Trigger warning: physical and sexual violence, targeted bodies

When I was in high school, I took a course called Theories of Knowledge. We studied truth and the essential question of how we know what we know. In our unit on the social sciences, we were asked to bring in articles that showed how we use fields like sociology, psychology and anthropology as a way to obtain knowledge.

I came across an article in which a psychology master's student was responding to a study on the physiological differences between the brains of heterosexual and non-heterosexual humans. He then cross-examined this with theories of nature vs. nurture and gender modeling. The ultimate goal, for him, was to discover which methods of research were more sound in discovering what causes differences in sexuality.

At the ripe age of sixteen and not officially out to my peers in a fairly conservative high school, you can bet I wasn't about to present this in front of the class. So I asked my professor to talk about it.

During the presentation, my peers were all silent. It took about ten minutes for any discussion to get rolling and when it did, the only people who spoke were my more religious classmates. They didn't talk about the process of learning what causes homosexuality. Instead, they began speaking about the morality of homosexuality -- how it's ethically questionable.

At one point, I couldn't take it anymore. "Okay," I said, my voice quavering. "So, I brought in the article. And I noticed we're not really staying on topic here...um, by the way, I'm also gay, so, can we just stay on topic please."

I sat down in a cold sweat, hoping that what I had said would entice a little more support to keep things away from the realm of ethics.

As the discussion continued, the same people kept speaking, with the same negative ideas about homosexuality and how it's a sin. And even though I thought it would be discomforting to attach a face - a friend - to the issue, it didn't scare people. "It's okay that you're gay," one of my friends said, one of the first people in the room who actually said, "you" and spoke directly at me. "It's just, you can't act on it because sodomy is a sin."

It made me so uncomfortable that someone who I considered a friend could say this to me. I knew it was unreasonable to expect my professor to do anything about it - she would get fired - but I didn't know what to do. If I complained or made a ruckus, people would tell me that everyone's entitled to their opinion.

I cannot control the fact that looking at a picture of a naked woman will never give me an erection. Yet I deserve to be punished for it. Evidently, everyone's entitled to their opinion, including when it hurts you.

The election also proved that. Pence wants electroshock conversion therapy for queer people. Both Trump and Pence plan to pass "religious freedom" laws that legally justify hate crimes so long for those acting on your religious beliefs.

Permitting targeted violence on people over something they did not choose about themselves is not democratic. And voting for a man who supports these things is a direct attack on anyone you know who falls into the category of "minority."

My body has been taken advantage of.

One time, I was pressured into using substances I don't normally use with a new friend. Not too much later, he thought it was a good idea to assume I'm turned on by being choked, but it didn't stop there.

Using a surprising amount of force, he flipped me over, tore off my pants, spit on his dick and began pushing it in without words, without a condom, within seconds. I couldn't move him.

When your body is sexually dominated by physical force without your consent, it's called rape.

Trump has made is clear that bodies are not just public property, but his property - especially women's.

Voting for Trump validates the idea that women are property - that force is an okay measure. Imagine how many women deal with sexual violence every day - because remember, I'm just a gay cis-dude.

If you voted for Trump, I hope your daughter is safe, is never assaulted and has access to the things that she needs.

There is a large enough population that thinks they're oppressed all because they can't punish people for their sexuality. And we have to pretend like their opinion is valid because "this is a democracy."

Last time I checked, I would say it's pretty ethical to oppose discrimination.

Yes, it's very democratic that people can now be punished and physically assaulted based off of things about themselves they cannot control.

Here's the thing - the Trump regime targets people for who they are based on factors they have no choice over.

And now that viewpoint has been voted into office. It has taken a physical form that has the ability to create policies and laws that reinforce that misguided opinion.

We're taught that expressing ownership over another person is sexy.

My father is a working class white man. He dropped out of high school and entered an antique business with his mother until they had a business feud and their relationship spiraled out.

Now that he is no longer in the antiquing world, he has been running his own gun show business. He contacts dealers, rents event spaces and makes the whole thing run.

He is part of the population that believe "minorities" leeching off the system are what cause his bills to be so high. Everyone I know keeps talking about "the uneducated white, working class." Uneducated is the word I hate and not just because a large amount of Trump voters are privileged and earn way more than you might think.

It's not their assumed lack of education that leads people to vote for Trump. People who can barely afford their own bills think their hard-earned money is taken out of their pockets and given to minorities for free rides in the United States. While many of us know this to be untrue, try telling that to Trump supporters.

It will cost exorbitantly more money to deport refugees than many people realize.

It's not going to cheapen your bills to build pipelines. It'll cost more tax money, it will go straight through your communities and rip them apart, and it will dig the grave of the world faster and faster.

The fundamental difference between the two sides is this: The Trump regime attacks, intimidates and makes physical plans to punish people for things they cannot control about themselves. When called out on this ethical quandary, folks who support him say that they are being oppressed.

Opposing the building of a government that threatens people based on who they are - something they cannot choose - is not oppressive to anyone. Racism deserves to be oppressed. Homophobia, sexism, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia -- all of it ought to not exist. It's probably never going to happen, but it's a nice thought.

You can't control who you are. You don't have a choice. You do have a choice in the things that you believe. Punishing, targeting and threatening the safety the people who had no choice is not just as bad as telling people that maybe it's not cool to do those things. They are not the same.

People think I deserve to be oppressed because I can't get an erection to the image of a naked woman.

People think my friends deserve to be deported because of the color of their skin and they're scared that they sometimes speak in languages that are not English.

People think women should not be allowed to have the access to have a fuller sense of control over their bodies.

People think that folks with different physical and mental abilities are stealing their rightfully earned money by existing.

These ideas impede on people's physical safety based on things they cannot control about themselves. There was no choice. You know what is a choice? Being an asshole. Choosing not to care. Choosing to elect a man into office that wants to cause harm to people based on who they are.

Even if we can't permanently wipe out all of these horrible -isms, can we stop pretending that people who support these hateful ideas are being oppressed?

I would love to approach the other side with love and forgiveness, but it's really hard to forgive people who knowingly voted for, created and validated so many people who think they can use the phrase "this is a democracy" to harm you.