Latest / Breaking The Meta / She Wrote Her First Law at a Dining Room Table | OR-04
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- Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to Breaking the Meadow. My name is Mike Quinson. Today we are sitting down with Melissa Byrd who is running for US Congress District 4 in the state of Oregon. Hello Melissa, how are you doing today? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: Hi, I'm really good, how are you? Breaking The Meta: I'm doing great. I'm looking forward to this conversation. ⁓ I say great, but you know, the world feels like it's burning down around us. But at least we can have these like these little these little pockets of good where you get to talk to amazing people like yourself. So I'm looking forward to this. ⁓ So let's start off with just learning a little bit about you. So if you wouldn't mind just telling us who you are and why you decided to run for Congress in the first place. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: Me too. My name is Dr. Melissa Bird. I am a descendant of the Shivwits Band of Southern Paiutes. I live in Corvallis, Oregon with my husband and my three kids. And I decided to run for Congress because I believe that we need people in Congress who actually know what it's like to be raising a family in this economy, who are working class folks. My husband's a disabled veteran. My kids are in public school. And I am a social worker. have a master's and a PhD in social work. And all of the things that are happening in Congress right now are directly related to the work that I've been doing in the world for decades. And I just think it's time for us to have people in Congress who actually understand what it's like to be impacted by what's happening in Congress. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Well, as you've been walking around and talking with people in your district, what are the pain points? What are the things that most of the people are talking about that where they could use your help in Congress? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: The biggest thing that I hear over and over again is housing. People are deeply concerned about maintaining their housing that they have or finding housing that they can actually afford to live in. And this has actually changed. So we launched the campaign in July of 2025. in the last half of the year of 2025, people's concerns were about bodily autonomy, Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: They weren't really feeling, many people mentioned housing, but as the economy has taken such a huge downturn, ⁓ people are really deeply concerned about housing. They're concerned about ICE. This district is huge. It is basically from the border of California all the way up the coast of Oregon to the top of Lincoln County. Breaking The Meta: ⁓ wow. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: And then it cuts inland to parts of the Cascade Range. so this district makes up ⁓ a big part of our tourist industry. So a big part of our tourist economy with the coast and with our forests. And ⁓ and so there's a lot of different moving parts when it comes to this district. Our two largest cities are Eugene and Corvallis. Both of them are college towns. Beauvau is in Eugene. Oregon State is in Corvallis. And so Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: It's a really fascinating and complicated district. And part of the reason that I love it so much is that a lot of it is rural and I grew up in a small rural town in Utah. And so that was also a tourist town. so every winter everyone would come in and ski and then they'd leave again. and so I feel like the complexities of this district, people are very concerned, especially since the Trump administration has just risen to power in the last year. ⁓ their tourist economy is getting hit, impacting our agriculture and our towns and our cities. And it's just, it's really a complex district that ⁓ it's very robust, it's largely the parts outside of Eugene are largely ignored. And I live in Corvallis, which is 40 minutes away from Eugene. And so there's a lot of diversity in this district that gets ignored a lot of the time. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: of food insecurity, lots of housing insecurity, and those are the things that people are really worried about right now. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. How has How has the effects of this administration, especially over the last year, what has been the effect on your district, like the big, beautiful bill, the loss of the ACA subsidies, the tariffs, the changes to SNAP benefits, the Iran war? How has your district been, how has that affected? Because I know a lot of rural districts that especially has been a lot of those have been detrimental to those districts. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: Yeah, I mean what we're seeing ⁓ with the change in agriculture subsidies and the just upheaval of the USDA farmers are really hurting, especially our small and mid-sized farmers here in the district. ⁓ Rural health care has always been a problem, but this district is interesting because there's a hospital in Coos Bay. that is constantly on the verge of closing. And if it closes, there's gonna be no critical care unit on the coast of Newport. And so there's a lot of issues with that. I think one of the most profound things, and certainly this has hit our family, ⁓ we're on Medicaid, we've previously been on food stamps. The only way I know my kids are eating during the day is because of school, breakfast and lunch. What people don't realize when we talk about cutting SNAP benefits, Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: SNAP, ⁓ the school breakfast and lunch funding is directly related to the number of people enrolled in SNAP. And so when they cut SNAP benefits, what they did was also deeply impact funding to schools for breakfast and lunch. ⁓ And a huge chunk of funding for SNAP comes through Medicaid. So our students with disabilities were really hit hard when Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: we talk about cutting snaps. So it's not just about people not being able to go to the grocery store. It's this total upheaval of ⁓ our families and their capacity to be able to eat ⁓ and services to students with disabilities. And so I don't think people, and I'm a social worker and I've always been a policy social worker. So I'm what we call in the, ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Mm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: in the field, we call it a macro social worker. So I've always done policy work. And I think one of the things that