ROE IS GONE. TIME TO FIGHT.

Well, they did it.

We knew it was coming, but that doesn’t prevent this sick, bitter feeling as the Supreme Court of the United States strips away a fundamental protection and leaves the lives, safety and autonomy of women to the machinations of extremist legislators throughout the land.

This on the heels of a decision that allows concealed carry of weapons everywhere, subjecting all of us to the violence and intimidation of the worst of us, as well as a decision that helps turn what remains of the wall separating church and state to rubble.

Justice Thomas, in his concurrence with the Alito-authored decision overturning Roe v. Wade, has urged the court, with its ultraconservative majority, to next go after LGBTQ+ rights, including marriage equality, the right to contraception, “interracial” marriage and other freedoms most of us have hitherto taken for granted. (Chief Justice Roberts called for “restraint,” no doubt aware that public confidence in the court has dipped to record lows, but none is likely to be forthcoming.)

It seems redundant to have to even say it, but we’ve got to vote and mobilize the vote, first and foremost, and fight back in myriad other ways. More about that in a moment. But let me say this: The Jan. 6 hearings are about an ongoing plot to overrule the voice of the majority. The coup plotters—and the rest of the wretched right—must be stopped, and our only means of doing so is the ballot box.

In the meantime, though, extremist ideologues running red-state legislatures have much misery planned for a vast majority of their citizens. Expect them to push incarceration and execution for abortion providers and the women who patronize them. Expect indoctrination in biblical teachings as a punitive tool of the state. Unless their citizens rise up and toss the bastards out, these states will become laboratories of regressive, theocratic cruelty. You know, Handmaid’s Tale shit, with more than a little 1984 mixed in.

By the way, if Republicans get control of Congress they will quickly pass a law to make abortion illegal in all states. It won’t pass with a veto-proof majority, so they’d have to wait a couple more years in hopes of a Republican President to sign it. But the remaining guardrails against a 21st century America based on 17th century dogma are few.

This is the world brought to you by four years of Trump and too many years of Mitch McConnell to count. Needless to say, if the election in 2016 had gone differently, I wouldn’t be penning this screed.

Are you pissed off, freaked out and ready to go fucking apeshit? I know I am. I’m beyond tired of these assholes and their brutal, cynical daily violence and gaslighting. I want to fight.

So what can we do about this ultra-fucked situation?

Vote, of course, especially in the midterms and for every office from local on up. Contribute, volunteer, make calls, knock on doors, write postcards—whatever you can do. March, certainly, and show with strength of numbers how significant—and furious—is the opposition to this madness.

But right now I’m going to step out a bit further and suggest that one thing this community has is a large megaphone, and it’s time to pick it up and use it.

If you are an artist with any kind of following, it is time to mobilize your fans, stans, followers and Little Monsters. They must understand that it is crucially important to you that they register and vote in every election, that they protest, that they learn about the issues that affect their freedom. Political engagement needs to be top of mind in your feed.

Yes, a few of your peeps will likely check out. But I believe most will want to be part of the movement, as long as what motivates it comes from your heart. Idealism, in one form or another, is the thrumming beat of fandom. And the stakes are too high to worry about anything but the grave threat we face.

Famous people also need to be a voice for unity in our fractured social-media landscape. The only way we win back our freedoms is to form coalitions, to stand up for each other. We need to put a pin in our debates about micro-aggression in order to combat the macro-aggressions being waged against us.

Those of you who work with artists must give them the resources and space they need to be voices for justice and to make sure that, as much as humanly possible, your company’s actions align with freedom, not tyranny. Yes, this is a business, but the rights—and, in many cases, the lives—of your people are on the line.

It may not seem so on this dismal day, but we outnumber these assholes. An adage I’ve repeated like a mantra through decades of appalling rightward swings of the political pendulum is this: Don’t mourn. Organize.

Don’t be afraid of the soapbox. Don’t spare the megaphone. It’s time to push back. Hard.

WHAT YOU CAN DO (SOME RESOURCES)

Photos: Mohamed ELamine Msiouri, Harrison Haines, LT Chan