#lovetrumpshate

I have so many friends that share my beliefs that I often forget that I have friends who have radically different views from me. Sometimes it makes me angry. Sometimes it makes me sad. But more often than not it breaks my heart. Because aside from the larger consequences that will come from this election, there are smaller, more immediate consequences that I feel like people—people who say they care about me—forget. 

We have fought so hard in this country for centuries. We have fought for equality. That is number one. The first thing we as an American people ever wanted. To be treated equally. Unfortunately, we aren’t there yet. There are still thousands of people in this country who are treated like second class citizens in one way or another. And all the fear and hate I have seen spouted throughout this election process has only propagated this insane idea that some people are inherently “better” than others. That I am inherently less than someone else because I am a woman. Because I am gay. Because I am a survivor of sexual abuse. Because, somehow, someone decided that those labels make me less of a human being.  I am not considered equal. And as a result of that inequality placed on me suddenly I don’t deserve access to affordable health care, my marriage is not as “real” as someone else’s and may be dissolved altogether, I no longer have the right to decide what happens to my body, I don’t have the right to get a degree without putting myself into crippling debt, debt which I may never fully get out of because I am unable to get paid the same as everyone else. That is what will happen to me. Not to someone else. Not to a mystery human that you have never met. Me. This is real. It is personal. And by standing by, or worse, supporting it then you are a part of the problem. You are hurting me and my family. You. Not someone else I’ve never met. You. My friend.

We can no longer stand around and say, “Well, I didn’t want this” or “It won’t happen to me” or “I’m not a part of the problem.” We are all a part of the problem if we continue to support hate. If we continue to let our deeply rooted party alliances govern our actions. If we continue to ignore the cries of justice and equality from those citizens who so desperately need it.

I look around and I know that there is so much good in the world. There is such an incredible capacity for love and acceptance and we have the opportunity to pick that. To pick love and acceptance and equality and compassion rather than hate and fear and discrimination and disregard. This is not about parties anymore. It is not about religion or sexual orientation or race or class or any other label. It is about being a decent human being. It is time we stopped thinking about our own selfish prejudices and started thinking about what our actions mean to everyone else around us.

This is not an invitation for debate or fighting. This is simply meant as a plea, a cry, for a return to human decency. I don’t want to argue. I don’t want to fight. I want to say I love you and I respect your right to choose, but please consider love first. Choose love first. Fight for love first. Let love be what shines through in this election, not hate. #lovetrumpshate