Last Friday, my wife decided to take my daughter to a Pride Skate at a local roller rink. I was surprised, because that particular rink is smack in the middle of an intensely religious, heavily armed part of town– in a town that has spent the last several years fighting vociferously to deny queer people civil rights.

So when my wife said, hey, we’re going to this Pride skate, my first thought was not “Have fun.” It was “Maybe you should stay home.”

Because my first thought was– what if someone with a gun and something to prove shows up? I was anxious the entire time they were gone. I talked to my best friend online to distract me, but I couldn’t relax until they got home. Fortunately for my immediate family, my wife and my daughter had a great time at Pride Skate, and came home unscathed.

Last night, more than a hundred people went to a Pride celebration in Orlando. They did not come home unscathed. Half of them will never come home. Half of them linger in hospitals. These members of my queer family did nothing more radical than exist. 

And now, because we live in a country where our elected leaders actively encourage people to believe that some lives are worth more than others– that in fact, some lives should be invalidated completely– fifty people were murdered. More than fifty more will spend the rest of their lives recovering emotionally and physically (and no doubt struggling financially because of the care they will require.)

And why? Because one man was encouraged by Donald Trump, and Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan, and every senator and representative, every lobbyist and media outlet who amplified their voices, to hate. Because one man was told over and over that queer people are less than, that they are frightening, that they corrupt children simply by existing. Because this one man believed every word from the pulpit and the pundits claiming that the mere existence of queer people is harmful.

One man saw two men kissing last week, and was so enraged that last night, he murdered fifty. He maimed fifty more.

So if you thought that the battle for marriage equality was the end, this is the reminder that it was only the beginning.

If you thought that everything is good and right and easy in the world for queer people, this is your reminder that it is not. If you thought the closet– constructed around us before we even realize our own true selves– was a thing of the past, this is your reminder that it is not.

If you thought that the closet was a neutral choice, with no meaning to it, this is your reminder that it is not. If you believe that there is no fundamental difference between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, this is your wake up call.

Queer people existing is still, in 2016, a radical act. Voting, in 2016, is a radical act. So I’m begging you– be a radical in 2016. Be a radical in November. Be the radical who replies to the people who spread fear and hate by cutting off their platform. The presidential nominee who hates– be a radical, silence him. Silence the representatives and the senators with your votes.

You can be in the room where it happens. You can. I’m talking to you.

Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough. Be a radical in 2016. Vote. Vote. VOTE.