This is from my epic facebook rant yesterday. The backstory is that I had to unfriend someone who just would not respect my request that they stop bashing my friends who marched in the women’s march on Saturday. I even said that we could discuss the reasons to agree or disagree with it elsewhere, but in this ONE post, I wanted to celebrate them. I wanted ONE place that night where there was no arguing, just one. And it was my wall damn it.

Ok, hold onto your hats facebook friends because this is going to be long, and waaaaaaaay overdue!

I have bitten my tongue and held my tongue for far too long. Those of you that know me well and have been around awhile know that, in the past, I’ve expressed my frustration at the competing desires in my heart. The desire to stand up for what I believe is right and the desire to always be nice and to not offend others and to give the benefit of the doubt and to be reasonable, calm, articulate, to follow the examples of my idols, such as Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr , President Obama and his beautiful wife, Michele. To follow the advice that, “When they go low, you go high.” I WANT to do that! I WANT to persuade others with gentle, soft speech, with kindness, let them see by my example that I’m a good, caring person and that I’m intelligent, educated and that I think things through. I WANT them to know those things about me and therefore, to give the things I say REAL consideration, like I do for them.

But they don’t. (a few do, a very few). The problem is that being nice and quiet and calm and reasonable gets you walked all over. The problem is that there are those out there with exactly zero interest in understanding anyone else’s viewpoint. The problem is that there are those out there with exactly zero interest in understanding anyone else’s life, problems or situation. The problem is that no one ever got ANYTHING by sitting down and shutting up. Women weren’t GIVEN rights, Blacks weren’t GIVEN rights, Gays weren’t GIVEN rights, all of those groups had to FIGHT and BLEED and DIE to gain those rights!

And yet now, if you dare to voice a peep about your rights, you’re a “special snowflake” aren’t you?

Here’s the thing that’s really, really pissing me off. The same people who rant and rave about what THEY perceive as injustice are the very ones condemning the other side for doing the EXACT SAME THING! The very people that I bit my tongue for and listened and truly tried to see their side are the very ones screaming and bullying me into silence now. The same people who are CRYING and WHINING because they aren’t getting THEIR way are accusing the other side of crying and whining for not getting their way.

Here’s the thing. Last time I checked, this was still America. Protesting, debating with others, stating opinions is the RIGHT of every American! But when you are having a conniption fit over the protestors then you are doing the very thing you are accusing them of! What you want is for the other side to sit down and shut up and we aren’t and that pisses you off. So you name call, insult, degrade and try to shame them.

Please understand, I am not saying this about every conservative, if you do not do this, then do not worry, I don’t mean you. I have friends that I disagree with and we can have a conversation. I’m talking about those that refuse to have a conversation. And yes, I know that liberals do it too. I’m not condoning bad behavior on either side.

When my conservative friends said that they are tired and weary of being called racists, homophobic etc, I listened and I heard them. Even if you voted for Trump, if you do not express racists, homophobic thoughts and beliefs then I know you are not those things. I go out of my way to not paint all conservatives with one brush. I may have been guilty of that at one point, but I made a concerted effort to change.

And yet there are those who refuse to give me the same consideration. How is it any better to label and stereotype all liberals as unemployed tantrum throwing whiners who are sore losers? Let me tell you what I have been called in just the last 24 hours and let me assure you that the opinions I expressed were just that, opinions, I did not name call, stereotype or insult the people I was disagreeing with.

I have been called a whiner, a taker, a loser, unemployed, an idiot, a freak, a sheep, an imbecile, stupid, what’s wrong with society, retarded, autistic, someone who has never lived in the real world, etc. I have heard LGBT people referred to as animals, perverts, evil, vile, disgusting, pedophiles, misfits etc and told that they should all be expelled from the country, told that they should all be slaughtered.

And I’ve had enough.

