Women’s March on Washington

I am so proud to be a woman today and was almost moved to tears about the support from millions of people around the world for women’s rights.

Yesterday, a man was sworn in to be the leader of my country, and he has shown me that he does not respect a woman’s rights. I will not call him President Trump. He will forever just be Trump for me. I do not and will not believe any thing that comes out of his mouth because he has gone against his word so many times throughout the last year that I don’t know what is true, what is not, and what to believe. I did not vote for Trump and I cannot support him. I will respect the office he now holds, but I can only view him as the con artist that I see. You may disagree with me, but that’s my opinion. If you voted for Trump, good for you. That’s your right.

I could not walk in the March today because I had to work, but I proudly cheered on the 500+ people who marched in my small, rural town this morning. Here are my reasons why I support the March and why I will fight for my rights with the new President and Republican-majority Congress:

I will NEVER let any man tell me what I can and cannot do with MY body. I do not want a law being put into place where I do not have a say with my body, but a man can do what he pleases with his body without anybody’s approval or any repercussions.

For some of my friends, they refused to walk because of abortion for religious reasons or personal reasons and there is nothing wrong with that. I will support them in their decision. I am Pro-Life to a point. I do not believe in using abortion as a means of birth control. If you refuse to use other forms of birth control, pill, condom or otherwise, and do not want to get pregnant, don’t have sex. Period. Simple as that. I am for abortion, however, when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest because no woman should have to be reminded of that horrible instance every single day for nine months and I believe rape and incest are not reasons to bring a child into the world. But whether or not a woman aborts a pregnancy due to rape, incest or any other reason should be her choice and her’s alone. Abortion is ending a life and there is no other way to look at it. I will support any woman for making such a difficult decision because it will affect her for the rest of her life and she is the one who has to live with that decision.

I am also for abortion when the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life and the fetus is not viable. My friend had to terminate a pregnancy last year, because the baby would not have survived and would have killed my friend as well. In order for my friend to survive so she could be around to raise her other children, she had to lose any and all hope of ever having more children because the only way to save her life was through a hysterectomy. Should she be punished for aborting that pregnancy? No. No one should. Should her other children be forced to grow up without a mother? No.

I hate that this Republican- majority controlled Congress wants to take away affordable birth control for women while men can still buy condoms for fairly cheap. How is that fair? Sure, women can buy the condoms, but we cannot buy medication for our bodies? The government is making it sound like men are the only ones who get to decide when a woman gets pregnant and she has no say in the matter. There are other health benefits to taking birth control. I had to take it for several years, starting when I was sixteen, to regulate my hormones because I was having cramps so bad I felt like I was paralyzed.

I stand with my LGBTQ community. While I am a straight women, I support everyone in who they are and who they choose to love, no matter what gender they happen to be. We are all HUMAN!! That alone makes us equal. Just because someone disagrees with another person’s choice, by personal or religious reasons, does not mean they cannot and should not have the same rights. LOVE IS LOVE. Gender does not decide that. The heart and soul do.

I stand with the transgender community to use whatever bathroom they want. We are all there to do the same business. Who cares what gender you are or choose to be? I stand with transgenders to be viewed as equal to anyone else.

We now have a President that acts like women are nothing more than “play-things” and I have yet to see him deny this. I saw a video that compared how Obama and Trump talked about their daughters. Obama praised them, that his daughters were kind, respectful, smart, funny, and compassionate. Then it showed Trump talking about his daughters and he kept saying how they have nice legs or that if they weren’t his daughters, he’d date them. I find that revolting.

I’ve heard reports since the election was over and that Trump was elected, that so many men believe that just because Trump got elected, they can grab a woman however they please and she cannot stop them. I’ve also heard rumors about the government wanting to lessen or even get rid of punishments for violence against women. This simply cannot happen. My body is not a “play-thing” for men to grab whenever they please. Any man who tries to grab me without my consent will find himself in the hospital after being throat-punched and the shit kicked out of them. I know how to defend myself and I’m not afraid to.

I’m with the mothers who breastfeed in public. If you don’t like it, turn away. The woman is just trying to feed her child in the most natural way. Breastfeeding babies is why women have breasts. Don’t belittle a breastfeeding mother. Don’t make her feel like a horrible human being because you find it disgusting or unsexy. Simply turn away and don’t look. And don’t make her go into the public restroom to feed her child while sitting on a public toilet. If you wouldn’t eat your lunch in a public restroom, why should a baby?

I stand for my right to be seen as an equal. My favorite picture of a poster I saw today said, “I don’t know why I still need to protest this fucking shit.” Why do we seem to be going backwards? It’s the 21st century for crying out loud.

I am a woman. I have rights that SHOULD be equal to a man’s. I have a voice. I will not be silenced. I will fight and I will show you how to fight like a girl. And today it was apparent that I’m not alone.