When you meet someone, do you care about their political views, or is that something that doesn’t really cross your mind? 

About a year ago, I was talking with a friend of mine about her boyfriend, and she told me that some of her friends didn’t like his political views, specifically the ones on social issues, but she didn’t see why they would mind. My friend said that she didn’t care that much about how he voted because one way or the other it didn’t really affect her that much. And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why she didn’t care. 

Until I did. 

There was a clear difference between how my friend approaches politics and how I do.

My friend's identity, beliefs and basic human rights; they weren’t on the ballot. Her right to exist as herself wasn’t up for debate. And that is so foreign to me that I can barely picture it anymore.

One of the first things I realized when I first got into politics was that my rights were on the line. Every election I’ve been aware of, candidates have run on the promise of taking away my rights because they are perceived as wrong by some people in society.

It doesn’t really matter what the reasoning behind it is, I’ve heard it all: “protect the children,” “traditional values,” “your jobs,” “freedom of speech”… 

Whatever the reasoning, the simple truth is that ever since I’ve been aware of politics, I’ve known that my rights could be taken away any time if enough people decide they don’t like people like me.

Not caring about politics was never an option I had.

And it’s not even like I could’ve avoided the topics enough to ignore it. This awareness that I had to fight for my right to exist didn’t just come out of nowhere. It started in the classes where I had to debate my rights with my classmates as part of an exercise. 

Have you ever had to debate your right to exist in class? If your answer is no, then you’re lucky. But for so many people, that is a formative experience that ends up shaping the way they engage with the world and, more importantly, with politics. 

Because once you’ve realized that your rights are so flimsy, you have to argue for them as a “fun class exercise,” ignoring politics becomes that much harder. And once you start paying attention, it feels like there’s no going back.

I don’t get to just not care about how people around me vote because the stakes are incredibly high for me. I understand having friends with different political opinions than me, but at some point in today’s political climate, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore that someone I could be laughing with would later go and vote to strip me of my rights.

What for some is a matter of opinion or a fun class exercise for me becomes a matter of being allowed to exist as myself. And I’m not alone.

Not caring is a privilege. 

Being able to go around the world without having to care that much about what’s going on with the news and with politics is a privilege that many people don’t even know they have.

So yeah, I wish I could just not care about how people vote. But then again, I wish my rights weren’t up for debate to begin with.