“How can women possibly vote for Romney and Ryan?” She looked dismayed, my friend, and I understood how she felt.

Writing about prejudice can be a challenge. I was born into a happy little privileged space. I’m basically a nice white gal, a daughter of the hegemonic norm. What the hell do I know from prejudice, right? There’s racism, homophobia, misogyny, classism, ageism, a vast spectrum of “otherisms”— the dark side of the rainbow — all of them designating certain groups of people as “other.” And I write a lot about them, 25% of my columns, I just figured out, despite my pallid skin, humdrum heteronormativity, and prissily privileged class.

In Sanford, Fla., in the hopeful days heralding the Ides of March, in possession of convenience store treats, adorned in his teenage hoodie, African-American student Trayvon Martin was murdered.

Women don’t need hoodies to be murdered.

Women don’t need dark skin, broad noses or kinky hair in a blond-haired, blue-eyed culture to be battered.

Although she was born at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, Ebony Burnett Aldridge was raised in the South -- in Millbrook, Alabama. The 30-year old systems engineer is a small business owner with a passion for social justice and giving back to her community.

Burnett, who moved back to San Diego five years ago, has been with her wife Krissy for six years. The couple celebrated their anniversary on Valentine's Day.

What organization(s) do you volunteer for, and why?