If you are telling people to relax, perhaps you need to realize this isn’t just another election, just another president, for women, PoC, non-Christians, LGTBQ, or anyone deemed different.
I have stayed silent recently, because there have been more pressing world issues to deal with, but I’m going to take a moment today….
As a woman with pre-existing conditions, I fear both the repeal of ACA protections and the loss of Planned Parenthood (where I was able to actually afford care when my crappy insurance in California failed me). I am thankful for my current amazing health insurance, but that may not always be there.
As someone who has long believed in living and loving as Queer as possible whether you label yourself or not, I fear for my friends who now have to worry about their marriage or if they can marry in the future. I fear for the children who are just discovering they are a little different than the status quo. I fear the so called Defense of the First Amendment Act will strip them of their dignity in the name of religious freedom. I fear forcing transgender teenagers to live a lie will lead to raising rates of depression and suicide.
I fear for my friends who now have hate against them mandated because of their religion or color of skin. As if so many of them didn’t already experience that faint twinge of fear just leaving the house everyday. How large will that twinge grow?
And I am relieved that my Cuban husband can “pass” because so many of my friends and family do not have that privilege.
This isn’t about one candidate or one politician, but the normalization of the fringe. I have always argued to vote the candidate and not the party. And I stand firm with that belief. The people voting party lines on both sides do no one any good.
So yeah, we’ll see what happens. And we’ll live. We’ll soldier on. But whether people’s worst fears come true or whether it’s just simply a gradual chipping away of dignity and respect, either will set us back as a country. But more importantly, for all you telling people to relax, will your sister, wife, daughter, or granddaughter come out unscathed?
