So you might not know this, but Donald Trump won the United States Presidential election. Everyone has something to say about it and apparently, so do I. People are faced with emotions that range from utter fear to utter joy. However you’re feeling about the election, we need to just take a minute and talk about this.
What do we do now? This has never happened before and people don’t know what to say or how to react. Do we abandon the electoral college, despite the fact that it’s never steered us wrong yet? Do we succeed the Union like the Confederates? Do we ignore the racism that has embedded itself at the national level and has trickled down to the citizens of this country? Do we know what exactly our President Elect stands for?
For every post on Facebook I see about Trump supporting LGBTQ+ rights, I see 7 saying he’s against them. As an LGBTQ+ ally, and as a human being, I believe all humans should be treated equally, only to be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, the religion they represent or in this case specifically, the way they sexually identify. What is Trump’s stance on gay rights and marriage equality? Days after the Orlando shooting, Trump said “As president, I will do everything in my power to protect LGBTQ+ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.” (For link to video, please see the bottom of this article.)
Yet in January of 2016, Trump claimed he would “strongly consider” appointing judges to overturn same-sex marriage decisions. (See source below as well.) More recently, Trump was questioned about his view of the laws protecting same sex marriages and he said “It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean, it’s done.” (Once again, see source below.) In my opinion, he doesn’t sound too happy about this, but obviously things can be misinterpreted.
My point is, what does Donald Trump represent to our nation? Through all the hate, scandal, and corruption that has flown across social media this election, it’s been hard to spot true policies, opinions, and ideas. As an active political member of society I know Trump wants to build a wall, get all the immigrants out of our country, bomb ISIS and that he detests Hillary Clinton and anything and everything she represents.
But how does he plan to initiate his plans as President? What are his policies, opinions, and ideas? How does he feel about women’s equality despite the allegations held against him for rape and the crude language he uses when talking about women which is so popular I need not repeat? How does he feel about the fact that America is a binational labor market that has relied on Mexican labor since World War I? He wants to defeat ISIS, but how does he plan to do this? Will he protect the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals or will he side along with his running mate Mike Pence who allegedly supports conversion therapy and wants to restrict a woman’s right to an abortion? How do we muck through all the confusion? What do we do?
Well here’s my idea: accept each other. I know it seems like a crazy concept, but it might just be the only thing we have left. Donald Trump has been elected our 45th president of the United States through our democracy and we have to see how it all works out. If you want to protest because you feel like Trump stands for things that are unjust to you and the people around you, go for it! We are blessed to have the right to free speech!
Please keep things peaceful, or they’ll be no hope of accomplishing anything. If you think people having protests and stupid and their voices won’t make a difference, respect their opinion anyway. If we could all just not hate based on who we voted for in the election, or in any election, may America wouldn’t be so close to falling to pieces.
And please don’t forget to respect people who voted third party as well. Yes, I’m really annoyed with the people who voted for Harambe and Hennessy and made a mockery of a right that so many people in our country has died for too, but some people just couldn’t morally back either candidate, and that’s okay. That is what I think we should do.
Stay lovely. Stay positive.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/07/21/tru...
http://www.hrc.org/2016RepublicanFacts/donald-trum...
