I do not believe that life begins at conception

I believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and accessible

I believe that sex education at home and at school can prevent unwanted pregnancy. Teach your daughter, teach your son, with facts, not myths, and threatening to throw them out of the house if they wind up pregnant does no one any good

I believe that a menopausal woman, married those long years to an abusive man, shouldn’t have to bear him another child if she does not want to

I marched to support Planned Parenthood who provides healthcare for women in need of exams, education, and assisting with birth control

I believe that a woman’s right to choose may be eradicated by the current administration

I believe you do not have to use birth control or have an abortion if you do not want, but do not take that right away from those who do

I believe there are children who need to be adopted, and our adoption laws and services need to be updated to protect the adoptive parents

You believe a zygote is more sacred and more important than eradicating poverty, but once that child is born, the mother better not get on welfare

I marched because

You believe that women and blacks can work and vote, therefore our country is equal and undivided

I marched for the LGBTQ community who have yet to be treated decently and equally

I marched for Gamergate (women who spoke against violence against women in video games who were in turn threatened with rape and death)

I marched because Brock Turner raped a woman behind a dumpster and served three months instead of 6 to 14 years. Had he been non-Caucasian his sentence would have been longer

I marched because “rape culture” are words commonly used in sentences

I marched for the populations who do not have clean water, access to health care, and genital mutilation is still practiced

I marched for Trayvon Martin and Philandro Castile

I marched for Black Lives Matter, and I hope you’ll not suggest that I don’t care about or appreciate Blue Lives, or any of our men and women in uniform

I marched against normalizing “locker room talk” so our children know that assault is not, and never will be, the status quo

I marched for Malala, Megyn Kelly, and against mansplaining

I marched against painting immigrants as rapists, terrorists, and bad hombres

I marched against a man who mocked a disabled person then lied about it

I marched because Citizens United takes the voice away from The People in governmental affairs and no one seems interested in overturning it

I marched because I know a wall won’t stop people from seeking a safe haven from their countries’ oppressive regimes

Because I know that as long as people want drugs, or want children for sex or to clean their homes, no wall will stem the flow

Because citizens choose between their meds or groceries every month

Because our veterans are forgotten while they are still living

I marched because we turned a blind eye to lead in the water, plastic bottles and bags have become a need, and we are destroying earth’s balance of water and air

Because school-to-prison has become the norm

I marched because there are people who believe the Sandy Hook massacre was a “false flag event” and if you do not know what that means, please find out and search your heart

I marched because there are too many guns on the street killing our young people

I marched because we are not one nation under God—we are not all believers–but we are good people who pay our taxes just the same

I marched because individuals, corporations, and religious groups do not pay their fair share in taxes, so  the middle class shoulders the burden without the benefit of an account in the Caymans

I marched because going to college should not create lifelong debt

I marched because I believe in a well-rounded education, not just the ability to pass a test

I marched because men think it’s okay to catcall and follow women walking on the street like it’s an acceptable means to have a conversation

I marched because women who are wise and stand up for what is right are labeled as witches or worse. We are ridiculed because we’ve “already got everything,” what more do we want?

I didn’t march because I want to rip a fetus from a womb because I hate babies and want to eat them in a stew, or emasculate men by forcing them to be more like women. I didn’t march to ask we get rid of all guns.  I didn’t march because I hate white people or God or my country.  I marched because I am asking you to make room for other people’s beliefs and needs.  I am asking you to get your head out of the television and Twitter and wrap your head around the fact that the United States is part of one small world, and we have to share it. I marched to ask that you understand your bible doesn’t apply to us all, but as long as we keep loving and talking to each other, we are going to be okay.   Look deeply into and drink the words love, respect, and tolerance. Let go of fear.

We have come to a place where people don’t want things to change because that’s the way it’s always been, that anything else will offend God, or it will lead to the extinction of their class and race.  That somehow all good traditions and values will cease to exist once they die.  I am asking people to examine if it’s fair to force all of us to live by your views. The world is going to go on after I am gone, and I want to leave it a more just and fair place than where I found it.  I feel grateful to have learned that life is not and never will be “my way or the highway.”  Can you learn that, too?