i get to choose to care

I get to choose to care about LGBTQIA+ rights. I am a cisgender female. I do not have people trying to prevent me from marrying someone I love. I do not have businesses refusing to make a cake for my wedding because I am marrying someone of the same sex. I get to choose to care. I get to choose to care about marriage equality. I do not have people urging me to change who I love because it is “wrong.” I do not have people telling me I cannot receive the necessary treatment to transition into the body that aligns with my brain and heart. I do not have people telling me which bathroom I can or cannot use. I do not have politicians deciding my fate in sports. I did not have a former president try to ban me from joining the military to protect the very people who deem me less than human. I get to choose to care about transgender rights. I do not have so-called Christians throwing hateful slurs at me to tell me the Bible does not speak well of me. I do not have churches refuse let me hold positions because of my sexual orientation or gender identity. I get to choose to care.

I get to choose to care about things that so many Americans do not get to choose. So why do I care? It would be much easier for me to not care at all. It would hurt my heart less and make me less angry if I didn’t care. I choose to care because I do have that choice. I care because why should I be treated better than anyone else on the grounds that I was born a straight white cisgender female? I care because if I didn’t get to choose, I would hope to have allies who would stand beside me and fight.

Here is the part that may really shock some of my “die-hard” Christian friends, I choose to care about these things because I am a Christian. I love a God who tells me to love my neighbor as myself. He does not tell me to only love my neighbors that look and live like me. He tells me to live in a way that reflects Him. Did Jesus not embrace those who were shunned by the masses to show how great His love was. Who here on earth is to tell me that I matter more than my brother and sisters in Christ who are different than me?

I get to choose to care because, to me, there is no other option. I will stand with my peers who do not have the privilege to choose.