Elizabeth Haste:

My partner and I first broached the possibility that we might need to flee the country last summer. After election day, we began that preparation in earnest.

There’s a lot we don’t know. The incoming administration has threatened to do a lot of terrible things to transgender people; withholding medication; legislative erasure; forced detransition; mass incarceration; extermination. Many of these things, I’d want to stay and fight through. Others would make daily life impossible or unbearable.

She and her partner went through several scenarios that might push them to fight, or force them to flee, and she’s shared a template to help others think through their decision points.

She also shared a long list of existing anti-trans legislation and rhetoric from politicians. It’s terrifying to realize we’re already deep into dangerous territory; it’s not theoretical, or, as Haste titles that section, “These Things Are Already Happening. You are not overreacting.”

I’ve been wondering recently when the people who survived the Holocaust—because they fled Germany and elsewhere—decided it was time to leave. How bad did it get before they packed up their belongings and left their homes, family, friends, and country behind?

Right now, five weeks after the election, and five weeks before the next administration takes control, it feels both too soon and the absolutely right time to start thinking about an exit plan if you or a loved one are vulnerable.

At some point it may be too late. We might only recognize that moment in retrospect.

(Via @inthehands@hachyderm.io.)