGBTQ, as a woman who identifies with a racial minority, I’m troubled by the outcome of the election. I’ve never been so scared for America’s future, and I’ve never felt more vulnerable as an American. I know that we should feel as if the people have spoken, because they have, but what happens when people realize that they’ve made the wrong choice?

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