This week, I read the news that the US Supreme Court was letting the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender troops go into effect. It’s apparently “temporary,” while the cases work their way through the court system. But it hit me hard.

I’m not transgender. I’m a vanilla white cisgender gay guy who has his own share of privilege in this world.

As with many folks who do, I don’t always see it or feel it. It manifests itself as much in things that don’t happen to me as things that do.

I don’t get followed around department stores. I don’t get pulled over by the police. I don’t get whistled at by men on the street.

Though sometimes I do get called a f@ggot.

When I was growing up, I didn’t meet another gay person until I was fourteen, and didn’t meet my second one until I was in my twenties. I certainly didn’t know any transgender folks.

As I have gotten older, all that has changed. With the advent of the world wide web (yeah, I was around for that) and later with the rise of social media, it has become easier than ever to connect with people of all stripes.

And yeah, Facebook and its kin have brought their share of evils. But they have also connected us as a community more than ever before.

I now have friends who are gay, and lesbian, bi and trans and non-binary. I have demi friends, poly friends, folks who are intersex and sapiosexual and everything else in-between. Folks of every color and many nationalities, from so many walks of life around this country and the world.

These people have become a part of my life, helping me when I need it, letting me hold their hands when their turn comes around.

We have each others’ backs.

So when someone attacks one of them, personally or as a group, I feel it hard in my gut. An assault on one of us is an assault on us all.

We are strong now, stronger than we have ever been. We have fought for respect in this world, and we have real power for the first time in modern history.

We just have to remember to stick together and use it.

We are family.