Vote4Equality, #Nancy Polosi, #“WOMEN ARE GOING TO WIN FOR OUR COUNTRY!!”

That’s the message Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi delivered to Feminist Majority’s EqualiTEA gathering.  And there’s no question that dynamic is not just influencing the conversation—it is driving it.

The stakes have never been higher for women in America. The issues at play in this election at all levels of the ballot affect all women.  You see regardless of age every woman will be affected in some important way by the outcome of the 2024 elections.

And that’s why it’s so important that you and other loyal supporters understand why Feminist Majority’s Vote4Equality political action arm is so sharply focused on turning out young voters on key college campuses in key battleground and swing states.

The reason is simple:  A massive turnout of young voters will make the winning difference for each of no matter what our age.  Why?  Because young voters can provide the margin of victory assuring that defenders of reproductive rights, the ERA, LGBTQ+ rights and our other personal freedoms are elected or re-elected.

REGARDLESS OF YOUR AGE.., How the 2024 Election Will Affect You

Let’s take a closer look at how and why women of different ages are engaging with the programs of the Feminist Majority and the range of reasons they give for the importance and urgency of supporting our Vote4Equality mobilization.

Women in Their 20s: For women in their 20s, the 2024 election is about laying the foundation for the future. This generation has grown up in a world where gender equality has been a prominent discussion, but where there are still significant gaps in representation, pay equity, and reproductive rights. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has brought the fight for reproductive freedom to their doorstep. For young women, many of whom are not yet thinking about starting a family, the right to make decisions about their own bodies is paramount.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s strong stance on abortion rights resonates with many young women who see their ability to control their own reproductive choices as central to their independence and future opportunities. Harris’s candidacy also represents the possibility of breaking barriers in leadership—a message that encourages young women to see themselves as future leaders. This generation is more politically engaged than ever before, with issues like climate change, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights also high on their list of priorities.

Women in Their 30s: For women in their 30s, the intersection of career, family, and personal rights is often at the forefront of their lives. This group is navigating the complexities of advancing in their careers or working two or more jobs to make ends meet, all the while often balancing raising young children. The 2024 election is critical for them, as it will directly impact the policies that shape workplace equality, parental leave, childcare support, and reproductive health.

Kamala Harris’s candidacy brings hope for policies that support working women and mothers. Her advocacy for reproductive rights, affordable childcare, and equal pay laws is particularly relevant to this age group, many of whom are juggling work and family responsibilities. At the same time, the rhetoric from the opposing ticket, particularly from J.D. Vance, about traditional family roles and the diminished societal value of childless women, underscores the gender divide in this election. For women in their 30s, this is a moment to stand up for their right to shape their own lives, free from outdated gender norms.

Women in Their 50s: Women in their 50s are often at a crossroads, balancing shifting priorities as they transition from the intense demands of work and family to new opportunities and challenges. Many in this group are caring for aging parents while also supporting their adult children. They are at a stage where health care, retirement security, and equal pay are critical concerns.

For these women, the 2024 election is a moment to ensure that the progress made on gender equality is not rolled back. The focus on reproductive rights remains crucial, especially as women in their 50s reflect on the struggles they’ve faced, and the battles younger generations are fighting today.

Kamala Harris’s candidacy offers the possibility of policies that continue to advance gender equality, invest in elder care, and ensure that health care and retirement benefits remain accessible and equitable. On the other hand, the opposing vision, which includes efforts to restrict women’s rights and reinforce traditional gender roles, feels like a direct threat to the progress they’ve spent decades working toward

Women 65 and Older:  For women 65 and older, the 2024 election is deeply personal. This generation has lived through the civil rights movement, the battles to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and secure legal abortion, and decades of political change. They have seen victories for women’s rights, but in the absence of placing the already-ratified ERA in the Constitution,  they’ve also witnessed the erosion of these hard-won gains.

Many in this age group are also concerned about the legacy they will leave behind for their daughters, granddaughters, and future generations.

Reproductive rights are again at the center of the debate, and many women in this group are fiercely protective of the progress they fought for in their younger years. Kamala Harris’s candidacy is seen as a continuation of the fight for gender equality, and her policies on health care, retirement security, and social justice resonate with their vision for a better future. For these women, the outcomes of the 2024 election are about ensuring that the progress they helped achieve is not undone by regressive policies that would turn back the clock on women’s rights.

