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Women Rally for Unity in D.C., Across Texas
- Updated: January 20, 2017
Thousands of women will attend weekend marches and rallies in Washington, D.C., and cities across Texas and the nation. Photo: iStockphoto
by Mark Richardson
AUSTIN, Texas – Tens of thousands of Texas women will join together on Saturday in a show of unity – and, for some, to protest the policies of the nation’s new president, Donald Trump.
Hundreds of thousands are expected at the “Women’s March on Washington” the day after Trump is inaugurated, with thousands more showing their solidarity at rallies in cities across Texas and the United States. Lucy Stein, advocacy director for Progress Texas, which is coordinating many of the state rallies, said Texas women will be out in force.
“There’s a big one here in Austin that has more than 50 participating grassroots organizations involved,” Stein said. “There’s a number happening in Houston and Dallas, and El Paso and San Antonio, in Fort Worth, in the Valley – I mean, all across the state.”
She said Saturday’s march and rally in Austin is expected to include more than 10,000 people. They’ll march down Congress Avenue to the State Capitol, where they will hear speakers and live music.
She said the rallies are intended to send a message to the new administration that many people are united in their support for groups that often were maligned during the presidential campaign – including immigrants, people of color and the LGBT community.
“It’s to stand with the communities that will be impacted by the agenda that Donald Trump has set forth,” Stein said, “and to show we as Texans demand that everyone has respect and dignity and justice.”
Stein said the rallies are just the beginning of a longer-term effort to encourage grassroots activism beyond the ballot box.
“People want to do something,” she said. “People don’t just want to sit by and watch the politics of fear and hate take over. This is just one step, organizing a robust and diverse movement that can counter some of the things that we’re already seeing.”
More than 200,000 people are expected at the march in Washington, D.C., and “sister marches” are planned in all 50 states and more than two dozen countries around the world.
Information on the protests in Texas is online at progresstexas.org.