Meet Emma, a transgender woman who voted for Trump [View all]

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Hello from across the aisle: Meet Emma, a transgender woman who voted for Trump
Queerty

First things first, what led you to vote for Trump?

Personally, I just have a trust issue when it comes to believing Clinton will do the things she says she will do. She may today support the public’s support on a topic that most would agree on, but what about when she goes into private meetings with lobbyists and other powerful people in government? The next week she may completely flop on her support.

OK, well, how about this: The vast majority of the people Trump has selected to be in his cabinet have a long and vocal history of being anti-LGBTQ, including VP-elect Mike Pence, Attorney General pick Jeff Sessions, HUD secretary pick Ben Carson, Department of Education pick Betsy DeVos, top White House advisor Steve Bannon, and Secret of State pick Rex Tillerson to name a few.

This is where I have the biggest problem with a Trump presidency. I do not agree with some of the things his cabinet members have said in regards to the LGBTQ community. Will the road ahead be an easy one for LGBTQ rights? No. Was it ever? No. How did we get to where we are now, in terms of progressing LGBTQ rights? People stood up for the community and pushed things forward. I think we all have a responsibility to keep that up, and not to rely on politicians to have our best interests at heart. If we rely on them, then I think we’ll find that they will make policy decisions based on their sole opinion. However, our government doesn’t reflect the ideals of one person, but instead it is supposed to represent the people. If the people have widespread support over an issue, then it’s our responsibility to move things forward. If we’ve done it before, then I believe we can do it again.

But what if we can’t? What if we lose the fight for equality because of the extreme cabinet he’s put in place?

I don’t anticipate LGBTQ issues will be something they will bring up on their own agenda, which is unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean that we have to stop there. We can still organize, speak up on what we’d like to see change, and bring it to people’s attention. I don’t think we will ever “lose that fight,” because things are far from where they should be on LGBTQ issues, and as long as people get involved and fight for what they want to see changed, then the fight will always continue.