I have been biting my tongue and not posting things because I don’t want to offend others but it has becoming blindingly obvious that the others I’m trying so hard to reach out to, have zero interest in not offending me. They have zero interest in what the realities of my life are. They have zero interest in my children’s lives.

This is the point I’m coming to. I will not be “leaving Facebook because it’s become too negative” as I’ve seen many say and do. No. I have every right to be here. I have every right to stay.

I will not be avoiding politics in order to keep the peace. No. I have every right to be involved in politics. I have every right to state my opinion on politics. I have every right to say when proposed policies will negatively affect my family. I have every right to care about that.

Please understand that when I am against repeal of the ACA it has NOTHING to do with whining and wanting a handout. My son was fully employed and insured when he had his car accident. He is now a paraplegic who cannot work, though I hope he can in the future. He obviously has no employer to be insured through. He does not currently qualify for Medicaid or medicare. But he is insured under someone else’s insurance policy thanks to the part of the ACA that allows you to carry a dependant. So you see, nowhere in any of that are your tax dollars going to help my son. Perish the thought! However, if the ACA is repealed he will not only be kicked off that policy, he will have a pre existing condition so in one fell swoop, he will not only lose his current coverage but be uninsurable. If this happens, he loses access to healthcare and the physical therapy he needs to walk again. So yes, this is personal to me.

So when I see you calling the women who marched today for healthcare whiners and losers and takers and say insulting things like “they should do something productive instead” I really, really want to reach through the computer and punch you in the face. It’s fine and well if you really just don’t care about what happens to my son. That’s your prerogative. But you are not welcome to spew it on my page.

I have this daughter, she’s smart and funny and talented and beautiful, inside and out. She a joy to be around.  She never gets in trouble, she helps out with her baby sister, she’s the only one of my kids to seriously never get in trouble. She has this great big heart that loves others and she cries at injustices and adopts stray kittens. There’s seriously nothing you could find objectionable about her. Oh, wait. She happens to like girls.

So when I see you calling the women who marched today for LGBT rights whiners and losers and takers and say insulting things like “they should do something productive instead” I really, really want to reach through the computer and punch you in the face. It’s fine and well if you really just don’t care about what happens to my daughter. That’s your prerogative. But you are not welcome to spew it on my page.

See, I have been holding back. Not many of you know that my daughter is LGBT because…because why? I’ve been thinking about that. Is it to protect her privacy? No, because she has told me, and I quote, “I don’t care who knows. I WANT them to know, I’m proud of who I am! I’m happy and anyone who isn’t happy for me, well, that’s their issue and not mine.” Is it to protect myself? No, because I can assure you that I don’t care. I mean, I care. I love my friends and family but believe me when I tell you that I don’t love my friends and family more than I love my children. Anyone that has a problem with my daughter can exit our lives, post haste. So, then why?

And then I realized, I have been keeping quite so that I don’t make OTHERS uncomfortable, so that I don’t have to argue with others who will disapprove, I have been protecting all of those people who do not care about offending me, who do not care if the most vulnerable citizens, like my son, are left without healthcare, who do not care if our vice president endorses horrific “therapies” for gay people, like my daughter, who do not care that a white supremacist was appointed to the president’s cabinet and what that might mean for people like my biracial nephews or my best friend, who happens to be, among many other wonderful qualities, black.

And I’m done.

I’m done worrying about being politically correct because no matter what I do, I’m going to be attacked. No matter how reasonably or articulately or gently I make my points, I’m going to be called a whiner and a special snowflake. And this isn’t new. Anytime I have ever spoken out to defend the most vulnerable, be it children with disabilities like the ones I work with or the LGBT community or any minority group, I have been called all of these things.

Productive discourse can only occur if BOTH sides are willing to listen and I mean TRULY LISTEN to each other. To my friends, both conservative and liberal, who are willing to do that, thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart. Even when we still disagree on things, I appreciate being HEARD more than I can tell you!

But to the rest? To those that only want to hurl insults, to shut down reasonable discourse, to name call and insult? Bring it!