LGBTQ+ Perspectives

Don’t Look Away: Sam Nordquist, a Trans Man, Was Tortured to Death

Maybe someday your life will depend on knowing what’s happening all around you right now

Photo of Author at a Recent Protest

If I had a dime for every American who has told me they’ve stopped reading the news since President Trump’s Inauguration, I’d be feeling much more financially secure right now. Each time I hear someone say this, I want to beg them not to look away. I want to beg them not to treat entire groups of people like horror movie victims they’ve given up on, hiding their eyes as if that will somehow change the outcome of what they’re watching.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand not wanting to know what’s happening right now. Vicarious trauma is real. I should know. I work in homeless shelters and listen to terrible stories every day. It takes a toll.

But who knows? Maybe someday your life will depend on knowing what’s happening all around you.

I don’t know how to feel safe enough to stop wanting to understand this moment in context. This moment is wedged deep into its place within the relatively short but violent history of the United States as we know it.

The thing that makes me most angry about reading Sam Nordquist’s story is my initial…