We’re heading toward the new year, the new political reality starts in the US, and during this time of relative calm. Now is the time to prepare for what’s coming. I’ll be attempting to post every day for the next 25 days to share ways you can solidify yourself for the next four years.
The first is to find your community. Make sure you have people in your life who are looking out for your best interests. Ideally, these folks are local to you, but having an online community is important as well.
With the conservative christian nationalist focus of the right, it’s more important than ever to find the weird and outstanding communities that embrace personal expression, rights, and freedoms.
If you LGBTQ or affirming, find your local gay communities and kink communities. Even if you’re not interested in sexual aspects of those communities, you’re going to find amazing folks who are committed to not letting the country become a conservative authoritarian state.
We’re in weird times and I don’t think now is the time to mince words and try to be “presentable” to people who don’t care if we live or die. Find the weirdest, most active group near you, and get involved.
Head to Fetlife and see what’s active in your area, usually most kink groups will have a monthly monch where you can meet others. Sign up, meet other folks who are as motivated to keep our country from going over the edge as you are. If you don’t see any active communities on Fetlife, check out if PFLAG is in your area, find if there are Pups and Handlers or Furries in your area. Find weird, cool, smart people and start hanging out with them.
Online, if you’re still using X or the Meta Trio (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads) for your primary social media content… stop doing that to yourself. Bluesky is rapidly becoming a better platform people saner heads with also much better moderation tools. Check out a starter pack of folks to follow.
Going back to our earlier posts as well, find a secure chat platform to talk to your community. Avoid Discord and Telegram where possible, preferring encrypted platforms like iMessage, Session, or Signal (check out the full Secure Your Access post).
When I was struggling to find my footing away from my evangelical christian family, the amazing folks I met through kink communities were a key part of building my identity. I could then use that identity to gain independence and finally move outside of their circle of hate and influence. For me, a lot of those friends and contacts came from the furry community, and I find the folks there are incredibly intelligent and willing to make change happen.
I’ve also had the great luck to visit some local kink parties in my local area, and again found amazing and kind people who will organize and help each other. We all need those folks for what’s coming. If you already have a community, that’s awesome! Nurture them and build on the community.
If you have other suggestions for finding community, comment below! Comments on ports are open for 2 months.