“Boy do I regret that Obama vote! Shoulda voted for RON PAUL! Then I’d still have my car and my “Stimulas” money!”

Where to begin? First of all, uninformed person, even if you had voted for Ron Paul, he still wouldn’t have won. Not even close. You can regret your vote all you want, of course. That’s your prerogative. In fact, I’ve felt a bit of annoyance at President Obama lately, as he continues to mealy-mouth about the fact that the House health care bill throws women’s health under the bus. I find it cowardly that he wants to pass some sort, any sort, of bill so badly that he’d go along with a plan that doesn’t care about the health and well-being of more than half our population (although I still would have voted for him, because if I had voted for, say, Ron Paul? He still wouldn’t have been elected).

Secondly, here’s how you spell that big Latin word: Stimulus. No ‘a’ in there anywhere. Now, maybe your word-processing program doesn’t have a spell-check? Or maybe it underlined “stimulas” in red but you thought, “Well, of course it doesn’t recognize that word!” But it does. This one does, Microsoft Word does, they all do. It makes it hard to take you seriously when you can’t spell the very thing you’re railing against. You hate the stimulus so much? Maybe before you should learn how to spell it, then. Because right now your rants make you look not-so-smart. I’m just saying. Another helpful tip: stimulus doesn’t need to be in quotes. It’s a for-real, actual word in English.

And finally, I understand from inference that you no longer have a car. But your message is on the back windshield of someone’s car. Whose is it? Could it be…Ron Paul’s?!??!!!!??!?

Nothing, that’s what. If you truly cared about freedom, you’d be in favor of gay marriage. If you’re opposed to gay marriage, you’re a bigot and a fool. End of story. There is no explanation that you can give that explains your position, because your position is indefensible. As for Virginia’s new governor, maybe some folks who voted for him didn’t really understand his positions on the issues. Well, here’s one little tidbit: he doesn’t think women should work outside the home. Yeah, you heard me. The wimmenz should be taking care of the kiddies and darning socks and cooking dinner for the menfolk. No, I’m not kidding. This guy truly thinks this way. And a majority of Virginia voters elected him.

This is part of why I’m here. Our world doesn’t work the way it should. Sometimes I get sad and have nothing else I can do except express my anger, my disappointment, and my confusion. I truly don’t understand why some people have so much fear of others. Why? Maybe someday I’ll get an answer that makes sense, but I doubt it. The answer is ignorance, wrapped up in religious dogma. And that makes me want to cry. But instead of crying, I’m going to just say it: opposing gay marriage is ignorant hatred. Voting for conservatives is ignorant hatred. And I’m so, so tired of all the ignorant hatred. It’s never going to go away, and that makes me feel hopeless.

I reject that standard. We are all deserving of respect and care and love and esteem, no matter what our bodies look like or how they perform. Fat people are human beings. Disabled people are human beings. We are all human beings. That’s why feminism (which, when you get right down to it, is simply the belief that women are human beings) is so important to me, and why I do my best to be an ally wherever and whenever I can. I don’t accept the common, insidious cultural standards that label disabled/fat/trans/etc. people as Other. Rejecting the othering of oppressed groups is a paramount concern of mine, and it’s a huge part of the social justice movement. We ALL deserve to exist, without muttered comments or outright hostility about our wheelchairs or our canes or our bellies or our hairdos or our skin color or our companions or our tattoos.

My body doesn’t always do what I want it to. This is irksome, and takes some getting used to, but it doesn’t mean that I no longer exist. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I exist, and so do you. We are all human beings.