Parting Glances: Scapegoat Diary: 2053

June 28, 2053 Dear Diary: Another same sex couple has been "relocated" – my neighbors two doors down, the boys who did a wonderful job of gentrifying that old house on Wells Street.
Didn't really get to know them, but they always waved, said hello. Just gone! Last week, two others. Tom and Martin. Belonged to my block club – gadabouts but great gardeners – just disappeared. Very strange.
Within days their condoplex – furniture and all – was 'appropriated' by America First party members. Last night there was a burning in the parking lot of their books and antique CD collection (rare 78-rpm albums of Garland, Streisand, Sinatra – whoever he was).
Come to think of it, as much as I didn't like them – too secretive, if you ask me – Margo and her longtime partner Ella – in their mid-70s – seem also to have vanished. A nosy neighbor at Ye Olde Coffee Cup whispered to me they were taken away in a black van about 3 a.m. Screaming.
I mind my own business – or, at least I try to, Dear Diary – but something's going on, not only in this small town but our capitol as well.
Any one with half a brain could see it coming. 2045: all same-sex marriages voided, constitutionally made illegal. 2046: gays and lesbians must declare themselves homosexuals and register for one-year of free – but mandatory – church/state sponsored reparative therapy.
(If caught afterward in the slightest compromising behavior – say holding hands – they're subject to further RT for as long as it takes, and – a money maker for the state – at their own expense.) 2047: all homosexuals must get listed with photo, fingerprints, sex contacts, on the America First Homosexual Watch List. 2048: homosexuals are barred from teaching, practicing law, medicine, acting on stage or hologram touch-and-feel, wide-screen movies. (New Hollywood's in a panic!)
And:
"All known, avowed, militant 'homos' (America First Party derogatory term for non-curable sexual deviants) "must wear a rainbow armband, and observe a weekly 8 p.m. body WiFi monitoring curfew."
(July 4, 2059): Dear Diary: Today I learn at an AF-sponsored church picnic that recalcitrant homos are being relocated to canyon-center West. My friend Martha, who (sworn secret to these diary pages) had several suspect acquaintances – received a smuggled-out postcard that said, "Having a trying time. Over crowded. Bad ass place. Health concerns. Miss family. Prayers. D. L. 'Bro' Jones.
(Sept. 15, Easter Sunday): America First Party President Hal Harkinback spoke on all TV channels about the concessions we have to make during the Ten Year Plan. Asked for a "unity of vision," a need to "be vigilant for any behavior or opinion, covert or otherwise, that's unpatriotic, anti-state, going against political and/or theocratic good.
"It's the duty of every thinking citizen to report any abomination of loyalty."
(Oct. 31, Halloween): Picked up Banner of Victory, unfortunately our only news source. A fifth-page item caught my eye. "Washington, D.C. has become the first zone to be fully free of 'homos.' This thorough 'cleansing' is the result of thousands of undercover reports, well-coordinated psychological efforts, low-visibility roundup strategies.
"Reparative Therapy accounts for much of this outcome, so much so that, as approved therapy for brain rewiring, it will be used – along with mind altering religious ministrations – for other anti-America First asocial tendencies.
"Those 'homos' not responding to RT have been relocated to Spartan camps in an off-limits Arizona Desert reservation. 'Rest assured,' stresses President Harkinback, 'no government tax monies have been used to support or enhance any aberrant lifestyle housing or needs. Many may perish. Sadly, that's their choice. God and country come first! Homos come last. If at all.'"