To me, being free means that there is no way to discriminate against anyone legally, we have legal freedom to love anyone, and a person has rights to make decisions about their own body. No person should face prejudice against themself over something that is out of their control. Everyone should have the legal rights to get safe abortions and exist as themselves without punishments.
Freedom should include everyone, but for a long time in America and around the world it did not. Slavery was legal in the US for its first almost a hundred years. Though most people in America are free from slavery now, racism still exists widely. Racism is a huge problem in this country that some people have the privilege to forget. Sometimes though, it’s forgotten because of the prejudices they are facing. Transgender teenagers can’t even play sports in some states because of bills passing like the one in South Dakota. It doesn’t allow trandsgender teenagers to play sports. Transgender people aren’t free to be themselves because of laws like that.
Did you know that gay people are still being criminally punished for their sexuality in 71 countries? Homophobia still exists everywhere. Gay men can’t be pastors in the methodist denomination of Christianity. Homophobia is still such a huge problem that many queer people aren’t able to come out to their loved ones. It’s common to hear other students call something gay when they don’t like it. We may be legally free to love whoever we want in America, but that doesn’t mean we get to escape the bullying and harassment.
Females of any race, ethnicity, sexuality, or romanticism can still be declined to get surgeries because a doctor thinks it’s not in their best interest. Some doctors will refuse to do surgeries that would result in a person being unable to be pregnant because of the doctor's religious beliefs. It’s even worse in places like Texas because making abortions illegal doesn’t mean people will stop getting them. It may persuade less people into getting them, but people will still get them even if they’re unsafe. Everyone should be able to make these types of big choices about their body without an argument when it’s safe for them to get the procedure done. Many people have had these same surgeries while in ICE, often without their consent, and sometimes without the victim having any clue about what the surgery is. We need to be able to have freedom to our own bodies and knowledge about the surgeries we are getting.
Freedom means to me that marginalization no longer exists. Until sexism, transphobia, racism, homophobia, abilism, and all the others I’m forgetting that belong in that list are abolished we will never really be free from each other.
YOU ARE READING
Authour Diary & Tags
Randombecause I need to rant abt random stuff. Also tags Diary chapters are not written like a story, usually written like a rant with better grammer. Also also: beware, this book does include some things that might trigger some in the diary chapters.
