Yesterday I walked the Women’s March in San Diego. My girlfriends, Scout and I all paraded the streets with thousands of others voicing our right to fight. As I walked the streets with strangers from all walks of life, I looked down at my 4 year old daughter. She was waving her “girl power” sign in the air with such dignity and strive. I looked around at all the unique faces that tie this country together. It was the most empowering, unifying moment I’ve ever had. A moment I will never forget.
However, in that same unifying moment, I realized how divided we truly are. Nothing I have ever seen from my time on this earth. Nothing I have even read about since the civil rights era. I thought, “am I creating more of a division by being here”? And that’s when I realized one thing. We are a nation of diversity. I don’t just mean diversity of race or religion. I also mean diversity of thought. Diversity of opinion. And that is OK.
So, I took a stand yesterday. I took a stand for many reasons, but one in particular was to stop the fight on defunding Planned Parenthood and take away the stigma that is associated with it. As a teenager exploring and discovering my sexuality, I was able to obtain safe and precautionary options, such as birth control, because Planned Parenthood was there for me. When I had no insurance to obtain pap smears and testing, Planned Parenthood was there for me. And when I dealt with the hardest decision in my teens years, Planned Parenthood was there for me.
I was not in the streets yesterday displaying my hatred towards Donald Trump, because frankly I don’t hate him. I was there to display my voice as a woman, and to tell him that even though you are the nation’s president, you cannot make a women's reproductive choices.
I don’t think Trump is an evil guy. Offensive? Absolutely. Unqualified? Yep. But for god sake, he is being compared to Jeffrey Dahmer? What I can't be ok with is those that are using destruction as a way to emphasize their stance on this country, or anyone bullying his 10 year old son, merely because they have the same blood.
That is not America. That is not who we are. We are people of compassion, liberty and love.
With that said, yesterday made me so proud to be a woman. Proud to walk for the same freedoms that I hope my daughter will not have to fight for in her adult life. Proud to have amazing girlfriends, and proud to be surrounded by kindness regardless of background.
Donald Trump, I am willing to hear you, but you have to hear us first. #GIRLPOWER
- Lindsay xx
