I have been trying to keep relatively quiet about this election cycle before the date of the election - if I did say anything, I tried to keep it relatively unbiased, respectful, and hopeful. Other than a few angry outbursts (I’m genuinely sorry if you were on the receiving end of those, it was not me at my best), I would say that I was generally successful. Underneath that calm & confident exterior, however, was a tumultuous storm of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and anger.

Let me put this bluntly- I am TERRIFIED of a Trump presidency. Why? Because I have seen how his words have already affected people and their actions (whether he meant them to or not is none of my concern). I agree, some of his words may have been taken out of context to shame him. But now they are also being used (within context or not) as excuses to do some truly reprehensible things. I think back to the people that Hillary Clinton referred to as “the basket of deplorables”, and while they may not be the majority they are definitely a very loud minority (no matter how small). There have already been reports from people victimized by racially, religiously, and hatefully motivated crimes. As someone who falls into some of the categories targeted and lives in an area with a high concentration of Trump supporters, this makes me more than a little uneasy. I have tried my best to remember that not even the majority of Trump supporters are the kind of people who would do these kinds of things, but it’s getting increasingly more difficult. These last few years I have worked hard to come to terms with the things that make me unique and become comfortable with who I am - why should I be scared for my life just because some of those things happen to “offend” people, as long as I’m not hurting anyone or violating their rights. I have finally found a place in my life where I feel comfortable; I finally have a place that I feel that I am generally able to share my views and have a civil discussion, a place where I don’t have to worry about keeping up a front when I’m around people, a place where I feel safe. I finally realized that home isn’t a place you can go, it’s more of a feeling. I don’t want the last few years of progress to be lost, I worked too hard for them.

I can’t think of anyone in this country right now that scares me more than Mike Pence. While I can understand Trump wanting to surround himself with politicians who know the system and who align with his party’s political views, Pence doesn’t exactly inspire a whole lot of confidence with anyone who isn’t part of the Religious Right. While in office, he has made comments on his positions & those comments are ambiguous at best- at their worse, his sentiments towards the LGBT community, abortion/women’s rights, and other important issues are too damaging to be ignored. Perhaps his words were taken out of context- I will try to keep my mind open in case that is what happened, but I will still keep my guard up in case they didn’t need any context and those words were his actual thoughts on the issue. I would implore Mike Pence to keep an open mind and listen to people of the groups who these sentiments affect in order to understand his impact- not matter what his actual position is, he has come across to many people as someone who should be feared and hated rather than respected. In addition, I think that it is valuable to remember that this country was founded on religious freedom, which also gives the population freedom from people who would try to push their religion onto them and also freedom from religion in general. Yes, it’s true that for most of the country’s history the majority of the population has been of some sort of Christian background. But just as people are allowed to grow and evolve, so are countries. I don’t mean that in a negative way- I just mean that the country is allowed to diversify and become more inclusive, that doesn’t negate where we came from or any specific faith you may or may not hold. We built this country to get away from theocratic governments- let’s not go back to them.

I guess I should be more clear- I’m not afraid of Trump himself- I’m afraid of those he chooses to surround himself with and the effect that his words have on others. I hope that in the next few months and years we as a country can start listening to the other side of the story in order to come together in solidarity. The only way we will move forward is if we do it together- as Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”.

(Thank you Voters For Equality for the picture!)