Your Vote, Our Future

Perhaps this writing finds you too late but the weight of tomorrow falls too heavy on the people of this country, the people who can lose so much. If these last four years have been bestowed upon us so we could appreciate what we have, then okay. If they had to happen so we could unify and find empathy within groups we hadn’t connected with, then okay. I accept those okays, I accept that the last four years have been trying, have been terrifying but also unifying. I am happy to take that new unity, that new empathy, that new understanding and move forward with a President who also shares those qualities. Who appreciates the incredible spectrum of Americans being governed. I am ready to be comfortable in my own skin, in my own country.

Please, reach deep into yourselves and understand how the decision you make tomorrow affects you, your loved ones, your neighbors and friends. Try to find sympathy within your heart to know that crucial rights are being threatened by this administration, rights that have been fought for already in our history and granted. Rights that would set us back generations. Rights that try to destroy peoples identity, peoples lifestyle, people’s right to govern their own being.

Restrictions on LGBTQ people’s rights harm the more than 10 million Americans who identify as LGBTQ, as well as their friends and families. The administration’s efforts to chip away at LGBTQ people’s rights could cause many of them to lose access to health care — including those who are low income; living with chronic illness; or have pre-existing conditions, like HIV. The administration’s other efforts against the LGBTQ community include a refusal rule to let health care workers deny services to LGBTQ people, a new government office to protect those providers, rolling back non-discrimination protections in health care coverage, and cutting federal funding for LGBTQ programs.

And if you need more motivation, vote for ME and the communities already subjected to such hate and discrimination.