Student: ‘My concern is Mike Pence’

Part 5 // Abby Anstead

Days after Donald Trump was declared president-elect, Noah Pittinger can’t believe he feels okay with the results.

Though he has accepted the outcome, the sophomore computer information technology major said he was horrified at first that the country would elect someone who had “ran a campaign on bigotry and lying.”

Despite the way he felt about Trump’s campaign, Pittinger said the results were not surprising.

“I understood that there were people who were upset with the state of our country and wanted to see a change in it,” Pittinger said. “Whether or not the change that Donald Trump was advocating for was for the better or the worse, it’s hard to say, but it’s understandable that there were people who wanted change.

“I still find it shocking that enough people were able, however, to look past the racism and the misogyny and the xenophobia and elect him nonetheless.”

Pittinger is involved in several organizations on campus that advocate for the rights of women and the LGBTQ community, including the Norse Violence Prevention Center, Feminist Alliance at Northern and LGBTQ Programs and Services.

Since assuming the role of president-elect, Trump has backtracked on some of the principles he built his campaign on. In his first interview after the election, Trump told “60 Minutes” there are portions of Obamacare that he would consider keeping in place.

Pittinger said the fact that he has gone back on some of his positions has been comforting, but he is still worried that Trump is too much of a wildcard.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty at this point, because it seems like only Donald Trump knows what Donald Trump is going to try to accomplish during his presidency,” Pittinger said.

He said he is not concerned with Trump as much as he is with his Vice President, Mike Pence.

“My concern with Mike Pence is that he has a history of mistreatment of women as well as the LGBTQ community, and I’m concerned that he would be able to use his position as Vice President to expand his ideals to a wider audience,” Pittinger said.

Pittinger said he also does not support Pence due to his history of support for conversion therapy, a controversial, psychological treatment that some say changes a person’s sexual orientation.

“I can’t say I’m completely qualified to speak about that (conversion therapy) because I’ve never personally had to go through the horror of a specific group trying to convince you that you are not valid and that you are a sin against humanity and they break you down and then rebuild you into their own image,” Pittinger said.

“It’s a very scary time right now for people who just want to be recognized for who they are.”

He said he is also worried that trans rights will suffer as a result of the election.

“People are expressing hatred toward people whom are unlike them, and unfortunately that’s not something that’s happening in the abstract, out there, in the world somewhere, to some people,” Pittinger said. “That’s happening to people I directly know.

“There are people I directly know who are scared about their physical safety for the next four years, especially a number of trans people that I know are particularly concerned about not only their safety but also their rights.”

He said because trans rights aren’t commonly discussed by the general public, he is concerned injustices towards the trans community could fall under the radar with Trump at the helm.

“I know there’s a lot of people who just kind of want to turn away from public discourse because it can be very saddening and upsetting, but it’s more important than ever that we understand what’s going on in our world and make sure that the world is being shaped in the way that we want to see it,” Pittinger said.

Despite his concerns, Pittinger said he is willing to give Trump a chance to prove that he can be a “competent leader.”

“I’m not the kind of person to judge people on what their stances were and what things they stood for,” Pittinger said. “I judge people on what they’re doing now and what they stand for.

“If he turns out to be someone who supports women’s and LGBTQ rights, and if he happens to be someone who is willing to fight against sexual assault, then I will definitely be in support of those measures. There’s just… a lot of unknowns right now.”

Pittinger said the hope he has for the nation its people outweighs his concerns.

“None of the events that are happening that we are seeing at the national level, those don’t affect who we are and what we stand for,” Pittinger said. “Stand for what you believe, and I think if we all just continue to work to live together, if we all just try to understand each other and support each other, and if we stand for what we see is right, it will all work out in the end.”

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