the way I think and operate and lead is through a place of community and thinking about how all these things are woven together and how all of these things impact each other. And so when people are worried about their housing, they don't realize that the reason we are impacted with housing Breaking The Meta: Mm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: relates to all these other policy decisions that are being made at the federal level and and the ability for funding to come down to even the city level is being greatly and dramatically impacted when I was looking at ⁓ The president's budget and what they were proposing cutting in order to pay for this horrifying war ⁓ I just don't think people understand the level of depravity and the level of decimation that could take place. mean, cutting clean drinking water. Like all of us need clean drinking water. Like put aside any of your other political leanings. The idea that someone, that the administration would think that's a good idea shows the level to which they are willing to fund this war. I, you know, this reminder that Congress still carries the power of the purse. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: and Congress must not acquiesce to these demands because it will decimate our people. And I think that's willful and intentional. live with an Army veteran. We talk about this in terms of national security. And when you impact people's lives on a daily basis to the extent at which some of these folks in Congress and the administration are willing to go, Breaking The Meta: Yes. Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: It's not just a threat to our daily survival. It's a threat to our national security. It's completely gonna destabilize every single one of us if we are not a billionaire. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. ⁓ I think one of the other issues that comes up a lot that I try and talk with people about, because I think ultimately, I feel like it boils down in most voters ⁓ when it comes to trust of our politicians is this idea of accountability or the lack thereof when it comes to our politicians, our representatives. So what does accountability look like to you? What does being held accountable by your district look like? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: I love it. think the biggest thing that I want, like set aside all the sexy buzzwords and all this stuff. When we talk about Citizens United and we hear Democrats all the time talk about how bad Citizen United is while they're taking millions and millions of dollars of corporate money, right? What we need to be doing is looking at people who are running, who are not professional politicians. I have decades and decades of policy work through my career. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: but it's always been on the advocacy and community organizing side, right? So I understand how it works. I know how Congress works. I know how government works. I know how these things work. And also, I am a regular, everyday person and all of my donors are regular, everyday people. And because I am committed to not taking corporate money or APAC money, it means that I'm accountable to the people because I am actually part of the people. And so we talk about... overturning Citizens United as if it's this ethereal thing. But the reason that our elected officials are not accountable to their voters is because they are accountable to their corporations first. And the way we switch that is to get people in office who are not accountable to corporations first, that they're accountable to the people. And that is the whole point of the House of United States House of Representatives. It is the body of the people. That's why it's a two year term. They make new rules every two years because they are of the people. It was never meant to be a 30 year career. And so as we are looking at the people on the ballot, as we are thinking about these people who are running for office, be careful and pay attention to the people like the incumbent in my race has taken millions and millions of dollars from corporations. But what we are learning and what we have discovered is that it doesn't take millions of dollars to run for Congress. It takes about $100,000 to run for Congress, but it doesn't take these millions of dollars if you're not taking corporate money. You can still reach all the voters. You can still connect with your people. can remember that I work for, as a potential Congress person, I work for the people. They are the ones that can tell me whether or not I get to keep a job because they get to go to the Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: the ballot and vote. And if we start to think about things in those terms, then we start to realize that it actually, I, especially in the last two weeks, I've been saying to people as I've been canvassing, get rid of the lie that it takes millions, it's a lie that it takes millions to run for office. It only takes millions of dollars if you're taking all this corporate money. It doesn't, if you are actually connecting with the people. And we've also got to remember that congresspeople put their pants on one leg at a time like everybody else. They're just people. Breaking The Meta: Are you sure about that? Because some days... Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: ⁓ I mean they really are just human beings. Breaking The Meta: They don't always act like real human beings at times, so... Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: No, but I think that if we start to humanize this, the reason it's so messed up and broken, and I think that the breaks, these cracks that we're seeing in our democracy are where the light gets in. Like we can see how it can be changed. It doesn't have to be quote unquote fixed. It has to change because democracies evolve over time. They're not supposed to remain stagnant. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: And we the people get all the people, not the special people, not the special white people, but we the people get to change that process. And we have all that power through our vote. And I just really want to inspire people to think about this idea that it doesn't have to be this way. And we have the power to change it. It might not seem like it all the time, but we really truly do. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. So one of I think one of the other issues that I think a lot of people struggle with is we have a broken system. And it that system never is probably never seemed more broken than it is right now because of this inability, unwillingness to Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: you Breaking The Meta: for Congress to actually do its job. And I know that there's different layers to that. And obviously, there's some nuance to that. I think there's an issue. I think politicians as a whole have made the issue worse because for so long, many people have promised to do things. And then when they get in, they're not able to do it, whether they just never tried in the first place or the realities of the fact that we have a system that is designed the way it is, it sometimes makes things very difficult to happen. So how, how are, this is a two part question. One, how are you talking with your constituents about the realities of, of Congress when it comes to what you want to do, but then How do you see working in a Congress that whether, as much as we would love it if everyone who is willing to work together and talk and do and interact in the way that you and I are interacting right now, as much as we'd like to think that that's going to happen after the midterm election, it's probably not. We may get lucky, who knows? know, whew, we can hope, but there's Unless you have unless Democrats happen to get 60 people in the Senate, and we don't have a president who is not part of the party, chances are not things are not going to get passed very easily still. what what how do you see that going forward just with the realities that we're dealing with? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: So the first thing is that ⁓ as far as the first part of your questions go, I'm not making promises to my constituents that I'm not going to be able to keep. I talk about my ideas. I talk about the things that I want to do legislatively to help improve the lives of people in congressional district four and across the country. And I also ask them what their issues are. We have a running list. of all of the issues that people in this district have brought up to us. And ⁓ certainly they overlap in many areas like I was talking about earlier, but that's the list from which we are going to legislate. So they are the ones who are bringing the ideas to the table. So that's the first thing. The second thing is that Yes, I understand how the whole process works of getting a bill actually passed through Congress. And I think that if we are willing to elect more people, I mean, we've got people all over the country that are not taking corporate money, that are not taking APAC money, that really have a clear, compassionate voice. ⁓ Literally hundreds of us are across the country running for Congress right now. If the voter is willing to elect all of us into Congress, get us through our primaries and elect us through the general, then the whole body will change. And we will end up with our own body of real actual people with lived experience who are in the body of Congress to legislate for the people. And so, That means that we are willing, I know I am for sure, but I've talked to many of my colleagues across the country who are also running in the same way, in the same vein to get rid of these incumbents that are just bought and sold by corporations and becoming millionaires in Congress. And we are committed to pulling the levers of Congress. There are ways you can actually protest on the floor of Congress that no one is utilizing. That is the most incredible thing about Congress is that there are still bullet holes in the ceiling of Congress from the 1800s when people would be like enough is enough and they would shoot guns into the air to stop debate and move forward. And it is just, not like, you know, I'm not advocating gun violence, but no, but I think that there is a storied history in Congress of Breaking The Meta: Yeah, let's not do that. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: protesting that is not being utilized at this time. And I think a lot of this goes back to where they don't want to make their donors mad. And if my donors are the literal human beings who I'm going to be impacting, then all of the legislation that I want to pass will not only save taxpayer dollars in the long run, which we all know fiscally conservative Republicans love, but it will actually help shift and change the system. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: ⁓ And it may be broken, but I actually think that it was broken from the beginning. I love our democracy, but any democracy built on genocide and slavery is not free. It is not free. And that's the evolution that we're seeing. And that's the opportunity that we're seeing is this momentum across the country where people are rising up. And, you know, I'm not afraid to get on the floor and say what needs to be said. That does not frighten me at all. Breaking The Meta: Yep. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: I've been doing it my whole life. And if a whole bunch of us get elected who aren't afraid, then it will actually change what we see going on in Congress right now. Breaking The Meta: One, since the end of World War II, ⁓ the United States has been at the head of the table worldwide. In the last year and a few months, this administration has summarily destroyed our place at that table with some of our closest allies even. And unfortunately, this last month in the war in Iran has not made that any better. How do you see America's place at the world stage and our foreign policy going forward, knowing that many of our closest allies don't feel like they can trust the word of our country and its leaders? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: So ⁓ Eleanor Roosevelt is one of my heroes. I literally have her signature tattooed on my arm. And she wrote the Declaration of Human Rights for the United Nations post-World War II. And I have been in... a form of grief watching what we are doing internationally with our allies. And because I believe so deeply in what was created post-World War II, all of the programs that we are currently decimating are a result of what happened in World War II. ⁓ They were meant to help our soldiers when they came back and their families were meant to increase our national security and help people feel like they could have a life ⁓ post-World War II. What I find to be the most fascinating about what's happening internationally as I'm talking to my friends across the globe is that Breaking The Meta: Yes. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: They sit there in terror that our people are allowing this to happen without rising up. And so for many people throughout the world, they're watching us going, what are you people doing? Like get him out. Get them out. What are you doing? We've all experienced this ⁓ here in Europe. they know what it's like to be bombed. destroyed and decimated. And people are just so stunned that we as a populace aren't doing anything. I think some of that is, as I look at the world stage, I hope that the world leaders, because of their experiences as nations, can have a I don't want them to have a lot of grace for the people of the United States of America, because we got us here. We are a gigantic landmass of diverse ideas. And I think that whole idea of too big to fail, we're failing. And what I hope is that because we live in this global world now of connectivity, Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: that there are more of us that are willing to rise up against the tyranny of fascism and authoritarianism, and that world leaders will help us do that and support us in doing that. I don't blame them for not wanting us at the table. I wouldn't want us at the table. ⁓ But I do hope that international internationally, people recognize this is not all of us. And I think there, again, I do think there are opportunities for people to you know, see where the light is getting into these cracks in our democracy and ⁓ how do we help the people who are pushing up against this, what's happening right now? How do we bring Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: other leaders from the United States to the table? How do we help continue a coalition of peace and democracy and international relations? And I mean, there's a lot of ways that those things can be supported that don't involve, you know, government interference from international organizations, which, you know, is definitely what we see with AIPAC, right? I think ⁓ on the bad way, I think that Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: ⁓ The other thing is people are exhausted here. I'm exhausted. I'm still trying to figure out how my husband's paycheck was one third what we thought it would be. And we're trying to figure out how to pay all the car payments. I'm just a regular human being who is running for Congress and really creatively thinking about how I'm going to take care of my family and my community. And so I also think that ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: People are tired and that's why they ignore what's happening internationally because they're just so exhausted with what's happening here at home. And I think we have to balance that conversation ⁓ so that people realize that what's happening over there is directly related to what's happening here and that it's all woven together. And if we can start looking at really supporting our voters and helping our communities rise up. Breaking The Meta: Yes. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: while we are also talking to our friends internationally and figuring out how they can also help us rise up. That change will happen. I don't want it to be a bloody horrible revolution, but I do believe that change is, these are all opportunities for us. They're not, I have to hold out hope. Cause I've got kids, like I look at my, my youngest is 15. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: And what kind of a world are we going to leave him? Breaking The Meta: Yeah, no, you're right. ⁓ Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason that we got that we as Americans have so easily ignored some of these things that those people in Europe are, you know, will quickly stand up against is because we've always had those oceans between us and all of it. So we've never had to experience bombing. There's a reason that one event on 9-11 cost so many in this country. It's the same thing that happened ⁓ in Pearl Harbor. One event caused everyone to go in the country to almost go crazy because it's so rare for something like that to happen here because of the ocean between. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: Yeah. And because we're so big. I can't we can you the country can easily ignore what's happening in Oregon. Breaking The Meta: Yeah, that too. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Let's do a little bit of future casting. So let's say you get past May, is it 19th? There's so many in May, I got to remember who's who. So you get past May 19th and you win. Congratulations. ⁓ You get past November 3rd, you win. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: because it's just so big. May 19th. Yep. Thank you. Breaking The Meta: Also, congratulations. January 2nd comes around and you were sworn in as the Congresswoman for the 4th District of Oregon. What are the first things that you want to do? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ Articles of impeachment against the administration is high on my list. ⁓ Introducing legislation. My campaign manager and I have already, like we have, based on that list that people have given, that the voters have given us, ⁓ making sure that we are starting to draft legislation based on those issues. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: from the minute we walk in the door. I love writing bills. I've written in past six laws and I love it. It's like my favorite thing. ⁓ I love the process. It's so messy. It's so messy and I love it. Laws and sausages. You don't want to know how they're getting made. I love it. I don't know why. Really taking those issues and putting them into legislation. But I think thirdly and most importantly, communicating with the people of this district. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: You Yep. There you go. Mm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: for so long we have not been communicated with as voters. And so making sure that we are not just communicating through an email newsletter, but that we are actually communicating with people of all ages, all the voters throughout the district, whether it's through our local staff, our DC staff, making sure that they feel like they still have that avenue of connectivity with me. is really important to me. It's the thing that voters love about me is that I'm the one who picks up the phone when they call the campaign. I'm the one who responds to their emails, which means I'm very busy because I'm talking to like tens of thousands of people. Breaking The Meta: To anyone who's trying to call right now, I apologize that she's not picking up. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: Yeah, I'm not answering the phone. I'd like to make sure that we maintain that connection because that's really important to me as a leader. And it can be done. We live in the land of technological ridiculousness. It can be done through social media. It can be done through email. It can be done through the USPS as long as it still exists. