As a ten-year-old girl, I never really understood why it was so bad to be different. At school I would witness bullying, and I never understood why it was okay to hate someone and be so mean to them. Just because they were a little different? Fourth grade was probably where most of us realized that to be “cool”, you needed to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend and a ton of friends. At school, I always felt like the one that was different. I never truly felt like I fit in, and my ten-year-old self pretended to be someone she is not by hanging out with some popular girls and trying my hardest to fit in.

There is a certain pressure in school to be popular and to not be “weird.” My college self knows that being weird is perfectly fine, because I am weird myself, but my ten-year-old self thought that being different or weird was the end of the world. The pressure was really tough. I wanted to be myself, but I knew if I acted like my true self I would probably have no friends and I would eventually be bullied.

I've had almost all of the same beliefs since I was about ten years old, and I say almost because some of them did not become apparent until I aged a bit. When I was this young and understanding ten-year-old, some things just didn't make sense to me. One big one was about being gay. Why was it normal for a man and a woman to be together, but not a man and a man or a woman and a woman? My mom has had female partners almost her whole life and labels herself a lesbian. It's who she is, and I don't love her any less. Why was it so bad to be "gay?"

I never understood why it was bad to be different, or why the "normal" people felt that it was okay to "hate" them. My ten-year-old self later learned that the correct word was "discriminate."

Fast forward to right now and I still have no idea why people think it's okay to discriminate. I look at America and I am ashamed. Weren’t we labeled “The Melting Pot” for a reason? Everyone is different and we produce even more different children. Why can’t we accept that fact? There are many types of discrimination. Racial, age, disability, sexual identity, sexual orientation, and many more. I want to address them all as wrong.

I believe that it's perfectly okay to be what you want to be. America needs to learn to accept that. For example, I am a perfectly happy catholic intersectional feminist that happens to be a democrat (read that ten times fast). Now there are plenty of labels there, and sometimes people don't like labels. That is also perfectly okay.

I want to explain some of my views (some that I’ve had since I was ten years old) and why I believe in them so strongly.

I believe it is perfectly okay for a man and a woman to marry, for a man and a man to marry, and for a woman and a woman to marry. Love is love, no matter who it is between, and quite frankly it is not anyone's business who gets married to who.

This topic is a very hot topic because of recent news, but I believe that transgender individuals can use whatever bathroom they so desire. If you think they should use the other restroom, then I have a news flash for you. They have been using the bathroom of their choice for years now, and just because someone decided to bring light upon it doesn't mean it should change.

I believe that this world needs feminism. As an intersectional feminist, that belief goes way beyond the fact that white women get paid $0.79 to a white man's dollar. It is more specific than that, it has to do with the fact that Hispanic women only make $0.54, African-American women only make $0.64, and American-Indian women only make $0.59 to every white man's dollar. Not only does this have to do with women, but men, too. African-American men only make $0.75 to a white man's dollar and Hispanic men only make $0.67 to a white man's dollar. It is unfair and unjust.

Equal pay does not only have to do with race, it also has to do with sexual orientation. LGBTQA+ individuals also receive unequal pay for the same work.

Back to feminism...

I really do believe this world needs feminism. Some people think that feminism is all about hating men, but it is not. It is about becoming equal TO men. It is about every gender, every race, every ethnicity, every religion; being equal. Feminism is the movement to make everyone equal.

It is extremely unfair to say that a woman's place is "pregnant and in the kitchen." We are hard workers too, we were not made just to make babies and cook our husband's meals. It is extremely inappropriate use labels in a hateful way. For example: “Dude, that’s so gay!” “Are you retarded or something?” “You throw like a girl!” and many, many more.

Another thing American’s need to stop doing is devaluing feminized jobs. Being a nurse or a cafeteria worker does not mean that it is a job for a woman. Men can do these jobs as well. The same goes for the latter, like for example, if a woman is a construction worker or a CEO of a company.

All in all, we need to stop feminizing things and putting harsh labels to things. America is the “land of the free” and we should be able to freely express ourselves without being discriminated against.

I know there will always be people out there that discriminate against others and that there is no stopping them, but this is to try to get them to stop. They need to realize that their discriminating and bullying in schools has brought some students to committing suicide. Discrimination and bullying are no joke and should not be taken lightly.

My main point of this is to say that America needs to change, and it needs to change for the better. I’m not here to preach why you should vote for a certain presidential candidate, I am here to tell you that the things happening in America today need to stop. Stop feminizing, stop discriminating, stop hating. Start loving one another and treating each other as equals. We are different but equal, together but equal.