I want to march because of those who fear of being stripped of their civil liberties, fear for their safety and fear being removed from the place they call home. I want those people to know that they belong here and that those of us with the privilege to not have our citizenship questioned will do everything we can to shelter you and fight for you. I want to march because our 45th president is a minority elected demagogue who ran on a platform of white supremacy and that is unacceptable for a free nation. I believe if we don’t stand against this aberration then the consequences will be violence, tyranny, and the destruction of the planet. I believe we need to collectively stand up for science, reason, human decency, and equality. I will fight for the rights of women, Muslim Americans, Black Americans, immigrants and their families, those with disabilities and pre-existing medical conditions, the LGBTQ community, and anyone else whose existence is threatened by the sudden reversal of the slow and painful people have worked so hard for. People have bled for these rights and we must never stop fighting to keep them.

I’m a 30-year-old woman who lives with my husband in Houston, Texas. My family and I have lived in Texas our whole lives. I graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown in 2007 with a B.A. in Psychology. I have struggled with mental illness since childhood. In my 20s I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. I am also an assault survivor. Despite a passion for social work, my mental illness has kept me from being able to pursue an emotionally taxing career. I hope to promote positive social change in other ways.