A Call to Action Across Generations

No matter your age, the 2024 election is about the future of gender equality in America. Whether you’re in your 20s, 30s, 50s, or over 65, your vote matters. And your help in advancing the critical work of our Vote4Equality mobilization is essential.

This election will determine the policies that affect your life—from reproductive rights to workplace equality to retirement security. It’s a pivotal moment for women across generations to come together and ensure that gender equality continues to advance.

As we head to the polls, we must ask ourselves: What kind of future do we want to build? For ourselves, for our daughters, for the generations yet to come? The answer to that question starts with doing the hard work of preparing our Campus Mobilization in the critical weeks ahead.

Let’s make the time ahead count.  Please help support these efforts today.

For Victory and Equality,

Eleanor Smeal, President, Feminist Majority Foundation     https://feminist.org/

Howard was a constant champion for bi inclusion in early LGBTQ+ activism. Without her, pride as we know it wouldn't exist.

Brenda Howard wore a bright pink button that perhaps said it all: “Bi, Poly, Switch — I know what I want.”

A ferocious and radical activist, Howard, who was bisexual, vehemently supported and participated in the antiwar and feminist movements, as well as the Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activists’ Alliance (she was the chair for several years). And Howard never went quietly. “Though she was humble, she could be loud when needed,” wrote bi activist and author Tom Limoncelli. Friends with many inside the Stonewall Inn the night of the uprising, Howard created a one-month Stonewall anniversary rally in July 1969. Then, one year after Stonewall, she and a committee planned Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade. Often called “The Mother of Pride,” Howard’s week and parade evolved into the annual New York City Pride march and Pride celebrations we now know around the world.

To assemble the parade and the first gay pride week, Howard and the committee met at the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, the first gay and lesbian bookstore in America, at 15 Christopher Street. With the bookstore’s mailing list, they got word out about the parade. Committee member L. Craig Schoonmaker suggested the word “Pride” for the event. “A lot of people were very repressed, they were conflicted internally, and didn’t know how to come out and be proud. That’s how the movement was most useful, because they thought, ‘Maybe I should be proud,’” Schoonmaker said in 2015.

The parade was scheduled for June 28, 1970. At first, only a relative few showed up for the parade’s 2 PM start time, set to travel 51 blocks, from Greenwich Village to Central Park. Police, there to protect the marchers, had to urge those who did show up to begin at ten after two. As if waiting to see if others would go first, people first trickled into the parade and then showed up in droves, growing louder and louder, eventually forming a thousands-strong mass of people 20 blocks long.It was, to say the least, a success.

“[If] you needed some kind of help organizing some type of protest or something in social justice?” said Larry Nelson, Howard’s partner from 2000 until her death in 2005, who also gave her that aforementioned button. “All you had to do was call her and she’ll just say when and where.”

“She was an in-your-face activist,” Nelson said in 2014. “She fought for anyone who had their rights trampled on.”

Throughout her lifetime, Howard was unapologetic about her sexuality, which included kink and polyamory, and worked for decades to increase understanding and visibility related to them. She also worked as a phone sex operator in the 1980s, praised by her boss Lisa Verruso for “how much fun Brenda had with phone fantasy. She was able to voice what people wanted,” and was “always up for something creative.” Howard co-chaired the leather contingent of the Second National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights in 1987. That year she also founded the New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN), which sought to establish community and visibility for bisexual people in the New York area, and still exists today.

“For decades she was the voice on the [NYABN] recorded message that would tell bi people in NYC where events were happening,” Limoncelli wrote. “She returned thousands of messages left on the line.” In this and so many other ways, Howard created space for people maligned both within and outside the LGBTQ+ community to connect with others.

Howard was arrested while participating in her activist work multiple times. Her friend Marla Stevens remembered one particular jail time fondly. In 1991, Howard was protesting with ACT-UP in Atlanta because a lesbian staffer in the state attorney general’s office was fired due to Georgia’s sodomy laws. Stevens and Howard were thrown in jail, later “reading steamy novels aloud to the assembled grrlz and being as much of a pain in the rear as possible so they'd not want to hold us any longer than absolutely necessary,” Stevens wrote.

