How I found my liberal side after being raised conservatively

You would think coming from Oregon I would be taught how to be politically correct, tolerant, and all those other things people relate to Oregon culture, but this was not the case for me. I was raised in the town of Medford, Oregon — a city that is known for the division between liberals and conservatives. Though the town is almost evenly split between conservatives and liberals, most would consider Medford a very conservative place compared to the rest of Oregon.

I was raised much more conservative than I’d like to admit. I grew up in a Christian household, went to church every Sunday, and attended a private Christian elementary school. To give you any insight into my life as a child: I was not allowed to play Pokemon (because evolution), read Harry Potter (because magic), or interact with our neighbors across the street (because they were gay).

Even thinking about how my life used to be stirs an unsettling feeling within me. My parents impressed upon me the skepticism that any good came from the outside world. The problem with my parents, especially when I was younger, is that they followed the churches/Christian methods and ideals not out of good faith but out of fear of being ostracized from the church or God or whoever they were trying to please.

I was an impressionable child when I was younger

However, my worldview did not stay conservative for long. There came a time when my family became outcasts to the church because my mom had gone through a series of battles with depression, which the church claimed was from not having “enough faith in God” — as if they can characterize or quantify that statement.

Many other things began to change around this time. My siblings and I were placed in public school — I was going into the fourth grade at the time — and we began to interact with people with totally different viewpoints than us. By some journal entries I stumbled upon, I can tell you I did not  enjoy it at first (and I was a pretentious little tyke). I had a lot of learning to do so I could understand the world apart from my sheltered mindset and preset conceptions about the world.

First, I began to learn that people who were not Christians could actually be decent people. I had this idea in my mind as a child that the rest of the world was corrupt and Christians were this holy blessing to the planet. Now I’ve just realized that no matter if someone is a part of the church or outside of it, the same faults still occur in both people. Slowly but surely I was learning to humble myself and see my classmates as peers instead of peasants.

As I moved onto middle school I began to realize that I can also have my own interests outside of what was pre-approved by my parents. I remember listening to Lady Gaga for the first time and feeling a little bit ashamed for loving it because it was so vastly different than the Christian praise soft rock I had listened to my whole life. Although Lady Gaga was not necessarily the peak of musical greatness in my middles school years, the music stirred something in me — just by helping me realize there was a side to non-Christians I did not understand. The pull away from my conservative background happened slowly but surely as I began to feel lied to about what this world was actually like.

High school inevitably led me to a group of friends who were much more open and much more liberal than I was, and I began to see how my conservative views were born out of a place lacking both compassion and understanding. Coming into a liberal mindset happened though discussion and arguments, as well as an understanding of a view I used to regard with disdain.

I’ve begun to grow into myself and find my true values

I am by no means demeaning those who have conservative views, but I have witnessed how these views are detrimental to the people around me. One’s views should be tested constantly to determine the validity of one’s stance on issues. Conservative views on economics or social issues can be totally valid, but if you have constantly invalidated the other side you are doing yourself a humongous disservice.

People often dismiss that opposing LGBTQ rights causes teens to go homeless at a young age or that by feeding into sexism people perpetuate the rape culture in our society. These are valid problems if we view those people as people. For me, I have found that my liberal views come from a deep desire to see everyone as human as I am, regardless of the lifestyle they have chosen to live. We are all driven by forms of success, love and desire to be adequate in this world and that can only be done if we respect the views of everyone involved.

Over the years, I have come in touch with my true Oregonian side, but only through many tests and by allowing the hearts of others to impact my views.