My Family Voted for Trump. This Is How I Responded

It was almost funny when my high-school-age niece sent me a selfie of herself with Donald Trump from one of his early Dallas campaigns in September 2015. She sat through his speech about "building a wall" and managed to get to the rope line after the event. I was happy for her; he seemed almost charming in the photo, smiling for the camera. Then a year later, I learned of the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape on which he bragged about grabbing women by their genitalia, walking in on 15-year-olds in a pageant dressing rooms, and reading on the front page of the New York Daily News how he lurked around a 10-year-old and joked about waiting until she gets older. That is my niece, a young woman, and I wish she had never gotten near him. Her mom voted for Trump. So did my mom and my father. My parents have always been there for me. Especially after I came out eight years ago, shortly after President Obama was elected.

But I feel like they've been ripped off, like some con man, ambulance-chasing lawyer got to them and took away their life savings. Like someone promised them a get-rich-quick scheme, like a real estate success course you take over a weekend. Except they haven't signed over a $35,000 check to Trump University. They signed over their most valuable right, to vote, to a man who thinks their brother and son does not deserve the right to a happy life in which I can marry someone I love. They've endorsed a man who wants to deport 11 million Latinos, while our mixed-race family consists of a marriage between a Caucasian woman and a Puerto Rican man; a union of two great people who both served their country in the U.S. Army. My mother serving stateside and my father as a captain in Vietnam, hoping and praying that Donald Trump will improve the Department of Veterans Affairs for them. But did they somehow miss the fact that Trump has never helped vets in the past? Maybe they never saw the interview where Trump accused veterans of stealing the riches in Iraq. Do they think this fraud will really build a wall?

We've seen a year-long campaign of hate and xenophobic vitriol. If something were to happen to Trump, his next in line, Vice President-elect Mike Pence, has a long, strong record of antigay legislation. He is a supporter and advocate for "conversion therapy" -- using electroshock on teenagers to jolt the gay away. His 2000 congressional campaign website even urged for more support of this inhumane practice: "Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior." The man who presents himself as a Christian first and a conservative second urges for the spread of HIV: "Frankly, condoms are a very, very poor protection against sexually transmitted diseases," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in 2002. Not to mention his views on same-sex marriage haven't changed one iota in 16 years: "Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage."

I'm not the only angry one. I'm just one of millions of LGBT people whose families voted for Trump. I respected their decision to do so, but now I tell them they should pray for our future. I don't want my mother or father to be one of the 96 parents in Orlando (or two in Brooklyn) who got a call June 12 to learn their child died -- died having a drink and dancing with friends in a gay nightclub. Not because of a terrorist or massive ISIS plan to attack America, but because a flunkie security guard chose to buy a perfectly legal machine of war and execute innocent people.

My heart hurts for the kids and teenagers who are not out of the closet yet and may choose not to come out because they see that being gay and going to a gay club can get you killed. Who see that the Senate will vote to keep machine guns like the AR-15 and Sig Sauer in the hands of those on the no-fly list. Weeks after the Orlando Pulse tragedy, our senators shot down four bills and decided to continue arming terrorists or everyday Americans who have hate in their heart and money in their pocket.

Donald Trump thinks with a catchphrase and hashtag like #AskTheGays that he's won over LGBT people. Wrong. We see him for what he is: a fraud and a con man. On November 28, he goes in front of the Honorable Judge Curiel, who he judged for having Mexican parents, to face his fraud trial for the students he allegedly screwed over at Trump University. Trump made his feelings about LGBT people perfectly clear when he delivered a eulogy last September for antigay crusader Phyllis Schlafly. She was leading the antigay movement back in 1977, before HIV and AIDS had even reached American borders. Trump made his commitment to LGBT people clear when he chose Mike Pence as his running mate.

Families will be divided by this day, by the country's decision, and by the harmful and hateful rhetoric Trump has spoken over the last 16 months, like "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." That statement still sits on his official campaign website. Don't think that will incite terrorist groups to attack innocent Americans? Think again. Electing Trump has told the world that we have endorsed his hate and accepted his xenophobia. Families will feel fear each and every day of his tenure. Families like that of Brandon Wolf, a Pulse survivor who tweeted last week that he fears his parents won't be so lucky next time. Brandon was lucky enough to escape with his life that fateful June morning. Brandon's best friend, Drew, and Drew's boyfriend were not as lucky.

Trump spoke at the Republican National Convention of protecting us from "foreign ideologies against the LGBT community." He said nothing about keeping us from the domestic ones. Friends and family continue to tell us how to feel: "Don't be angry. Support your president. We have to come together." Come together by dividing us based on who we are? Come together by banning people because of their religious beliefs? Or come together by shocking teenagers because they might be gay?

I haven't had a conversation with my family since Election Day; I probably will in the next few days. Am I mad at them? No. Do I feel they got swindled. Yes. Trump will never deliver a wall. Trump will never improve the VA for my parents and Trump will never care about the middle class. Will a future Thanksgiving be tense? Probably not, since I refuse to debate politics with them at this point. But can I share with them how I feel about endorsing him. Absolutely. They will learn that at Christmas. I've never been religious and don't live much of a materialistic life -- I still use an old BlackBerry, for crying out loud.

My sister, who supports gun rights, will be sacrificing a gift this year. I'm donating in her name to Moms Demand Action, a gun violence prevention organization founded the day after the Sandy Hook massacre. For my dad who served two tours in Vietnam, in his name will go a donation to White Helmets, a group of volunteers from all walks of life who rush into the bombing scenes in Syria to rescue, women, children, and men (their amazing and heroic work can be seen in the new Netflix documentary White Helmets). My mom spent most of her adult life as a social worker, helping others, so I think she will be truly grateful to learn of her gift: a generous donation to the Clinton Foundation, which has helped over 11 million people in Africa get medicines for HIV and AIDS. Thank you all for voting Trump, because you've inspired me to make America and the world truly great.

MICHAEL MORALES is a former news producer for ABC News and news director for SIRIUS XM. Raised outside of Dallas, he has spent the last 20 years in New York City, pursuing his passions: travel and gorilla conservation.