To the Mom on My Facebook Feed Who Voted for Trump

Dear Mom on My Facebook Feed,

I see you support Trump because he says he will keep you safe from violence. You hope under his leadership your daughters will be safer, too. Believe me, we all understand that. But the rest of us are terrified that we won’t be safe and we’d like to build a better future for your children, too. A future where they will be safe. For you, Trump’s ideas make sense. They maintain the status quo. You hear him say things like “tough on crime” and fighting “radical Islam” (as someone with expertise in terrorism, I can tell you why his proposal will make it worse) and you think that those are the greatest threat to safety in this country.

We understand your fear. We are also afraid.

We’re afraid of what your daughters’ future might look like. We’re afraid that many of the people who supported Trump think that his “grab them by the pussy comment” was funny and not threatening. Since that comment abusers have learned yet again that they can get away with rape and abuse. I want a future where your daughters don’t have to be afraid of being raped, like I have been and like 288,820 have been every single year in the United States.

Odds are good one of your children will grow up to be a member of the LGBTQ community. We’re afraid that in Trump’s America LGBTQ kids will be forced to undergo conversion therapy, a practice that has been shown to be ineffective and dangerous. We’re afraid that our community members will continue to feel that suicide is their only option. Did you know that the national suicide hotline experienced double the normal call volume in the hour after Trump was elected?

We hope that tomorrow’s LGBTQ youth will never need that resource, but we’re afraid that it won’t be funded for when they do.

We also know that hate crimes against the LGBTQ community have risen substantially since Trump announced his candidacy last year and continue to rise now that he’s the nominee. We’re afraid that trend will continue.

Some of you are people of color or who have children who are. We’re afraid that in Trump’s America, you, your kids, their other parent, our friends, and our family members will be deported or killed simply for their ethnic or racial identities. We’re trying to build a future where your children will be safe to be out in the streets. My deepest hope for you is that you’ll never have to wonder if your child will make it home at night because of their race. Millions of mothers in this country don’t have that comfort.

As a woman, I am terrified. Last year I published an article about being a member of the LGBT community. Millions of people who likely voted for Trump found my contact info and sent me messages.

They told me I would make excellent breeding stock for the white supremacist movement and that they couldn’t wait to rape me so that I would have their white babies. I didn’t take them seriously. I do now.

I’m afraid that I will lose my ability to decide for myself when and if to become a parent and with whom to do it. Trump and his followers have promised to chip away at coverage for birth control under the Affordable Care Act and to repeal Roe v. Wade, making it harder for people who need them to access safe and legal abortions.

Chances are one of your children will want to become a parent. We’re trying to build a future where they can make that choice freely and can easily support their family, whether they’re single or not. Chances are also pretty good one of your children will not want to become a parent. We want them to have that choice, too. Trump’s anti-choice and anti-birth control rhetoric scare us because we don’t believe anyone should be forced to parent or give birth. But we’re also afraid that in Trump’s America it will be impossible for hard-working people to earn enough to support their families and that the social safety nets we worked so hard to put in place and keep funded following the Great Depression will be gone, leaving your children and grandchildren without food or housing.

We understand your fears. We have them too.