In the movie “Bent,” a gay man, on his way to a concentration camp, bangs his head against the box car wall saying, “This can’t be happening.”

Watching it had a profound impact on me, making me scared that all that we’d achieved could be taken away from us in an instant if we sat back and played while the fascists took over.

A younger gay man asked after reading my memoir, “A Prince of a Boy,” “Why were you so scared about having sex in college?” At the time, homosexual sex was a crime in 49 states. One would be expelled from a Catholic College.

Since then, though, I’ve spoken at several Catholic universities and colleges about being gay. Gay sex is legal, as are gay marriages, and gay adoptions. I got a long-standing ovation at the NSA, as well as at Las Alamos and Brookhaven government top secret labs. I also helped change the hearts and behaviors of hundreds of thousands corporate employees worldwide.

There are currently efforts to make gay marriages illegal. Corporations that used to bring me in to do training on gay and transgender issues are being bullied by Trump and Musk to stop such diversity training. It is now banned in all federal agencies, such as the NSA. Transgender women and men are being discharged from the Armed Forces. 

“This can’t be happening.”

It is. What confounds me is what to do about it. I just joined a group called Indivisible. Its full-time work is stopping the Trump-Musk fascist agenda. There are chapters across the country.

When there’s another Stonewall Rebellion, I’d be honored to throw the first brick, as long as you got me close enough to hit something. It’s the younger generations turn to take on this task, but I’d be glad to do so. 

Let’s have a three million march on Washington, and have the local allies put us up in their homes because there aren’t enough hotel rooms. Overwhelm the offices not of Democratic allies but of Republicans who vote lockstep for anything Trump or Musk wants them to do.

I don’t have the influence to get corporations back on track on their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, but the Employee Resource Groups at Disney, G.M. and the other places I’ve spoken do. The LGBTQ ERGs are the ones who pressured the Human Resources office to bring me in. If all the ERGs joined together for a meeting with their CEO, things would have a chance to swing back.

There have to be liberal billionaires who could join forces and use their considerable influence to sideline Project 2025. There have to be unions who will call national strikes. What if everyone in the U.S. stopped working, driving, flying, and purchasing things on the same day? Money talks.

If we do nothing, like the young people who didn’t vote, we’ll all soon be banging our head against the wall, crying, “This can’t be happening.”