My Dearest Bernie Bros,

I’ve been keeping up with this election cycle nearly every single day. I cast my first ever vote in this year’s Florida primaries for none other than Senator Bernie Sanders, the candidate I have supported in so many ways in the past year. Yes, I didn’t just post about him on social media, I actually voted and contributed to the campaign.

It seems, however, that our favorite candidate Senator Sanders will be unable to secure the nomination for the Democratic party. While yes, the primaries are not yet over, it would take overwhelming numbers of votes in the coming primaries and from super delegates for him to take a lead over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

And again, trust me, I am not a fan of Secretary Clinton. I find her to take positions flippantly, never actually sticking to a set of values. Her feminism is an ugly shade of beige, with no room for any skin color deeper than the color of sand. She panders intensely to every major group of left-leaning demographics, she has made errors in her foreign policy as Secretary of State, and she is indeed largely funded by corporate interest.

And if she is nominated as the democratic candidate this election cycle, I am voting for her.

Now, here is where I know I have enraged many of my fellow Bernie fans (who usually also happen to be cisgender, heterosexual, white men). So many of you, my dear Bernie Bros, have been posting that you are #BernieOrBust, that you would never vote for the corporate shill named Hillary Clinton. I have seen countless numbers of you pledge to write-in Senator Sanders, vote for Jill Stein, or flat-out refuse to vote this November. You are standing up to the establishment. You are not standing down. You will follow through on your beliefs.

This is all well and good. I admire your resolve to stick to what you believe in. And yet, I am disappointed in your carelessness. I am disappointed in the lack of thought that extends beyond your own narrow world view. It takes a lot of privilege to stick this adamantly to Senator Sanders. Because the opponent from the republican end this election year is one that stands in the way of just about every minority group in the country. And by taking your valuable and precious vote and funneling it into a third-party candidate with an extremely low probability of winning, you will essentially be handing this election over to Donald Trump.

I want to stress to you what this means. Not only will Donald Trump be holding our highest elected office for at least four years, he will also be appointing a justice to the Supreme Court. A Supreme Court that narrowly ruled in favor of same-sex marriage only a year ago. A Supreme Court that will likely be getting cases dealing with reproductive rights, transgender rights, and the rights of undocumented immigrants. The Supreme Court Justice appointed by Mr. Donald Trump will likely serve on the Court long after Trump has left this hypothetical presidency.

And this means a lot to me, my fellow Bernie supporters, as well as so many of the people Sanders himself has fought to protect. The idea behind this campaign is to build a nation where people have real human rights. While Hillary Clinton likely won’t give anyone too many new rights, at least we can rest assured that the bar will not be lowered. We will keep a status quo; we will continue to live as we do now. Which is not ideal, but it is better than the possibilities that come from a potential President Donald Trump.

I am a young queer woman in college. I need to at least maintain the rights I already have. I need to stay in school. I need access to healthcare. I need access specifically to sexual healthcare. I have a vagina and a uterus, so I need access to safe and affordable abortions and birth control. So please, my beloved Bernie Bros, I beg you to look beyond yourself and see the many people in this country whose lives would be deeply affected by the presidency of a man who literally embodies the ideals of fascism. We thought Bernie was our only hope, but it instead turns out that you, my friends, are our only hope.