Inspiration Boulevard

Why I Voted   

I have been a community organizer and activist since first attending college in Berea, Kentucky. It was there that I came of age in the height of the service-learning movement. Over the last 18 years, I have voted in every election. Each time I voted, I held my breath. The results of each election have had profound effects upon my life and the lives of those I have cared about. From children and youth I worked with in rural Kentucky and urban St. Louis, to the social justice organizers I rallied with when Clinton was elected, to my gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender siblings who mourned each time another one of us was murdered, and each time, someone else who was different, like James Byrd, Jr., was murdered.

I voted on Monday, October 20th, in Fort Collins, Colorado, for the first time, since moving to this fine state. I voted because the present and future of those I care about, and the lives and livelihoods of those I have not yet met, depend on the outcome of this election. I voted because I want to believe in a United States that does not support treating its own citizens and its undocumented workers who support its citizens like 2nd and 3rd class peoples. I voted because I want to live in a United States that recognizes the systemic workings of oppression, power, and privilege, and works towards equity rather than virtual equality. I voted because I grew up poor and lived in Appalachia. I voted because some in my family do not, or will not. I voted because I am queer and proud, because the laws and rhetoric surrounding my sexuality have never been about who I love, but how I shared my body and with whom I shared it with. I voted because I am white, of Greek heritage, a child of an immigrant, and I know that I receive daily privileges based on that -- even though I was not alive during slavery times, I still reap the benefits from that institution. I voted because I do not have to worry about whether a building will be accessible to me in the snow, or whether I will be looked down upon because I have a mental illness. I voted because I am a class border crosser, and am not always comfortable being middle class. I voted because I want to live in a country that I can be proud of. I voted because I do not want to live in fear.

I voted because I dream of a world in which all of us can live, breathe, work, and play in -- and all the while celebrate and honor our differences and similarities. I voted because it is less important whether this comes to fruition in my lifetime; it is more important to envision it. If I could not envision a world like this, hope would not have a place in my life.

I voted this year because I hope in a better today and tomorrow. Because I have to. Because we all have to hope. Because if we cease to hope, we will die - perhaps not physically, but emotionally, spiritually, mentally. I voted because I choose daily not to succumb to the culture of fear that abounds in our society, to the culture of fear that arises when one is continuously different in a world that calls you sick, unnatural, and sinful. I refuse to believe the lies we were told. And, rather, when I vote, I opt to use my voice... because on most days, my voice, my vote, is the only thing I have to advocate for myself and for those who cannot speak.