Taking a stand for women
In 1977, Kris Drach contacted the telephone company to have a landline connected.
She couldn’t – without the signature of her husband.
“As long as I live, I’ll be a voice for women’s rights because I know what it’s like. I know how far we’ve come and I know how much work we have left to do,” she said.
Drach, who retired from the U.S. Army after 28 years, will be among the 200,000 women, men and children expected to rally in the nation’s capital Jan. 21 – the first full day of President Donald Trump’s incumbency – for the Women’s March on Washington.
Although organizers said the march is not targeted at the new president, the movement started on social media as a call for women to protest his inauguration.
According to organizers, the movement will allow participants to “stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families” while “recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.”
Many groups, including Planned Parenthood and Amnesty International, are partners.
For those who can’t travel to Washington, D.C., about 30 cities nationwide, including Pittsburgh, will hold their own rallies.
As of Friday, eight groups have been issued First Amendment permits from the National Park Service for the National Mall Jan. 20 and 21, and more than a dozen others are being processed.
One such group, Bikers For Trump, will gather to celebrate the president and encourage peaceful transition. According to organizer Chris Cox, about 5,000 bikers are expected.
The Observer-Reporter attempted to contact locals going to Washington, D.C., with the group, but none was located.
Drach will be aboard one of 10 charter buses from Southwestern Pennsylvania traveling to the nation’s capital for the women’s march. While she has many concerns, her priorities are reproductive rights and immigrant justice.
As executive director of the Literacy Council of Southwestern Pennsylvania and an English-as-a-second-language instructor, Drach’s students have said they’ve witnessed more intimidation since Trump became a political contender. “He’s unleashed this license to be hateful. When you mix hate and ignorance together, you get tragedy,” Drach said. “At some point, every female has been marginalized somewhere by someone. If you belong to the group that wears the boot, you’ll never know what its like to be kicked by the boot.”
Karen Bartko, a semi-retired breast cancer survivor who lives in Bethel Park and works part time for a Washington nonprofit, booked a capital hotel as soon as she heard about the march.
“I watched a man during the election who insulted women, Mexicans, the LGBT community – pretty much anybody who didn’t agree with him. When it all came down on Nov. 8, I was totally heartbroken. I stand against bigotry, racism and sexism,” Bartko said. “He’s turned slander into the truth. I’m afraid for our freedom. I can’t just sit back and watch this destroy our great nation. I want to peacefully show that I’m against a lot of what Donald Trump is for.”
Bartko worries that President Barack Obama’s health care law will be repealed by the new president. She’s worried about his Cabinet picks. She’s worried about the next Supreme Court selection.
She’s concerned for future generations.
“We celebrated 50 years of change and progress … I don’t believe anyone should tell a woman what to do with her body,” said Bartko. “I just can’t be silenced anymore. I just can’t sit back and watch something that I find so precious as freedom of speech, freedom of a women’s rights, freedom of everyone’s rights be taken away.
“When I woke up after the election, I had a sick feeling. It won’t go away, it’s just getting worse.”
Patti Barnes of Eighty Four is a retired caseworker for the state. She was compelled to attend the march to stand up for “women, and all the native people, black people, brown people, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual assault.”
“Sometimes they fall through the cracks and just don’t have the help that they need,” she said.
Barnes is optimistic the movement won’t fall on deaf ears.
“As women, we are going to make a big impression,” she said. “We’re talking about people, not about the president-elect. But he should hear what we have to say, too.”