I didn't always know I was gay, but I grew up scared that someone would label me that way. I was scared of being bullied, scared that I wouldn't be accepted and, most of all, scared that something was wrong with me.
Growing up in a small, conservative North Carolina town, I never knew a single out gay person through my childhood. When I found out about same-sex attraction from students at my elementary school, it was because being gay was the punchline of every joke. A childhood friend wasn't allowed to watch "Teletubbies" because her father thought the characters were "gay."
So when I realized I was gay, I was terrified of how I would be treated. I knew it would be horrible.
For President Donald Trump's first 100 days, he and his Republican enablers have tried to make life unbearable for marginalized communities to score hate-fueled political points and a fake sense of accomplishment. In doing so, they're all ignoring reality. The LGBTQ+ people, people of color and any other group being attacked by his administration's actions will always exist.
Republicans would have preferred that younger me had stayed hidden when my fear continued well into high school. During my sophomore year, I began dating a boy because I felt like it was what I was supposed to do. I believed that if we dated for a year, that would make other people think I was normal, even though I still struggled to name what was different about me.
On one of our final dates toward the end of that yearlong relationship, I told him that I thought some of the girls in our class were cute. It was the first time I'd ever admitted my attraction to girls to anyone. I hadn't even told my best friend at the time.
Once we broke up, he started calling me a "slut." I've always wondered whether those two things were related.
It took me until college to come out to myself, and even longer to admit that I wasn't sure I liked the opposite sex at all. Despite growing up in the conditions that should, hypothetically, "make someone straight," I ended up queer.
Because Republicans would rather I had stayed that scared child. I'm still here today because I didn't. Republicans seem to believe that they can legislate people out of existence, or scare us so we'll at least stay hidden. That's been clearer than ever these past three months.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the transgender community.
On the first day of his second term, he signed an executive order that declared the federal government would only recognize biological sex assigned at birth. This meant that transgender people would no longer be issued passports that identify them by their gender, and incarcerated trans women in federal prison would be transferred to men's prisons.
He is attacking transgender people of every age. He has banned trans girls and women from competing alongside their peers in women's sporting events. He has restricted gender-affirming health care for people younger than 19. He has tried to ban trans people from joining the military.
The history of trans resistance was removed from the Stonewall National Monument's website.
None of these things change the fact that transgender people aren't going anywhere. Yes, Trump has made their lives much harder. Yes, they are being erased from public records. But transgender people are still here, whether you like it or not. Nothing Trump does will change that.
Stonewall is still there, even if its existence weirdly makes Republicans obsess.
The Trump administration has also begun its mass deportation agenda since regaining control of the White House, something that is striking fear in every foreign national, regardless of immigration status. It feels like it won't be long until Trump begins going after U.S. citizens, something he says he intends to do.
During all of this, Republicans have said that they will only go after individuals who are undocumented immigrants who came to this country "the wrong way," the "worst of the worst."
Instead, they have gone after people who are legal residents in this country because they are afraid of anyone who has different opinions or different lived experiences from theirs. They've decided to deport legal immigrants out of a fear of words and a clear resentment of the First Amendment.
Trump's government has tried to deport Mahmoud Khalil for speaking out against Israel. They have wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia and refuse to return him to the United States. They have deported people for having tattoos. They have denied people due process.
What they are doing is terrifying; it also will not stop people from entering the country.
Despite Trump's animosity toward immigrants, they will always be part of the fabric of the United States and will be here long after this MAGA administration isn't.
Trump has also decimated diversity, equity and inclusion policies within the federal government, including in schools. Private companies quickly followed suit.
In March, Trump declared during a joint session of Congress that his administration had "ended the tyranny" of DEI policies in both the government and the private sectors, proclaiming that "our country will be woke no longer."
Imagine thinking that something as simple as "inclusion" was tyrannical. Then imagine a tyrant saying it.
Meta, Disney and Target are among the companies that have transformed or completely gotten rid of their DEI programs. The country isn't on board with this decision.
In fact, 53% of Americans disapprove of the dismantling of DEI initiatives, according to Pew Research Center.
At its core, this attack on DEI programs is about putting anyone who isn't a straight, cis, white man "in their place." It's about undoing any social progress we've made since the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in 2020.
Conservatives must understand that any person different from them is still, in fact, a person.
The trans person whose life you've made a living hell is still a person. The immigrants they've wrongly deported deserve to continue pursuing what America offers. The students hurting deserve to learn the history of civil rights and queer resistance to systems of oppression, to see themselves represented both in curriculum and in the media.
Trump wants us to believe that he can create a world without diversity. If I've learned anything from growing up in Trump country, it's that we will continue to exist despite the entirety of the American government trying to stop that. See you 100 days from now.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter,@sara__pequeno