To My Friends Who Voted for Donald Trump:
Let me first start off by saying that I am not mad at you, but I am mad. I am mad that we live in a world that you felt that you had no choice but to vote for the most misogynistic and hateful man that I have seen in my lifetime. This was not just about electing the first female president. This was so much more. By voting for Donald Trump, you chose to vote against the rights of so many individuals. I’m sorry, but I am livid and I am done sitting passively by. Take a look at how your actions will affect other people besides yourself.
Please explain to women why their rights matter less than those of men. Tell them to their face that you believe gray-haired men in suits hundreds or thousands of miles away have more of a right to govern their bodies than themselves. When your friend comes to you shaking and sobbing that she is pregnant and not ready to raise a child, tell her you’re sorry, but you voted for a man who wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and punish women seeking abortions. When your friend tells you she’s worried she can’t afford her gynecological care, tell her how you voted for a man who wants to defund Planned Parenthood. When your friend tells you she was raped, explain how you voted for a man who laughed off accusations of rape as “locker room talk.” Perhaps most terrifying, tell them how you were willing to vote for a man who has said horrible, disgusting things about women, openly bragged about sexually assaulting various women, and was accused of raping a child.
Please explain to your LGBTQ friends why their rights matter less than those of straight cis-gendered people. Tell them how you voted for a Vice President who believes in shocking LGBTQ people with electric shocks until they are straight. Explain to your friend with two moms who now has to worry about the future status of their parents’ marriage that you voted for a man who wants to overturn the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling. Explain to your LGBTQ friends what “traditional marriage” means when you voted for a man who has been married three times and divorced twice. Explain to your LGBTQ friends how you voted for a man who wants state-sanctioned discrimination for those who are transgender. Most importantly, tell your LGBTQ friends how your happiness and ability to love and marry who you want is somehow more important than theirs. Be sure to tell them why you voted against their right to love.
Please explain to your minority friends why their rights matter less than those of white people. Explain to your Hispanic friends how you voted for a man who wants to tear apart their family and deport them or their families. Make sure you justify how you were able to vote for a man accused of rape who accused their entire culture of being rapists. Explain to your African American friends how you voted for a man who insisted our first African American president was from Kenya because of his race. Explain how you were able to vote for a man whose supporters burned a Black church in the South and vandalized it with pro-Trump rhetoric. Explain to your Muslim friends how you believe your religious freedom is more important to them. When they face prosecution for their faith, tell them how you voted for the man who wanted to ban their religion from the United States.
Please explain to your future daughter how you voted against her rights. Tell her how your pride was more important than her future. Explain to her how you allowed her to grow up in a world where the president calls women “dogs,” “fat,” and “disgusting,” making it seemingly okay for others to do the same. Explain why her classmates laugh off jokes of rape and sexual assault because that’s what the president you elected does. If your daughter, God forbid, has a chronic illness that denies her health insurance, don’t you dare cry. You voted against your evil “Obamacare” which would have allowed her coverage despite a pre-existing condition.
Following the results of the election last night, many Americans are scared, myself included. However, it is times like these that we learn how our nation can unite. In times of fear and hate, we must remember that hope drives out fear and love drives out hate. You voted for fear. You voted for hate. I am sad. I am angry. And I am done pretending that I am okay with your choices, but I am not done being hopeful.
Love will always, always trump hate.
Opinions are not a direct representation of the University of Wisconsin, Her Campus or Her Campus Wisconsin.