Tuesday's election was filled to the brim with emotion. Whether you were happy or devastated, everyone felt something. Yes, Donald Trump is now our president-elect, a phrase that I enjoy typing almost as much as I enjoy eating live roaches. I am a Democrat, yes, but I am also a gay, mentally ill, black woman. I'm not trying to play the "Look how oppressed I am!" game. It's the pieces that make up my identity, and now I'm afraid I might be persecuted by rabid Trump supporters, if not Trump himself.
I know, I know, not all Trump supporters, hell, not even all Republicans are racist, homophobic bigots, but if you voted for Trump, I'm gonna feel a little less safe around you. "I'm not a bigot but I still voted for Trump!" you cry. Well, you may not think you're a bigot just because you yourself are not actively drawing swastikas on buildings or using racial slurs, but you still supported someone who: supports conversion therapy, opposes the ACA, is endorsed by the KKK and neo-Nazis, and is a known sexual predator.
Trump's Vice President, Mike Pence, actively supports conversion therapy. If you don't know what that is, it's when they take LGBTQ youths and try to turn them straight. They do that by first destroying the self-esteem of their "patients" and then teach them how to repress their true selves, all in the hope of them not being a "sinning homosexual" by the end of it. However, over 50% of LGBTQ youths commit suicide before the program is over. My two younger sisters, my friends, and I all identify somewhere in the LGBTQ community. I fear conversion therapy more than I fear death. I was 14 when I started questioning my sexuality, and was anxious about coming out to my parents, even though I was pretty sure they'd support me. It was the fact that I grew up in a state that is very Republican and have seen and heard passing homophobic statements by classmates that kept me questioning whether or not to come out until my senior year of high school. Trump also wants to repeal marriage equality, one of the biggest advances in civil rights in the past year. As a queer youth, I have always lived dealing with a certain amount of hatred, but I believed that we as a nation were progressing, and that the violence and homophobia was going away. Now, many LGBTQ citizens either have to stay in the closet, or go back in just to stay safe.
I suffer from depression and anxiety and used to use medication to control it until I stopped being able to afford it. A lot of my friends and family have a mental illness or a disability, and now they're left wondering if they'll continue getting care if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. If that happens, millions of people will be without medication or be able to see a doctor when they're sick. People who can't afford health insurance would stay at home instead of getting treatment for serious illness, or they'd go to work with a contagious infection because they can't afford a sick day. Since I stopped taking anti-depression medication, I've had more suicidal thoughts than ever. I wouldn't act on them, mostly because I'm lazy and deep down know that it's ridiculous, but they're there. I imagine someone who is struggling more than me could actually follow through with it. People are going to die without the ACA.
Donald Trump is racist. He is openly endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacist organizations. I shouldn't have to tell you what that means as a black person. In Lincoln, a first-grader at Belmont Elementary asked her English Language Learner teacher, "How soon am I going to have to go back?" in reference to Trump saying he's going to deport all illegal immigrants. A six-year-old is already worried about the future of her family. Six-year-olds shouldn't have to worry about politics, but Trump's hateful rhetoric against Mexican and Muslim immigrants has already festered and struck fear in the hearts of millions. Tuesday night, I saw one of my friends weep in fear about her family's safety, a friend who I've never seen show an emotion other than slightly apathetic. Hastings has a large Mexican immigrant population, and I'm sure almost everyone of them and they're families are worried and scared. Why wouldn't they be, when the president-elect built his campaign on calling Mexican immigrants drug dealers and rapists. Trump has also said that he would set up a national database of all Muslim citizens, prompting an NBC reporter to ask, "Is there a difference between requiring Muslims to register and Jews in Nazi Germany?" to which Trump responded, "You tell me."
Trump has said many horrible, sexist things regarding women including suggesting that the questions Megyn Kelly was asking him during the Republican debate was only because it was "her time of the month," saying that if Ivanka were not his daughter, he would date her; and that women only exist to be beautiful. Trump opposes abortion, and wants to defund Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is one of the most important women's sexual and reproductive health organizations in the US. They provide sexual education, birth control, help with body image, general health care, men's sexual health care, STD treatment, information on sex, sexuality, and gender identity, information about pregnancy, emergency contraception, and of course abortion. Without Planned Parenthood, millions of people will be without sexual healthcare. Planned Parenthood, obviously, is more than just abortions, but for women who want or need one it's a place to go to get informed of their options, without fear of being judged. For me personally, I don't use birth control and I don't ever plan on having children so abortion is a moot point. But that doesn't mean that I don't want other women to have to go without. That's why I'm pro-choice: women can choose what they want, whether to get an abortion, have an adoption, or carry to term. They have the freedom to choose. If Trump does away with PP and Roe v. Wade, it's going to lead in an increase in accidental and teen pregnancy and back-alley abortions, which put women at risk of infection or death.
Trump also has had many lawsuits regarding sexual assault, including the assault of a minor. His own ex-wife, Ivana, has gone on record to say that he's violently attacked and assaulted her during their marriage. And now we have a rapist for president. We've had some before, Thomas Jefferson and other slave-owning presidents, for example, but Trump has openly bragged about his assaults toward women. What does this mean for survivors of sexual assault? It means that while they are scrutinized and victim-blamed, their assailants are free to do whatever they want, like become the leader of the free world.
Trump represents hatred, fear, and war-mongering. Hillary represented peace, hope, and progress. Republicans can say they feel unsafe since the election, but I want them to think, I mean really think. Are they afraid of having their rights taken away, their loved ones being deported or killed, losing their health care, or being reminded of their own sexual assault? Or are they just mad because the big, bad Democrats hurt their feelings. Yes, Republicans have a right to feel safe, but so do I and millions of others this presidency is going to affect in the worst way possible. My unfriending of Trump supporters on Facebook has less to do with me not valuing our maybe sort-of friendship, but everything to do with my safety.
I am a Democrat. I am gay. I am mentally ill. I am black. I am a woman. I am terrified of a Trump presidency. I will not be silent.
