We Are Stronger Together And Will Go Forward Together. And You Should Never, Ever Regret Fighting For

what do we do tho? like, honestly? what happens if he’s elected? what do we honest to god do?

Words to live by. 

what do we do tho? like, honestly? what happens if he’s elected? what do we honest to god do?

Reminder that popular vote does not decide the president. Electoral vote does. Donald Trump is not president yet.

The Electors meet on December 19th. Their votes are counted January 6th. They have voted against the will of the people before and it’s highly possible they could do again. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet. Hilary still has a snowball chance.

We will not truly know until January 6th. The only thing we can do now is hope for a miracle, but there is that hope. (Especially given that there’s also a chance that Trump will be in prison by that time and would be disqualified regardless.)

You are going to run this country, and this world, very soon. So you will not listen to this man, or the 75-year-old, doughy-faced, gray-haired nightmare men like him, when they try to tell you where to stand or how to behave or what you can and cannot do with your own bodies, or what you should or should not think with your own minds. You will not be cowed or discouraged by his stream of retrogressive babble. You won’t have time to be cowed, because you will be too busy working and learning and communing with other girls and women like you, and when the time comes you will effortlessly flick away his miserable, petty misogynistic worldview like a fly on your picnic potato salad. He is the present, sadly, but he is not the future. You are the future. Your strength is a million times his. Your power is a billion times his. We will acknowledge this result, but we will not accept it. We will overcome it, and we will defeat it. Now find your team, and get to work.

‘Parks and Recreation’: Leslie Knope Writes Letter to America Following Donald Trump’s Victory (via Yahoo)

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I know there are a lot of people terrified of a Trump presidency for a lot of reasons, but some of the most vibrant horror I’m seeing is coming from young queer people. These people were in middle school or grade school when Obama was first elected, when Glee came on with its revolutionary act of portraying a blatantly Disney-saccharine gay love story. RuPaul and Ellen are huge tv stars, Sulu owns Facebook. RENT is a musical theatre standby performed in high schools. Marriage equality and bathrooms have been their biggest fights. So this? Looks like the apocalypse.

It’s not. Within my lifetime, a president laughed at hundreds of thousands of people dying of AIDS. Within my lifetime, that was a death sentence, not a footnote on a Grindr profile. Within my lifetime, “transsexuals” only existed as cruel punchlines. The only trans guy I had even heard of at 19 was from a movie about him being murdered. Ellen was a pariah who had lost her show for coming out. Being gay was career suicide if you were anything but a hairdresser. It was automatic dishonorable discharge from the military.

This is not saying Trump couldn’t undo a lot of that. But not all of it. And even if, EVEN IF he did? Queer people survived. Flourished. Got to where it is now. And where it is now includes a younger generation who will not go back, and in another 20 years, will be the CEOs, the senators, the governors, the president.

If you don’t give up.

Don’t you fucking dare give up.

“so what now?”

now? now we support the supporters. now we give time and money to organizations that fight the good fight on our behalf and that protect those who are vulnerable.

Planned Parenthood

American Civil Liberties Union (including immigrants rights)

Equality California (or the LGBTQ org in your state)

Southern Poverty Law Center

please share with me and others your top picks for where we can do good, so we can do more good together.

so what now? now we do what we can, where we can, because we can.

🙌

Today, Wednesday, November 9, 2016, is my 18th birthday. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was check the news. It was despairing. The United States of American had the opportunity to elect as the 45th president, a woman, for the first time in our country’s history, and we failed. Instead of crying over the news of an alleged sexual assaulter, chauvinist, sexist, homophobic, and racist person winning this election, I could have been crying tears of joy, that on my 18th birthday, the first female president was elected in the United States. That would have made me so proud of the country I love.

But that was not the world I woke up to. It was hard enough knowing that I missed being able to vote by a single day, but to have our country’s values skewed in such a way that we take steps backward in progress, and after the first African American president was elected, is terrifying.

I refuse to fear Donald Trump. He seems to thrive off of lies and hatred in order to further a personal agenda for power and money, and he represents everything I hate. What is really worrisome is what he represents. The fact that so many people have been convinced of his lies, empty promises, and regressive ideas that go against the true values of freedom and democracy that America is supposed to represent shows that we still have so much work to do.

I respect and love this country enough that I decided to study law and possibly devote a career to representing and fighting for the rights of the people of the United States. I believe we can do better, but I also know that it is much easier to succumb to fear than togetherness. Turmoil in the United States and across the world has always been there, but we have to decide how we react to those situations: with impulsive hostility or with measured foresight.

America has made an irreversible mistake, and though these words are nothing new to the ears of American citizens, they are essential to keep in mind. Law and government are supposed to represent change, our values, progress, and our democratic standard. If our government does not represent us, is not treating us in the way we deserve, it is in our hands to make that change. Bad laws are brought into being, but if they do not reflect us and the health of our society, we have the right to challenge them. Laws are malleable, not stagnant, and ever changing with progress. Never forget that our government works for the people, not for themselves. They represent all of us, not just a few. Regardless of personal beliefs and party affiliation, legislators’ responsibility is to represent everyone. 

I encourage everyone, especially young people, to not be passive and apathetic about politics and government because it is in our hands to decide change. If you claim that politics is unsavory, it is your job to fix it. Get involved, spread love, and stand strong in your beliefs because they belong to you and no one has the right to take them away.