local elections have never mattered more.
You should be going to the polls every chance you get—while you still can.
Queering the Burbs is a distillation of pop culture, politics and queerness published twice weekly by Joe Erbentraut. If you like what you see, please consider subscribing (many posts are free!), liking or sharing this piece, or buying me a coffee. Order Joe’s new zine, Issue #01, here.
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I think one of the best things you can wake up and do in the morning is to go to your local polling place and vote.
It’s a ritual I hold very dear, even as early voting and voting by mail has continued to become more accessible and normalized (at least where I live). I love breathing that crisp morning, pre-workday air and heading to my assigned polling place (currently an outdated, unremarkable banquet hall) to collect my little sticker and complete the ritual by grabbing the requisite post-voting iced coffee and little treat.
I never know what to do with that sticker. It feels so sacred, yet silly. I mostly work from home—do I wear it on my Zoom calls? Should I wear it to the dentist? Should I stick it in a scrapbook and cherish it forever? It usually ends up forgotten on a cardigan and then thrown out a few short weeks later.
More and more it feels important not to take all of this for granted—maybe we should be scrapbooking our “I voted” stickers. Last week, the Trump White House introduced a sweeping executive order that could have the massive and immediate impact of disempowering many Americans from voting altogether.
Though legal challenges are almost certainly coming, the executive order as written would require voters to present physical proof (i.e. a birth certificate or passport) that they are U.S. citizens before they are able to register for federal elections, proof that many Americans do not have readily available. The order also calls on states to turn over their voter lists to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to review them and remove voters deemed to be non-citizens, which doesn’t feel at all politically motivated to me. States that refuse to comply with the order would lose out on federal grants to support the maintenance and upgrading of their voting systems.
It’s unclear what exactly will come of Trump’s new order—presidents aren’t supposed to be in the business of setting election law and there is zero evidence that non-citizens are voting in U.S. elections in any significant number, though it’s already a felony that can lead to jail time or deportation. At any rate, it goes to show how much this administration wants to make it as difficult as legally possible for most people reading this to vote. This administration already went ahead and rescinded a Biden-era executive order that expanded voter registration and promoted increased voting access, and who could forget that Trump told his supporters last summer that they wouldn’t have to vote again if they voted for him, all while openly toying with the idea of what an illegal third Trump term would look like.
Anytime you set foot in a polling place to vote as a queer, trans or otherwise marginalized person is a fuck you in the face of this administration. I believe it’s important to take advantage of every opportunity to do so. Thankfully, here in Illinois, tomorrow is an Election Day with key local races on the ballot in communities across the state.
While these local races have traditionally been seen as non-partisan races—and, make no mistake, you’ll see no Rs or Ds next to any candidates’ names on the ballot tomorrow—our national politics are increasingly filtering down to small-town politics.
This point was driven home for me as I was watching a Batavia City Council meeting last week. Toward the end of the meeting, the conversation turned to how Batavia’s police force was preparing for a Tesla dealership to open up in town—a presence that has (understandably) been met with recent protests elsewhere.
Though Tesla was never specifically named during the discussion, one deeply conservative member of the City Council referred to it as “our brand new, beautiful store going in” and asked the police chief if they were preparing for “recklessness” in response to the dealership’s opening. The police chief responded that they were in conversation with other police departments who have dealt with Tesla protests. Meanwhile, Mayor Schielke suggested that the city may be exploring a permitting process for demonstrations there, while looking to avoid the “terrible vandalism situation” at Tesla’s Buffalo Grove store. The terrible vandalism in question? A spray-painted message of “trans rights are human rights.”
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That’s all to say that if you care about democracy and queer and trans rights, it’s a critically important time to be aware of who’s on your ballot and what they stand for—at all levels.
In the Fox Valley and surrounding areas, some hugely problematic candidates are on the ballot in incredibly impactful races being decided tomorrow. A non-exhaustive list follows:
In Batavia, Awake Illinois-backed, openly MAGA candidate Rose McNaul is running for a seat on the school board. She has stated that she “doesn’t believe in” DEI curriculum.
In Geneva, the Kane County GOP is backing strong LGBTQ+ rights supporter Kevin Burns’s challenger Karsten Pawlik in the city’s mayoral race, as well as two candidates—Larry Furnish and Patrice Bertheau—for the City Council. These three candidates have also been rallying against an affordable housing project for downtown Geneva.
In St. Charles, the local GOP is rallying behind mayoral candidate Clint Hull in his effort to unseat Lora Vitek, who has been a vocal queer ally.
The Illinois Family Institute is also sharing responses to its school board candidate questionnaire, which centers largely on anti-trans rhetoric and fear mongering. Candidates in communities including West Chicago, Oswego, Yorkville, and Dundee have shared where they stand on the matter, and the majority of their responses are pretty concerning.
Of course, your political activism shouldn’t begin and end with voting—especially these days, as people here in this country legally are being snatched off the streets by masked, plainclothes police officers just for writing a critical op-ed. Your activism can and should take many forms. Still not sure where to start? I wrote up some bits of advice here shortly after the inauguration, and I can also recommend following the writings of folks like Kelly Hayes and Erin Reed for cues. Locally, you can also keep an eye out for demonstrations taking place in the Fox Valley area, like the Remove Reverse Reclaim rally set for this Saturday at the State Street bridge in Geneva.
But in the meantime, go get that sticker! Voting is dang sexy.
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SONG OF THE RIGHT-NOW
I spent much of my lovely Saturday this weekend checking out Ramshackle Farm’s third annual Trans-farm-ation benefit show in the far northwest suburban boonies just outside of Harvard, Illinois. I was floored and moved to tears multiple times by the immense talent of the show’s entire lineup and also by the incredible community vibes the entire event had.
Having grown up just 15 minutes from this farm, it’s still almost unbelievable to me that this queer punk pole barn show is existing and thriving. Shoutout to everyone responsible for making it happen, and to the artists I got to see in action before my geriatric millennial soul needed to sit down and eat a proper meal somewhere—Blas-femme, Sparkling Urbana, Queer Country Bandwagon, and Pinksqueeze.
I am especially in love with Chicago-based Pinksqueeze at the moment, and they’re responsible for this essay’s featured song: “Holy Critter.” At Trans-farm-ation, drummer and songwriter Liam described the song as an attempt at creating a queer worship song. Imagine a bit of Josie and the Pussycats meets direct, clear queer politics meets a warm hug with a dear pal. Be sure to check all these bands out, and buy a record, go see a show, or give them a follow if you like what you hear.
Hey queer kid with the stars in your eyes
Hunkered down in a town I never heard of
That's where I'm from too