BY CHARLES AlEXANDER
JAN. 4, 2041 — Another same-sex couple has been "relocated." My neighbors two doors down. Gus who did a wonderful job of gentrifying that old house on Wells Street.
Didn't really get to know them, but they always waved. Yelled hello. Just gone! Last week, two others. Tom and Martin. Belonged to our block club. Gadabouts, but great gardeners. Just vanished. Very strange.
Within days their condoplex — furniture, everything — was "appropriated" by Theocratic America Party members. Last night there was a front-yard burning of books, antique CD collection. Antique albums of Garland, Streisand, Lady Gaga (whoever she 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 — are missing. A nosy neighbor at Cafe & Pot whispered to me that they were taken away in a black van about 3 a.m. last Sunday. Screaming.
I mind my own business. 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. 2026: all same-sex marriages voided, constitutionally made illegal. 2027: gays, lesbians, trans must declare themselves, and register for one-year of mandatory church/state sponsored reparative therapy.
If caught in the slightest compromising behavior — say holding hands — LGBT people are subject to further RT for as long as it takes, and — a big money for the state! — at their own expense.
2027: All Political Pervs must get listed with 3-D photo, fingerprints, GRINDR contacts, on the America First Perv Watch List.
2024: Pervs 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 Outers" (Theocratic America Party 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, 2041 Journal: Today I learn at a TA-sponsored church picnic that recalcitrant Outers are being relocated to Canyon Center West. My friend Martha (sworn to hush-hush to these cursive written journal 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."
July 30, 2041: TAP President Mitt Harkinback spoke on Total Faith All Channels America about the concessions we have to make during TA's 10 Year Plan. Called 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, biblical good. It's the duty of every thinking citizen to report any abomination of loyalty."
Oct. 31, 2041: 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 'LGBT Outer 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 Outers not responding to RT are relocated to fasting and in an off-limits Grand Canyon concentration camp area. 'Rest assured,' stresses President Harkinback, 'no government tax monies are used to support these aberrant lifestyle incarcerations.
"Many may perish. That's their choice. God and country first! LGBT Pervs, last. If at all.'"
