If you are upset with your spouse, do you give up completely on the marriage? What if he cheats on you. Does that mean you give up everything and walk away – leave him the house, the dog, the car, everything you built together? Should you?

At your job of 12 years, if things are not going the way you’d like (even if it’s probably temporary), do you just quit? Should you?

If your best friend says something stupid or a bit inconsiderate do you just trash the friendship? walk away even though you love him and know he loves you and knows you better than anyone except maybe your spouse? Should you just give it all up?

You guys give up way too easily. Four times *today alone* I’ve been told or seen the “if you don’t like it then leave” message when it comes to the frightening direction our government and about a quarter of our population have turned in.

News flash: I was born here, and I have every right to be here, the same as every other citizen whether they are born here or naturalized. We all have a right to be here, to speak up for ourselves and each other, to protect our rights including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We have the right not to live in fear, and we have a right to speak up to the minority of you who voted in hate. You bullies are a minority. Even if you were a majority, we still have the right to live here without fear of your violence against us for being who we are or looking like we do.

But you’re a minority. Only about 25% of you chose bigotry, misogyny, hate. Even if it’s just a couple of you screaming hate and threatening all of us who aren’t male, white, Christian, straight, wealthy, just as you have the right to choose hate and to spew your horrid views about the rest of us, we have the right to live here without fear of you or our government. Yes, our government. Ours. All of ours – not yours, not mine, OURS.

So when we speak up to protect our rights (our rights, yours and mine), when we stand up to these bullies, rather than whine about how you aren’t getting something you think should have been handed to you on a silver platter because of your gender or the color of your skin or whatever, how about instead stand up with us.  If the hateful, whiny babies want to go, they are free to, but we’re staying and we’re fighting.