You can’t shove aside an inconvenient group of people during a campaign and expect to be able to address their needs in office. My gender & body aren’t an ‘interest group’ nor ‘tactic,’ aren’t ‘rigid mores and vocabulary of college-educated elites,’ aren’t a ‘set of related issues.’

But we don’t need to fix or forgive those who continue to hurt us. It’s each person’s responsibility to choose good, and our choices are our own work to do. No one can redeem or heal anyone else. We can set boundaries.