What Kayden Said

This post was written by a dear friend of mine. I've only met her once. Why is she a dear friend? Aside from the fact that she's wildly intelligent, gorgeous, and a wonderful person; she's married to one of my dearest friends: Olivia. So she has more to lose by the GOP winning than I do.

I wish I wrote this, and I echo her sentiments 100%. If you're voting to strip me of my rights, well, explain to me why you would do that to a friend. Or, just go away.

Her blog can be found HERE.

Kayden and Olivia, Keystone Conference 2015

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I was looking at a dear friend's FB profile this morning and realized, to my horror, that they were a Trump supporter. The wave of emotions that swept over me ranged from disgusted and angry, to deeply sad and disappointed. I then thought of other friends and family that I know will be supporting any republican candidate for the presidency later this year, regardless of who it is, and the sadness turned into intense anxiety and a need to do or say something. To that end, here is an open question to all of my friends and family who intend to vote for republicans this fall (for either president or any other position):

With virtually all of these candidates vowing to roll back marriage equality and take my beautiful marriage away from me, with so many of these candidates publicly declaring people like me to be sick and confused perverts, with the RNC officially throwing its support behind well over 100 of these "show me your genitals" bathroom bills that could lead to more teen bullying and suicides or to me being thrown in jail or fined thousands of dollars simply for peeing in the restroom that I obviously belong in, and when so many of these candidates would have my aforementioned jail time served with men instead of other women... With all of that, if you love me or care about me at all, or if you consider yourself an advocate and supporter of LGBT people, HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY SUPPORT THESE PEOPLE?!?!

Seriously... if you're going to vote for these people, then step up to the plate here and own it. Explain to me why you're okay with all of that. Tell me how it's worth it to you to support a platform built on blind hatred of myself and others like me (not to mention countless other minority citizens). Tell my why you support people who are more concerned with terrorizing me than they are with fixing real problems in our country.

Or better yet, the next time you see me, look me in the eyes and tell me "I'm voting for people who want to strip away your rights and your marriage and your happiness and to put your safety in jeopardy, and I'm okay with that because..." If you have the courage to do that, I'll give you a fair listen.

But if you can't come up with a response for me that you honestly feel good about, then maybe you need to dig deep and reconsider where you stand and who you're voting for.