I got home very early on Wednesday morning to some of the worst news I have ever read: Donald Trump is the United States' president-elect. I cried. I cried because our political system (I cannot say the American people, because Hillary won the popular vote) voted a man into office that built his entire campaign on hate. I cried because of how many awful comments he has made about Latino/as, African Americans, females, and other minorities. I cried because his running mate, Mike Pence, is the most anti-LGBT politician our country has seen in a long time. I cried because the hateful, rape culture-perpetuating comments he made, still did not keep him from the White House.
But mostly I cried because of all of you.
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I cried because a country filled with hate, confusion and divide voted him into office. I cried because of your lack of understanding. I cried because of how many people, myself included, will have to fear for their rights come January 20th, 2017.
I cried because you can never understand that.
I am not calling Trump voters bigots, racists, homophobes, or any of the other slurs you claim that people refer to you as because you are a Trump supporter. I am, however, telling you that you were able to overlook all of his bigotry, racism, homophobia, sexism, and xenophobia when you did vote for him.
I cried because there is that divide. I cried because there is not enough love in a country so very clouded by hate right now. I cried because Trump supporters won't see that hate. I cried because Trump being president isn't the worst part of Trump being president, but the hatred that he built his platform on. The hatred being perpetuated by his more radically-inclined supporters is the worst part. The fact that even if he denounces all the hatred and violence that has come from some of his supporters during and after his campaign and election, he still created it through his hate, fear-driven platform. I cried because he even had a platform to stand on.
I cried for the children I nanny, for the youth who are going to be brought up with what the next four years and beyond mean for minorities, mean for the respect and consideration we have for our neighbors.
I cried for my fellow females who will not see equal pay for four more years. Who may have their right to choose what they do with their bodies taken away. Who must live under a president who spent his entire campaign, and the better part of his life, disrespecting women. I cried for my fellow females who saw Hillary rise up and nearly shatter the entire glass ceiling. I cried because there are so many females who think we fully lost, and do not realize how much of a victory Hillary getting as far as she did was. I cried because I told the 9 year old girl I nanny that she can still do anything in this world that she wants, and to never let anyone tell her otherwise. I cried harder when she asked me why I was crying.
I cried for my Muslim friends, one of whom was called a "Muslim bitch," and whose friend had her hijab ripped off of her head. I cried for the furthering of Islamophobia. I cried because that is even a thing.
I cried for my Latino/a friends, especially those who have friends and family that are not legal citizens. I cried that we elected a man into office who wants to build a wall rather than reform our immigration system.
I cried for my friends and family who are rape victims, those who now must live under a president who has said the words, "grab them by the pussy." I cried because his comments perpetuate rape culture. I cried because rape is a culture. I cried for the little boys who are going to grow up with a skewed view of how they should treat women, who don't have sound leadership at home and derive their opinions from the culture and world around them. I cried for the little girls that will grow up and date them.
I cried for my LGBTQ+ community. For my friends and my family who do not know, this is my coming out to you. I cried because I am shaking typing that. I cried because it is 2016, and I even have to come out. I cried because a man was elected into office alongside a man who has spent decades building a repertoire of LGBT hatred. I cried because all I keep receiving is the line where Trump said he would "protect the LGBT community against ISIS," and that anyone thinks that wasn't just him saying he would protect the entire country against ISIS. As I previously said, selective reading is not informed reading. I cried because our Vice President wants to remove funding from HIV/AID's research (because he thinks the only way you can get HIV is through same-sex intercourse) and fund gay conversion therapy instead. I cried because I may be told one day that a bakery won't bake my wedding cake for my wife and I. I cried because I may not be able to call someone my wife one day.
I cried because you let me down, my community down.
I cried because people are still being attacked, physically and verbally, for loving who they love and being who they are. I cried because the country just took a huge step back for minority groups; whether Trump enacts a single law or not, the hatred that his presidency is associated with is harmful enough. I cried because I will spend the next four years being told to "get over it" by people who do not know what it's like to have to fight for equality.
I cried because you will not have your religious-based appearance judged. I cried because you will not have to worry about whether or not your family can stay in the country. I cried because you will not have to fight five times harder to prove yourself in the workplace and still likely fail. I cried because you would not have died at Pulse in Orlando. I cried because you have not had to protest, march, be beaten, marginalized and died for the very right to f*cking exist. I cried because we have. I cried because we have to work together, and hold hands, and love each other, and raise children that have so much love in their hearts they reverse the hate just by waking up in the morning. I cried because we inherited the responsibility of watching so many walls go up, and having to raise children to rip them down. I cried because I'm afraid my hands are not big enough.
Please keep your privileged comments to yourself if you cannot understand the pain and fear we now experience. Please do not comment on fear you will not understand, for if you did you would not have perpetuated it.