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: making sure that we're communicating in a variety of different ways, making sure that when I'm not on the floor, you when Congress is not in session, I am here in district with people in community. Because for me, as a social worker, as a native woman, as a mother, I want my elected officials to be in community with me. I want them yelling at me. I want them celebrating with me. I want people to understand how this process works. Because when I learned how the process works, I wrote my first bill. It's an emancipation of a minor bill. It's sitting right over there. I wrote that when I was getting my master's degree in 2001. And I did the first research on homeless youth in Utah. And I knew there was no way for them to get emancipated from their parents. And so I turned on Metallica, which is my most favorite band of all time ever. Breaking The Meta: Hehehehehe There you go. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: And I wrote that bill on my dining room table and taught myself how a bill becomes a law and passed it into law a couple of years later. It was the moment when I realized that this really truly is a government of the people. And I want more people in this district and congressional district for to understand how this process works and why it gets held up. I want to be honest about why things aren't happening. And then I want to be honest when things do. If the more congressional leaders speak to their actual people as if they are human beings and don't try and complicate this process, this process is not that complicated. It's become complicated because of Citizens United. I truly believe that the moment we let corporations donate to our congressional leaders was the moment that this democracy started to fall apart. Breaking The Meta: Definitely, it definitely didn't make it any better. That's for sure. For anyone that has been listening up until this point and heard everything that we have talked about, what are one or two things that no matter what you would want to make sure that they come away with knowing about you and your campaign? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: I think the first thing I want people to know is that, yes, regular people can hold office in Congress. It's designed that way on purpose. ⁓ We are not supposed to have professional politicians in this democracy. We are supposed to have people representing people and... Breaking The Meta: Amen. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: You know, I think state legislatures still get that really well. There's cow farmers and stay at home moms and like, you know, it is very representative even at county and city levels, right? But somehow we have bought into the lie that Congress requires professional politicians and it doesn't. ⁓ And so the first thing I want people to realize is yes, regular human beings can, who are complicated and messy and Breaking The Meta: Mm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: and creative at doing a household budget belong in Congress too. ⁓ And I think the second thing that I really want people here in Congressional District for to know and across the country is that this is actually a moment of great potential. So we can get sucked into the despair, which I do often, because I'm a human being. We can get sucked into the despair and we can also hold out hope that we can transform where this country is headed by caring deeply about the people on the ballot. And if we are willing to hold those two despair and hope at the same time, then we really can make change in this country and we can elect people like me to office. It just requires that we take the risk to break the mold. It has only been around in my, I'm 51 years old. This whole idea of corporate corporations and professional politicians is new. This is not how it's always been. And if that's true, then people can hold the despair and also have great hope for where we could be headed. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: by spreading the word about people like me and other people who are running throughout this country who understand the process and the system and want to get in there and mess with it and rebel with it and play with it because that's what we need right now. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. For anyone that wants to learn more about you and support you either through volunteer or donation, where can they find you? Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: Yes, we need volunteers, especially to do film making and canvassing for sure. And we always need donors. $10 donations are more than welcome. $10, I mean, don't be afraid to max out if you're listening and you have that $3,500. Feel free to come right here. But most of our donors are just individual donors who are giving 10 or 20 bucks at a time. But you can find all of that at Melissa Bird for Congress, f-o-r, congress.com. Breaking The Meta: You Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: And you can also find us on all the social media platforms ⁓ at Melissa Bird for Congress or some iteration of that in some. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Awesome. Melissa, thank you for sitting down with us and letting us get to know you and what you hope to do for your district. I appreciate you. Dr. Melissa Bird - OR4: Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really glad we met and I appreciate you too. The work you're doing is awesome. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Thank you. ⁓ For everyone else that has listened and gone this far, also thank you. ⁓ Please like, subscribe, hit all the buttons down below. It makes it possible for me to keep doing what I'm doing, which is interacting and interviewing amazing people like Melissa Wright here and so many other people that are grassroots candidates that want to ⁓ break the status quo, that want to fix the problems that we keep talking about, that want to be held accountable by you all. So please, please, please. watch these videos, share them out, especially if you know people in their districts, but even without know that the way algorithms work, the more people that watch it, the better the chance that people in her district will get a chance to see her and will give her the visibility she needs to get through things like her primary. ⁓ And for those of you that might be new to Breaking the Meta, just so you know, this podcast is about having hard conversations when necessary, fighting to break the status quo and the idea that all people... no matter your race, religion, gender, or identity, deserve rights, respect, dignity, and safety. Again, Melissa, thank you for being here. For everyone else, we'll see you next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye, guys.