A few months ago when Donald Trump made his racist remarks regarding Mexican immigrants, one of my co-workers was understandably and rightfully disgusted. However, instead of discussing how terrible Trump was for making these comments, she blamed Republicans as a whole. She said something along the lines of how terrible, racist, and ignorant Republicans are, and that if you vote for them you must be a very hateful person. Little did she know she was speaking to someone who is a registered Republican, and who is proud to call herself a conservative. I have known this woman for years, and she somehow didn't realize where I leaned politically, so I decided to tell her. When she leaned that I was in fact a Republican she was in shock. My co-worker (who is about twice my age I should add) went on a tangent about how surprised she is because I’m such a nice, caring, and compassionate person. It was in this moment that I realized people have deeply rooted pre-conceived notions about my character based on my political leanings, and I would like to set the record straight.

I’m a Republican but…

1. I’m a Republican but I'm not a racist.

2. I'm a Republican who is pro-life, but does not hate Planned Parenthood. I do think it needs to be reformed; however, there are good things about Planned Parenthood, including its work towards teaching sex education to teens in poor communities, giving woman another outlet to get birth control, and STI testing and treatment.

3. I'm a Republican but I don't think Mexicans, or any other immigrants for that matter, are all rapists, who have no positive attributions to bring to the country. I also don't think it is a good or even feasible idea to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, let alone even possible to get Mexico to pay for it.

4. I'm a Republican, but I don't own a gun. However, I do believe it is every United States citizens' second amendment right to have one.

5. I'm a Republican but I don't watch Fox news. I actually watch mostly CNN, and use realclearpolitics.com a lot to get viewpoints from many different sources. I also get the New York Times delivered to my house. *Gasp.*

6. I'm a Republican but I’m not Catholic, or Christian, or religious in any sense for that matter. I have conservative morals because that’s how I choose to live my life. I am pro-life not because of my religion, but because I believe a fetus is a person and I respect their right to life.

7. I'm a Republican but I don’t support an old white guy to be the next president. I wouldn't oppose it either, there’s just no good candidates. I actually don’t take race or gender into account at all when looking at the candidates, rather I choose one who I feel best represents my values and the direction I would like to see the country going in.

8. I'm a Republican, but I don't hate Liberals.

I’m a Republican and…

1. I’m a Republican and I respect all human life. This includes Syrian refugees, impoverished children in inner city communities, and the average middle class American. I don’t believe one life is more valued than any other, American or not.

2. I'm a Republican and I'm a woman, a woman who cares about woman's health and "woman’s issues," which should be everyone’s issues.

3. I’m a Republican and I believe in climate change. I also believe it is the fault of both humans, and the natural progression of the earth’s changes.

4. I’m a Republican and I believe in a limited federal government. This includes a limited welfare system, a privatized healthcare system, and limited government intervention in the economic sphere.

5. I’m a Republican and I believe that the enormous tax rates, as proposed by Bernie Sanders, would hurt the economy not help it.

6. I’m a Republican and I think bipartisan legislation is important, and I do not support shutting down the government.

7. I'm a Republican and I support marriage equality. I genuinely don't care about your sexual preference. Love who you want and marry who you want.

So before you assume all Republicans are racist, hateful people, please try to ask where we stand on the issues. Don't make rash over-generalized judgement about us, rather start up up a conversation. I promise we won't bite.