To everyone in my life who supports/voted for Donald Trump:

I have a few things to say to you.

It's a little difficult to write this, as I don't usually write politically charged articles, and some of the things I have to say in here are extremely personal details that you may or may not already know about me (if you didn't know some of them I understand they may come as a surprise to you, but please don't ask me about them, as it is not the point of this article for me to go into explicit detail about those aspects of my life). I have also been working on reaching a mental state where this election isn't disturbing me as much, so I've been trying not to get as worked up about it lately. However, I still feel like these things need to be said, and I think over the past few weeks I have processed the election enough to a point where I can finally say them.

First off, I want to establish I don't hate you or plan on cutting you off. If you know me, you know I can't just cut people off that easily when I've been emotionally attached to them for a while, no matter how much they may frustrate me sometimes (and some of you are family, so there's no way I could do that even if I tried). I have seen several other liberals say they no longer want to associate with anyone who voted for Trump, but while I understand where they are coming from, I'm personally not the type to do that. You clearly came into my life for a reason, and that reason is stronger than differences of opinions.

However, I want you guys to realize that this is more than just differences of opinions. I can respect someone's right to have their own opinions, but I can't respect those opinions if they disrespect someone else's existence and rights to live, which are opinions that Donald Trump definitely has about anyone who isn't a cishet rich white male like him. Now I know you may not agree with all of Trump's bigoted beliefs. I've heard many Trump supporters say they voted for him only for reasons like his economic plan or because he wasn't Hillary, but still thought all his racist, sexist, etc. comments were gross. I realize not all Trump supporters are bigoted in the ways that he is.

So when you claim you're not racist, homophobic, transphobic or misogynistic, I believe you. But the fact is, you voted for someone who is, whether you like that or not. You voted for someone whose campaign platform was entirely built off of fear-mongering and hatred. He worked his way to the top and tried to see how much support he could rile up through thinking he can say whatever he wants about marginalized people.

I will reiterate that I'm not personally angry at you for your vote and I believe that you aren't racist, misogynist, anti-LGBT, or otherwise a bigoted person. But all I ask is that you just understand where those of us against Trump are coming from in our anger and fear of his election. Please understand that while you personally may not be directly affected by the issues of the hateful ideas he has spread, they are very real for many of the rest of us.

I have been directly marginalized in multiple ways by many of Trump and Pence's comments, in that I have disabilities and mental illnesses, I am part of the LGBTQIA+ community, I've experienced sexual harassment/assault, and simply the fact that I'm female. Trump and Pence literally hate everything I am. Trump has not only openly mocked a disabled person and several women, but also joked about groping and assaulting women, and even has multiple rape claims up against him. This was all very disturbing for me to see as someone who has actually been through sexual assault and is still dealing with the aftermath of an emotionally/sexually abusive relationship. Pence wants to make laws legalizing discrimination of LGBT people- as the governor of Indiana he wanted to put gay couples in jail just for applying for a marriage license- and he believes in conversion therapy and electrocuting people to be straight. Pence also voted against equal pay for women and wants to make women's healthcare more difficult to access.

All these things make me so incredibly anxious for the next 4 years, and that's just as a Christian white person (I went into greater detail in my article from right before the election about how my Christian faith factors into why I can't support him). I'm even more worried for the PoC, immigrants, Jews, and Muslims who have been marginalized by Trump and Pence's rhetoric. He has made many infuriating comments about immigrants, Hispanics, blacks, Asians, and Muslims, and his rise to power was extremely similar to Hitler's.

Therefore, please understand that while I still love you guys, it is difficult for myself and others against Trump to see people in our lives supporting someone who so very clearly doesn't support us. While I still understand you guys care about me, it's been hard for me to come to terms with the fact that people who care about me voted for a team of people who have demeaned me in every way possible, while knowing fully well that myself and many others in their lives would be affected by it.

Maybe we haven't been affected yet, but we don't know what kinds of laws Trump and Pence are actually going to make, or how many more hateful things they'll say. Maybe Trump has come out and said he won't actually do many of the things he proposed to do (like building the wall, repealing ObamaCare or overturning marriage equality) but just the fact that he depended on making all these radical claims to rise to power is still extremely vile to me. Because whether or not he'll go through with all those plans, he already created a rhetoric across our country that has made many of his radical supporters believe it's okay to harass and terrorize all the types of people he's marginalized. You guys are complaining about the liberal protests against him and telling us to "stop whining," but in truth, there have been consistent attacks from the radical right happening against minorities constantly ever since Trump was elected.

So please don't tell us we're being crybabies or overreacting, when our anxiety is very real and valid. Despite how I feel about Trump, I am not degrading or lashing out at you guys for your views, so there's no need for you to do that to me. You may think we're sore losers who are just upset that the presidential candidate on our side didn't win, but it's honestly so much more than that. You have to understand that it is not just about politics. Many of us are honestly worried that our well-being and our futures are in jeopardy, not only because of Trump himself but because of what he's ingrained into our culture. If it had been any other election, it wouldn't be a huge deal. We might have been annoyed at most about the Republicans winning, but we wouldn't be literally frightened for our safety. You guys would have been angry if Hillary won. You guys were angry when Obama won both times (which makes it extremely hypocritical to be telling the Democrats/anti-Trumpers to "suck it up and move on"). But during and directly after the election, people were literally crying out of fear while seeing that Trump was winning. There is a difference.

To those of you who do understand and aren't going out of their way to argue with me over this, thank you. I appreciate you guys not being obnoxious to me about it. I appreciate you still choosing to be there for me no matter what. I have had to cut out or block on social media many Trump supporters not simply because they voted for him, but because they chose to go out of their way to belittle me and seek drama with me for having different views than them. And I know those of you who actually care about me respect me enough not to do that. So thank you.

And I have a final request to make to all of you. Like I said, I understand you're not racist/sexist/etc. and don't support everything Trump has expressed. If you're someone I care about and want to keep in my life, you're clearly not a hateful person (or else I wouldn't have kept you around this long). Therefore I know for a fact that you, too, can't possibly be okay with the hateful rhetorics Trump and Pence have expressed and the violent post-election attacks from radical Trump supporters toward marginalized individuals.

So if you really don't support that bigotry, make that loud and clear. Speak out against these post-election attacks on minorities. Do what you can to help and be there for the marginalized folks living in fear after this election, rather than telling them they shouldn't worry and they're just overreacting. You need to use the same voice that you used to vote for Trump to denounce all the things about him and his dangerous ideologies that you don't support- because the rest of the country needs it more than ever right now.

If you took the time to read this whole article, thank you. It means a lot to have you hear me out. And thank you for understanding where I'm coming from.

I can only hope that we can all get through the next 4 years together without any more violence, hate, or bigotry.