Indiana gave us our first glimpse of the bigotry that might still prevail in a post-marriage world after Hoosier lawmakers passed a “religious freedom” bill early in 2015. North Carolina has now solidified a trend that threatens block the achievement of federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans for a decade or longer.

What this means is that the equality movement went from an unimaginable mind-bending success in June 2015 to a crushing defeat that could have long-term implications in the span of nine months. An achievement that we have been working toward since the mid-1970s—explicit employment protections at the federal level—is now likely out of reach for the foreseeable future, taking public accommodations and housing protections down with it since they are now bundled together in a bill called the Equality Act. There’s just no path to getting Congress to pass legislation that either hasn’t been adopted, or worse, has been roundly rejected by far too many states.

We are now in a total defensive crouch—dodging anti-equality bullets month after month, year after year, as our entire agenda is effectively dictated by the right.

At this point, the national gay rights behemoth known as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), in particular, has presided over perhaps the biggest missed opportunity in our modern-day movement—failing to parlay the momentum of the marriage equality win at the Supreme Court into further equality successes in legislatures across the nation.

Our legal groups, by comparison—though not infallible—have prosecuted a largely successful campaign through the courts that has pushed equality forward step by step over the past several decades. In my view, it’s not really in their job description to shape a message and mount a national campaign to support the drive toward federal protections. That’s an inherently political ask and therefore falls at the doorstep of HRC. Yet we have seen no evidence that our most brawny organization is equipped to do the job. Lambda Legal, at least, has been seriously grappling with the path forward.

I, for one, have tired of trying to prod HRC or the National LGBTQ Task Force into doing something for which they have demonstrated no capacity: Developing a proactive campaign that shows America what LGBTQ equality would look like. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from studying the history of the modern-day movement and documenting it my book Don’t Tell Me To Wait, it’s that the LGBTQ movement’s greatest productivity comes at times when grassroots mobilization compels lawmakers and our national groups to step outside of their comfort zones. Just like with ACT UP in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s and GetEQUAL activists during President Obama’s first term, the grassroots has got to provide the spark and the urgency to push equality forward.

So it’s time to mobilize—it’s time for all of us to become activists in our own individual capacities. Whether that means tweeting or Facebook sharing or protesting or one-on-one conversations, we have mutually got to step up our game. That includes me, and I promise you this: I will do everything I can to leverage my seat at Daily Kos for the purpose of getting the equality movement back into gear.

In that vein, I have begun asking people for feedback in the comments sections of some pieces, as I did in my column last week (I read every one of those comments, btw—thank you for the thoughtful responses).

Today, I ask you to share ideas for actions or protests that can help combat the wave of bigotry that’s sweeping the nation. In my estimation, we need two things in particular: 1) a proactive campaign to demonstrate what full LGBTQ equality would mean across the nation; 2) a way to beat back these “bathroom bills,” which paint transgender people as predators and require them to use restrooms associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

We already saw an organic response this week to the right-wing attack on the toilet, mostly from trans men who tweeted images of themselves at North Carolina’s GOP governor, Pat McCrory.

If you’ve got other ideas, let’s hear ‘em in the comments section.

In the meantime, if you want to get more involved, here’s some LGBTQ equality journalists, activists, and attorneys whom you might want to follow on twitter (just off the top, so not an exhaustive list by any means): @TransGriot, @Blabbeando, @DanaBeyerMD, @holybullies, @dominicholden, @chrisjohnson82, @MSignorile, ‪@chrisgeidner‪, @JoeSudbay, @BrynnTannehill, @ZackFord, @BeckyJuro, @RexWockner, @mjs_DC, @Gretchen_sf, ‪@iantDC, @chasestrangio, @ davidbadash , @pamspaulding, @ AutumnSandeen . Feel free to add more suggestions below.

Most importantly, engage, engage, engage! Find ways to engage.