Yesterday my dad asked me
Why Was I excited,
Why did I care 
For equality in a new Disney movie coming out
When I am both white and straight

Why do I care?
I'll tell you why
I care because I want my friends,
Who are neither white like mayo nor straight as blank paper,
yet to be defined,
To be able to have the same extensive rights
And representation in media and life
As I, do.

I care because my first boyfriend
was afraid to go to my house when I was mad,
Not because of my overprotective family, (well kinda that too)
But Because his skin was darker than mine.
And he was afraid we would do terrible things
Just because of that one small fact
That I never cared about anyway

I care because white cops can kill and abuse black people,
And people of any other color
Yet they won't touch the white man without following every rule to the letter, from A to Z.
And when those victims left speak out to the injustice
We fight back, saying that the dead were a "threat to society"
That they were "better off dead"
Just because they see any other color than eggshell and think
Threat.

I care because people who identify with any word other than straight,
Wither it be gay, lesbian, bi, asexual, or curly que,
Are routinely beaten and raped and left for dead in the stinking streets
That the rest of us see as safe (for us anyway)
And no one ever bats an eyelash, like Kitty Genovese
And while their screams bounce off gleaming towers
We sit at home with hoping the sound will stop soon
So we can get back to watching our show.

And I care because all children see are straight pale people in the media
And think that that is all it's ok to be.
They think that that is what beauty is,
That that is what love is,
And that it is all that it could ever really be.
So they think something is wrong with them
When they realize that they are not neither of those things
They believe that because their skin is a different color,
Or because they don't like the opposite sex, or both, or none at all,
That they're broken, like a toy that can not be fixed.

I care because I can see that we are all the same,
all made of hope and dreams and stardust
From the stuff that created the cosmos,
And that it all rests in our hearts and minds
That are torn to shreds because of the visible differences
That have decided to appear on us all
I can see that while we may look different or talk different or be different
We are also all the same
And that is why I care.