I am joining the march to demonstrate that I will not accept the marginalization, oppression, repression, or discrimination of myself or any group of people. As a woman, my purpose is not to look good and to blandly accept assessments as to how well I meet that goal. I am a person, not a pussy to be grabbed, not a reward, not a toy, not an art piece, not an object for gratification. My value does not reside in my appearance, passivity, domestic servitude, support of males, or nurturance. I am human, and I am created equal, with equal civil rights, equal entitlement to respect, bodily integrity, privacy, and agency.

So to are all other humans, and I will not stand by as a new witch hunt begins, building walls reminiscent of the Iron Curtain which the U.S. thought itself so grand for insisting it be torn down, registering humans not for atrocities they have committed but for the religion in which they believe–ousting, binding, surveilling. I stand against marking some for persecution, invading their privacy and disrupting their lives, first through registration, making way for the next human rights abuse, the next internment.

I am joining the march to stand against the attitude of permissiveness toward misogyny, bigotry, homophobia, and any other hate, intolerance, or discrimination which has festered since the Electoral College foisted the loser of the popular vote on us. I stand against unearned privilege, making others the Other, invisible and unheard. I stand against micro-aggressions, gaslighting the disabled, racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ persons through derision professed as humor to pass the responsibility to the target, demanding they accept the aggression in the name of a “harmless” joke or good fun.

I march to say that our greatness does not lie in being White, Christian, middle or upper class, heterosexual, able-bodied, cisgender, and male. It lies in tolerance, equality, fairness, respect for the individual, and prizing social welfare. It lies in how we treat people–not just the privileged or the “normal,” but all people.