Parting Glances: Diary Of A Possibility

January 3, 2050 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, everything – was 'appropriated' by Theocratic America Party members. Last night there was a parking lot burning of their books and antique CD collection. Rare albums of Garland, Streisand, Elvis Presley (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 Cafe & Pot whispered to me that 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. Anyone 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 mandatory, church/state sponsored reparative therapy.
If caught afterward in the slightest compromising behavior – say holding hands – LGBTs are 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 3-D 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 videos, wide-screen movies. New Hollywood's in a panic!
And! "All known, avowed, militant 'homos' (Theocratic America derogatory term for non-curable sexual deviants) "must wear a rainbow armband, and observe a weekly 6:30 p.m. body WiFi monitoring curfew."
July 4, 2050: Dear Diary: Today I learn at a TA-sponsored church picnic that recalcitrant homos are being relocated to Canyon Center West. My friend Martha, who (sworn to hush-hush to these cursive writing written diary pages) has several suspect acquaintances. She received a smuggled-out postcard: "Having a trying time. Overcrowded. Bad ass place. Health concerns. Miss family. Prayers. D. L. 'Bro' Jones."
Sept. 15, Easter Sunday: Theocratic America Party President Mitt Harkinback spoke on Total Fox All Channels America about the concessions we have to make during TA's 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 America's theocratic good. It's the duty of every thinking citizen to report any abomination of loyalty."
Oct. 31, Halloween: Picked up the Banner of Victory, unfortunately our only news source. This item caught my eye. "Washington, D.C. has become the first zone to be 'homo free'. This thorough 'cleansing' is the result of thousands of undercover reports, well-coordinated psychological efforts, low-visibility, rapid roundup strategies.
"RT 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 techniques – for other anti-America First asocial tendencies.
"Those 'homos' not responding to RT are relocated to fasting and penance camps in an off-limits Grand Canyon concentration area. 'Rest assured,' stresses President Harkinback, 'no government tax monies are used to support these aberrant lifestyle incarcerations. Many may perish. Sadly, that's their choice. God and country come first! Homos come last. If at all.'"