Meredith Shackleford

This is for the young progressives out there. When I was a bit younger, I was terribly disappointed with then President Bill Clinton, who signed the hateful DOMA and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell into law. It seemed he had betrayed all of his values and the LGBTQ community that had helped get him elected. There was a part of me that said I would stand on principle and never vote for him again. But then I remembered, voting isn’t about loving everything about your candidate. Voting for me is about making a strategic move that will best advance the cause of democracy, freedom and peace for all people, even if my candidate of choice really, really let me down. I supported Bill Clinton for a second term, even though he had just signed DOMA into law, a law that said my love for my husband Brad was not enough to be legally recognized, not ever. Candidates aren’t perfect. We shouldn’t ever expect them to agree with us always, even on the most basic of things.But we cast our votes as a prayer for them to do better because we know they can, and their hearts are in the right place. Bill Clinton came around to supporting my community, without exception. It took time. We got there. So don’t waste your vote. Use it wisely, and make the decision, even if it’s hard, to back the best candidate for what the world needs, and to help prevent an utter catastrophe if, heaven forbid, the other one is elected.