No politician is ever going to be progressive enough
for me. I trust art, culture, and plain old human connection to take us toward
justice in ways that politics can’t, but as anyone who has been anywhere near
me lately knows, I’m fired up all the way to my bones about this election. Here’s why:
1. I’ve
been geeking out on women’s history lately, and I’ve come to understand how
recently it was that we came to have any power over our lives at all. For most
of human history, our fates have been dictated by men, whether by force or by social
norms. In fact, only a privileged few of us have autonomy now. As much as I do
love men, I am tired of them deciding most of the things. This is a powerful
chance to turn the tide.
2. I
want my nieces and nephews to come of age in a society that values women’s (and
therefore everyone’s) health and allows them to choose when, how and if they
decided to have families. Those rights and values are under attack, and I need
somebody fierce defending them.
3. I
also want my nieces and nephews and the kids I take care of on a daily basis to
grow up in a time that preserves the GLBTQ+ progress that we’ve made so far and
continues to dismantle traditional narrow gender roles. I am very, very lucky
to have had the support, acceptance, and choices I’ve been blessed with, but
not everyone is that lucky, and those that aren’t need your support and
protection so that more people can feel free to walk around being themselves.
4. The
first vote I cast was for the first Clinton presidency, and though he did make
unforgivable choices, it was a time of happiness, prosperity, and progress.
Even though some of their efforts got bogged down in messes like “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell,” the groundwork was laid for a lot of the progress we’ve seen in
the last eight years.
5. I’ve
been reading Hillary’s memoir Hard
Choices and learning the details of what a Secretary of State actually
does. Though I may disagree with some of her choices, (and I’m not usually
great with moral ambiguity) the complexities, challenges, and prejudice that
she has faced down and overcome make her an absolute hero to me.
6. Every
time I post about Hillary or about politics at all, I get a pang of shame, a
socially ingrained message that as a woman, I don’t have a right to weigh in,
that I’m not entitled to a say in the matter. That’s because, for all of the
strides we’ve made, women are still not considered to be entire people, still taught
to feel bad for asserting ourselves, for speaking up. If I’m still fighting
that shame, then surely less brazen women must be as well. We need visibility
and we need a voice, the ultimate voice, to speak up for us and with us.
7. Donald
Trump’s success proves what many of us have been saying for as long as I can
remember: Misogyny is powerful. It appeals to the basest instincts of the men
and women who have been cowed and trained by rape culture to pile on, name-call,
gaslight and discredit anyone who dares to speak up against it. Though it’s
only a tiny fraction of what Hillary has endured, I’ve confronted the depths of
sexism in both my personal and professional adventures, and I am just done
accepting it. This is a good place to take a stand, and I’ll do as much work as
I can to make sure that stand brings me to the National Mall for Inauguration
Day.
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