Days after the election we are still fighting about how we want to be lead.
Most of my republican friends do not understand why we are protesting. They do not see that they are part of the majority, they are not outcast like most of us. They do not see that the election could lead to the overturn of the Obergefell ruling at the Supreme Court, refusing my right to marry whomever I fall in love with.
Despite his latest stance on the matter — Trump recently told Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes that marriage equality “was already settled” — we still don’t know where the President Elect stands. However, we know where at least one of his closest allies stands on the matter, but this isn’t about Mike Pence.
What we do know is that he’s pledged to overturn all of President Obama’s executive orders, including one that makes it illegal for federal contractors such as ExxonMobil to discriminate against LGBT people in hiring. He’s also announced he might reinstate the ban on transgender people serving in the military, and he wants to let states decide whether transgender people ought to be allowed to use the bathroom appropriate for their gender identity.
I’m an educated, gay man born in Mexico. My family and I migrated to the Land of Opportunity when I was ten years old for a better future. I worked hard and pushed myself through nursing school knowing that was the way to achieve a better future for myself and family. Today, as a nurse, I am in the business of helping others. That does not stop outside of the sterile walls of the hospital. My compassion doesn’t only spread to the ends of my family tree, but to all people.
I spent most of my early teens looking for the acceptance of my peers and trying to fit into a rural America where I felt a shame for not being lucky enough to be born white and in the United States. I was lucky enough to have friends who accepted me, but on occasion racist remarks would flutter out of their mouths. They always excused themselves by saying “you are not one of those Mexicans.”
I would just smile and try to not take it too personal, but it was a powerful reminder that as much as I tried to assimilate I was still an outsider. This election has resurrected that same feeling.
People are telling us that we are crying, and should accept the loss — that we do not deserve a “trophy.” They are wrong.
We will not accept what was chosen for us and be quiet. While we have to live with the decision, we can still stand up and have our voice heard. We will not roll over and let those that Trump empowered label us as the definition of ‘American Unacceptability.’
They threaten to change us with the barbaric method of conversion therapy. They threaten the foundation of our nation by building a wall and isolating us from the rest of the world.
What they see is the potential of economic growth and change that no other candidate offered. But, we have more to lose than those who choose Trump for presidency. We have more to fight for.
While there is still a hope in my heart that everything will be ok, I choose to voice my opinion and tell President Elect Trump that I will not let him or the Republican Party take my freedoms and attempt to change who I am.
We will not let them scare the young people in our community who are struggling to find themselves. We will not let them intimidate the other minorities that make up this great nation. We choose to live in this great nation and you do not have a right to tell us to “get out” because we do not agree with the racism, sexism, or cruelty towards other human beings being committed.
