My fellow Americans,

Forty-five years ago, I fought for this country. I fought for freedom, for justice, for the very idea that all people are created equal. I bled for it. I watched good men lay down their lives for it. And today, I stand before you, heart heavy, fists clenched, because I have to ask—what happened?

What happened to the country I fought for? The country my friends died for? The country that promised liberty and justice for all? Because when I look around now, I don’t see that America anymore. I see fear. I see division. I see hatred being written into law. I see people—human beings—being treated as something less than that because of something they never chose, something they were simply born with.

We shouldn’t be calling these people mutants. We should be calling them what we call ourselves—people. A person. A human being. Someone who breathes, who has a heart that beats, who laughs, who loves, who fights and bleeds just like you and me.

But instead, they are branded as something other—something dangerous, something that doesn’t belong. And who’s doing the branding? The same people who are more interested in keeping you afraid than in keeping you free. The same people who are pushing these laws, these rules, these ideas that tell us that if someone is different, if someone is born with a gift—yes, a gift—then they are less than human. They must be controlled, restrained, segregated, eliminated.

And I ask you—when did we become the kind of people who think it’s okay to call someone less human because they’re born different? These gifted individuals—yes, gifted— are no more dangerous than you or me. Their only crime is being born with a genetic trait that gives them abilities some of us do not have. And yet, because of that, we’ve decided that they should live in fear, in hiding, that they should be stripped of their rights, their dignity, their humanity.

I have read the speeches, I have heard the broadcasts, I have seen the protests filled with slogans that echo some of the darkest chapters in human history. These laws they want to pass—collars, identification cards, registration, bans on relationships—they’re not protecting anyone. They’re not keeping anyone safe. What they’re doing is telling an entire group of people that they do not matter. Telling them that their lives are less important. Telling them they must be afraid of who they are.

I’ve seen what happens when governments decide who counts as human and who doesn’t. I’ve seen it before. It starts with laws like this. It starts with people being told that they are different, that they are less, that they don’t belong. And it ends with the worst kind of persecution. The kind of persecution I fought to end. The kind of persecution that costs lives. The kind that leaves scars on the soul of a nation, scars that take generations to heal.

And I will not let it happen again.

Let me tell you what’s dangerous. It’s dangerous when we decide who gets to live freely and who doesn’t. It’s dangerous when we use fear to justify laws that control, suppress, and separate people. It’s dangerous when we allow our government to decide that some people’s lives are worth less than others, when we say that a gift is a reason to hurt someone, to tear them apart, to treat them like a second-class citizen.

They say these gifted individuals are dangerous. They say they’re a threat. But tell me, what is more dangerous than stripping someone of their rights, of their dignity, of their very humanity? What is more dangerous than a law that tells an innocent person that they are less because of something they were born with? What is more dangerous than creating a society where people are divided based on their gifts, on their differences, on their humanity?

I will not be a part of that. I will not stand by while history repeats itself. I will not sign my name onto laws that harm innocent people simply because they are different. These gifted individuals are no more a threat to society than anyone else. They are our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, our families. And I will not sit idly by while a system is put in place to make them feel less than human.

What we need is not more laws that isolate and control. What we need is understanding. What we need is compassion. What we need is unity. We need a government that protects all its people, not just those who fit into some narrow definition of what it means to be human. And I am here to tell you: every person—every single person, whether they have an X-gene or not—has the right to live freely, to love who they choose, to contribute to society, and to be treated as human.

They tell you to be afraid. They tell you that these gifted individuals are a threat. But I ask you—when has fear ever made us stronger? When has division ever led to anything but pain? When has oppression ever ended in anything but regret? We cannot allow fear to control us. We cannot allow fear to turn us against each other. We cannot allow fear to tear this nation apart.

This is not the America I fought for. This is not the America my friends died for. This is not the land of the free or the home of the brave. Right now, we are the land of the frightened and the home of the divided. And I will not stand for it.

We must do better. We can do better. And if you believe in the values this country was built on—if you still believe in justice, in freedom, in the simple truth that every person has the right to live—then I need you to stand with me. Because this fight isn’t just about these gifted individuals. This fight is about all of us.

If we allow this, if we allow an entire group of people to be dehumanized, to be controlled, to be othered, then we have already lost. If we allow ourselves to become the very thing we once swore to fight against, then there is no America left to save. But if we fight, if we stand together, if we make sure that every person’s rights are protected, then there is hope.

This is a fight for the very soul of our nation. And we will win it.