As a pioneer in the movement to advance bisexual inclusion, Howard was part of the delegation that worked to get “Bi” added to the title of the 1993 March on Washington so it would become “March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights.” Beforehand, the march had only focused on gay and lesbian rights. Decrying the many myths surrounding bisexuality, pushing it into the spotlight, and rallying for its support in ongoing queer narratives was a strong part of Howard’s activism, though she also campaigned heavily for LGBTQ+ rights in general, as well as women’s rights, national healthcare, equal treatment for people of color, and rights for those affected by AIDS. “She was an in-your-face activist,” Nelson said in 2014. “She fought for anyone who had their rights trampled on.”

Howard passed away from colon cancer in 2005 — during Pride on June 28, 2005, to be exact, the 36th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Nelson survived her and made a video to honor her longstanding bisexual pride. “Beside the fact that we were together and I am straight,” Nelson’s video said, “I know if she was alive, she would be here holding a sign saying ‘I’m #stillbisexual,’ so I will hold one up for her,” which he does. She was never ‘confused’ about her sexual identity, he goes on to say, and wanted others to acknowledge that she and those like her knew themselves, and that their sexuality was and should be seen as legitimate.

The year Howard passed, the Queens, New York branch of PFLAG initiated an award in her honor. Now in its 14th year, the “Brenda Howard Award” recognizes “an individual or organization that best exemplifies the vision, principals and community service exemplified by the late LGBT rights activist Brenda Howard and who serves as a positive and visible role model for the Bisexual Community.” At the time of its creation, it became the first award given by a major U.S. LGBTQ+ organization that was named after an out bisexual person.

Bi erasure is still all too often a problem faced by the LGBTQ+ community. But it’s important to remember because of people like Howard,“The Mother of Pride” herself, that a Pride celebration even exists.

By Elyssa Goodman: "them" newsletter

 Resource Library              

As we work to bring you feminist news and information, we access many sites to corroborate our information; to get different perspectives on the issues; and to broaden our knowledge and approach. If you have not fully explored our site, you may not be aware of our Resource Library, the vehicle for sharing the sources of our information with you. 

 New sites will be added as we find and vet them. New categories will be added as the need presents itself.  Please use it freely and share it, whenever and wherever you wish. The more we educate ourselves, the more powerful we become as activists and voters, while expanding the size, the scope , and the power of our organizations.

Additionally, many of these sites offer additional services such as: (1) Help with problems you may be experiencing and (2) Opportunities to get involved in the causes you care about so you can become a part of the “solution”.  We hope you will be so inspired

Here is a look at two of our library posts.  The wide difference in the work they do gives you an idea of the variety of subjects we cover with our entries.

ARBOR  DAY  FOUNDATION     https://arborday.org

The Arbor Day Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to planting trees and promoting the importance of trees in our environment. The foundation has been working since 1972 to plant and protect trees around the world, and their efforts have had a tremendous impact on reforestation efforts. Here’s how the Arbor Day Foundation is helping to reforest the world.     READ  MORE    https://womensvoicesmedia.org/index.php?blog=12&p=1106&more=1

SOUTHERN  POVERTY  LAW  CENTER  (SPLC)         www.splcenter.org

 The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.

REMEMBER: these are only two of many.  Explore!

Part of the failures of the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Rights Movement is our failure to recognize the “intersectionality” of our various oppression, marginalization, and issues.

Early last year womensvoicesmedia.org posted a video explaining in detail the importance of understanding “intersectionality” and using it as a framework for our collective efforts.

Quoting from that previous post: “Intersectionality helps us to understand that while all women are subject to the wage gap, some women are affected even more harshly due to their race. Another instance where intersectionality applies is cases of LGBTQ murders - people of color and transgender people are more likely to be victims than cisgender people. These are just two examples of why intersectionality matters. To truly bring about change that is meaningful for all, everyone's voice needs to be at the table.”

Occasionally, we are questioned as to why the subject of a particular post would be considered a “feminist” issue.  My answer to this is twofold.

• The framework of intersectionality has been applied.
• In the words of Former Attorney General Janet Reno, “Every issue is a woman’s issue”.

Please, avail yourself of the opportunity to look at the aforementioned video at  https://womensvoicesmedia.org/index.php/intersectionality?blog=11

I believe it will open your eyes to understanding the importance of “intersectionality”.  It most certainly opened my eyes.