I can’t answer for everyone, but I can answer for myself. I was actually unable to physically attend any marches, but I had planned to attend a smaller local one until I had surgery last week and couldn’t go.

Marching wasn’t about being against Trump or for Hilary, in fact, most of it has nothing to do with them at all. It is what our nation represents at this time. I think Trump just offered a launching point. The fact that we as a nation so readily elected a man who is so openly anti-black, anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, etc. just reflects who many of us are as a nation.

In spite of being disabled and female, I have white privilege. I’m racist, not because I want to be, but because of the country I grew up in. But that is not how I want this to be. I want things to change. I want people of all races, religions, colors, sexual attractions, genders, etc. to feel welcome here because that is what America was made to be. We are a country that was built on freedom – freedom to be yourself and not be afraid to be you. That is the biggest reason I wanted to march. Because people deserve to have that right, whether they are a black gay queer Muslim woman or a white cisgender heterosexual Christian man. It doesn’t matter if I “agree” with them, they deserve to live their life as a free American in a safe place because THAT is what America is all about.

But the march isn’t the end. It is the beginning, more like a promise of what I will do in the days to come. The people I will stand up for, the things I will stand against, the values I will hold myself to.  The Women’s March on Washington has a 10 actions in 100 days campaign that I plan to follow, but I plan to do some work on my own too.