There have been plenty of articles about the terror sweeping through the transgender community which stems from the results of this election. There is talk of people detransitioning for a few years...of people going back into the closet.

But now is not the time for that.

I can't speak for anyone other than myself, but I can't enumerate the number of times I have been called brave, just because I transitioned and never made it a secret. The truth is that as a mathematics professor at a public university in Arkansas at the time, keeping such a secret was not an option for me.

Just being myself, accepting who I am and living my life, didn't take bravery, as I understood the term.

Grasping Not exactly courage From my old life I dangled entangled in the lives and expectations of others unable to break free or maybe too afraid to seek emancipation fiercely clutching the shreds of what I thought was dignity but it was a fiction preferred by everyone even though I strangled mangled emotionally dying inside from lying without suspended in shame until I lost my grip I landed on my feet. Many don't. --Robyn Elaine Serven --January 11, 2006

Trans people have spent decades educating their classmates and their families and their co-workers and the people they worship with about who they are. The government can maybe take back some of the policy advancements we’ve had. But they can’t take away the dignity we’ve created for ourselves, the freedom we’ve created for ourselves.

This slows us down, this hurts a lot. This has got to be terrifying for many trans people. We’re going to have to be strong in the face of some really terrible stuff.

--Mara Keisling, NCTE

Trans Lifeline, a national hotline for transgender people in crisis, saw its normal call volume triple [on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning]..

Trans folks are frightened that they won’t be able to work, or access healthcare, or get travel documents updated.

--Greta Martela, Trans Lifeline

A bully and a bigot is at the helm, with a man who doesn’t believe in LGBTQ rights as his second-in-command. I’m worried that the people who voted them into office will take the fact that they won as an affirmation that they can now discriminate and bully whoever they don’t like.

--Mark Williams, father of a transgender child in Sacramento

It’s important to understand that the trans movement has moved faster than I think any movement in American history," said Keisling. She recalled an encounter of 15 years ago, when she was lobbying the president of the Pennsylvania senate to include trans people in a new bill. He refused. “He said, ‘Mara, look at the bright side. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have let you into my office.’ That’s not the way it is now, and that’s not the way it’s ever going to be again.

I’ve always been semi-quiet about it [being transgender].. But last night was the wake-up call that that was not an option. The lines have been drawn and I don’t want to be on the sidelines.

--Cate Brenner, Long Island