People keep telling me I need to vote for what I believe in. This is the argument that most of my friends are making when deciding to vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, and truthfully it's an argument that made me seriously consider voting for Jill Stein myself. However, I then sat there and thought about what truly mattered most to me: securing my human rights (and having a liberal in charge of course).

Many people believe that others are voting for Hillary because she's a woman, and since we've had our first Black president we need our first women president. If that were the case I'd be casting my vote for Michelle Obama or Ellen DeGeneres. I'm not voting for Hillary because she's a woman: I agree that it's time we had a women president, but Hillary is not the answer. She does not represent the feminist agenda or the women's rights movement. If anything, she represents white feminism and the world does not need more of that.

Hillary Clinton is not the most honorable president, that has been evident in light of the email scandal, but she does honor human rights and at the end of the day that's enough for me. People make the argument that you can't talk about why you're voting for Hillary without using Trump's name, or stating that she's a lesser evil than him. That may be true for some individuals, but if you educate yourself on Hillary's platform you'll see there's plenty of reasons to vote for her besides the fact that she isn't Trump.

Here's a list of her platforms I felt should be highlighted :

- For abiding by the Native American treaties

- Against racial profiling in law enforcement

- Against the war on drugs

- Against subsidizing oil companies

- Against privatizing social security

- Against the TTP

- Wants to raise taxes on capital gains held 1-6 years

- For tuition free college

- Against Citizens United Supreme Court decision

- For convicted felons (that have completed their sentence) having the right to vote

- Election campaigns should be publicly financed

- For more gun control laws and for schools to be gun-free zones

- For abortion and reproductive rights -- like pregnant minors not needing parental permission for abortions

- For assisted suicide to be legal

- For planned parenthood to receive federal funding

- For all American citizens to have the right to healthcare and undocumented residents to have the right to purchase health insurance

- Against using raids to enforce immigration laws

- For immigrants to become legal residents

- For Syrian refugees being allowed into the country

- For guaranteed federal medical and family leave

- For increasing the federal minimum wage

- For labor unions

- For medical marijuana

- For closing the Guantanamo detention camp

- Against the NSA collecting metadata on citizens

- Against torture as an interrogation technique

- For women serving in combat positions in the military

- For the Black Lives Matter movement

- Agrees that the criminal justice system is unfair to black citizens

- Acknowledges that humans have contributed to global climate change

- For GMO labeling

- Against the keystone pipeline

- For renewable energy

- Wants to ban drilling in the U.S. Artic and limit global carbon emissions

- For legalizing same sex marriage

- For LGBT adoption

- Against religious freedom to deny goods and services for gay marriages

- For transgender persons to use the bathroom of their choice

- For reinforcing alliances in the Asia-Pacific including increasing cooperation with China

- Wants to lift the trading embargo with Cuba

So please, do no tell me that we are deciding between two sides of the same coin because Hillary is not the same as Trump. Hillary Clinton is not threatening to take away my rights, my family and friends' rights, my community's rights, or my neighboring community's rights. Hillary does not want to take away my reproductive rights, or my gay rights, and to me that does not make her the same as Trump or that she is as just as bad for our country as him. I don't need to argue that I'm voting for her "because she's not Trump", I am voting for her because of her beliefs, her platform, what she wants this country to become. No I don't think she's the perfect candidate, but I do agree with her political stance. For me, voting for someone who supports human rights is voting for something I believe in, something my conscious can be okay with, even if it's not my ideal candidate.

I agree that our two-party system is flawed and that the system needs to change. I would absolutely love it if someone such as Jill Stein could actually be elected, but now is not the time that that will happen. A total of 469 seats in the U.S. Congress are up for re-election this November. The Congress has mostly been controlled by Republicans and this is the time and chance to change things. This is the time to elect Democrats and Independents into the Congress, to be able to give Independents more power and a chance in presidential elections. This is where your third party votes are needed. Change happens from the ground up. Many people have been angry and disappointed with Obama, not understanding that he has been working with a Republican Congress that has been determined to shoot down every change he tries to make. If you're not happy with the system and not happy with the two presidential candidates we've been given, then you need to participate in the change by electing the proper people into Congress that can enact the change you would like to see in this country.

For now, I am voting for Hillary Clinton -- not so that our nation can have its first female president, but to protect the many people's lives that could be threatened under Trump's presidency and so that many Americans can keep their human rights and liberties. I truly believe we need to make America great again, not rooted in racism again.