I wasn’t ever going to get political on this site. I was never going to join in on the hype, of whether I was pro-Clinton or pro-Trump, who I was voting for and why. I didn’t want to. I still don’t want to. But now that we have elected Donald Trump as our president, I feel like I need to say something.

Have Your Voice Heard: Become an Odyssey Creator

I didn’t vote for Trump. I didn’t vote for Hillary either. I voted third party, for Gary Johnson, someone who I believed could have made an actual difference in this country, had he not been overlooked by these two candidates who everyone saw as the two powers. I was rooting for the underdog.

Some good that did, huh?

I’m not here to rag on the Trump supporters, because some of my good friends voted for Trump. They didn’t like him all that much, but they certainly hated Hillary more. They thought she was a corrupt politician, not worth their vote. And all I can say is, I would rather have had her than Trump.

And by no means do I agree with what is happening in cities across the nation right now. Yes, I said I would riot in the streets along with those who are absolutely furious about the election, but I do not believe in burning the American flag in protest. I do not believe in attacking those who have voted for Trump, or even supported him. It’s too late for us to keep him out. The best we can do is keep him contained. And trust me, I will vote until my last breath to get as many democrats into Congress as I can. I refuse to back down from this fight. Because although Trump may be in the White House, he’s nothing without Congress. We all know this from Obama.

He had to fight tooth and nail against Republicans in Congress to get his laws passed, and even then, he didn’t do as much as he would have liked. So let’s do the same against Trump. Because I’ll be damned if I let some man who believes he can build a wall, a literal wall, across the border of Mexico, tell me how to live my life.

I have people who are very close to me who are openly gay, and I worry for their safety. I worry that their families, who may not agree with their views, are going to put them into conversion therapy. I worry that these people are going to be forced back into the closet because once more, it’s easier to hide than to just be yourself.

I have friends who are from out of the country, and who have family from out of the country. I worry for their safety and their possible futures. I worry that one day Trump will succeed in forcing out all those who he sees as illegal immigrants.

As a woman, I worry for my reproductive rights. I should have a choice, no questions asked, to get an abortion. I shouldn’t have to explain myself to anyone, and neither should any woman. I shouldn’t have to fear that one day, a woman could be denied an abortion in a case of rape, because someone doesn’t see it that way. Because Donald Trump excuses “locker room talk.” Because someone tells her that she must have been asking for it, in some way, shape or form, and thus, it wasn’t rape. And that woman is forced to carry to term a pregnancy that she never wanted, or not at least under such circumstances.

But enough about Trump. Let’s look at the more real threat here, the one who the media has been hiding behind Trump’s sexist comments. See this man? This is Mike Pence, the soon-to-be Vice President.

He’s against marriage equality; for conversion therapy (which has been proven ineffective, by the way); for de-funding Planned Parenthood (something that does a lot more than just abortions!); he signed on with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (The right to refuse service based on religious views, which is still intact in some states); he supported a constitutional amendment that would define a marriage between a man and a woman; and in 2010 he supported the keeping quiet of some soldiers being openly gay.

And while he may not agree with Trump’s views of immigration and Trump’s “locker room talk,” he still has won no favors with me. His views are enough to make my stomach turn, and just like I plan to do with Trump, I’m not backing down from this fight. I’m not going to flee to Canada and let the rest of my country go down the drain. I’m going to stand with the rest of those who choose to remain and stand against Trump and Pence.

But who knows? Four years is a long time, and maybe, just maybe, Trump will prove all of us wrong. Maybe he can make some very real and very beneficial changes to this country. Only time will tell, and we’ve got a hell of a lot of time with these two.