It's Hard to Celebrate Independence Day ...When You Lose Freedoms

It's hard to Celebrate Independence Day when half of the U.S. population was just stripped of their constitutional rights by a court that was intentionally stacked to roll back gains we have made in the civil rights and anti-violence movements for the past 50 years.

(This 60 second tik tok video,
explains the implications from this court.)

With the 50 year precedent being overturned, it's never been more important to organize and recapture our rights that are being attacked by extremists who have been long opposed to women's equality and equity in systems for all people who have been historically marginalized. Make no mistake, this argument is not about the sacredness of life, it's about patriarchal control of women and re-establishing traditional gender roles that protect the roles of white males in established systems of power.

Note: I'm not anti-male; we need all people in the movement to end oppression. I'm anti-patriarchy. Patriarchy is one of the main social systems in which we operate where men (white straight males) hold more power and women are largely excluded or participation in society is limited based on prescribed gender roles. Everyone deserves an opportunity to succeed and access to the American Dream of "..life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

I have never seen more position statements released about a topic: our Republican Governor, US Congressional Delegation, and GOP state legislators have been celebrating the decision and couching their delight in the very faulty language of "pre-born" child rights. Again, this is just a shroud for them to justify their actions and make themselves feel better because we all know that this state has always put parental rights in front of child rights -- UNLESS, of course you are the parent of a trans child who needs gender affirming care, THEN, the GOP will conveniently decide to criminalize that. Why? because it disrupts systems of power. It disrupts traditional gender roles in patriarchy where distinct lines are drawn about how power should be distributed, ensuring that women, or anyone who doesn't conform to traditional roles, won't have the ability to make choices about their own lives.

Reporters asked me for my reaction to the decision that morning. Like most people, I experienced a wide range of emotions, especially as I thought back to March 15 of this year when H521 was on the Senate floor, a bill that erased all the language in state law that was there since the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade. I mourned that day because I could see what my GOP colleagues were doing. They were preparing for this and wanted to clear all language in preparation for our rights being officially taken away. More than striking the ink on paper, they were striking out our rights and freedoms.

Click here to see my remarks at our recent press conference.

I have received hundreds of calls, emails, texts from men and women who are outraged by this decision and have spoken out loudly to denounce misogyny and vow to fight this and help women and pregnant people get the services they need, albeit across state lines. Last week, the Democrats held a press conference to be clear about our position. After all the emotions that I have had, one has surfaced beyond all others: RESOLVE.

We will never go back and just as I said on the Senate Floor on March 13, 2022, I will never relent!

I am working with community partners to start organizing folks to devise our strategy. There will be much work to do. It is important to grieve, be angry, and breathe. We have a long fight ahead and it starts with elections in our state this fall.

There are plenty of Republicans out there that are fed up with extremism, white nationalism, misogyny, and hate. We need to invite our Republican friends who support human rights to work with us and take our state back from extremism. We must all work together to fight for what is just and fair, especially on this Independence Day.