Here we are again. Surreptitiously gained footage targeting the most well-known name in access to reproductive healthcare – yes, Planned Parenthood. I know that many of us are tempted simply to sigh and shake our heads in exasperation, but instead we must remain more vigilant than ever about keeping their clinics—often the only resource for reproductive health care for low-income women and transgender people in many parts of the country–open. First and foremost, we must write or call our...
Our Voices
Every journey starts with one step. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by a same-sex couple, challenging Wisconsin’s refusal to issue them a marriage license. For the next three years, other couples brought similar lawsuits seeking the freedom to marry, and all of them failed. It was not until 1993, almost 20 years later, that momentum for marriage equality began to build. Throughout the years it took repeated attempts by resolute individuals and couples to stand up...
On May 19, 2015, Every Child Deserves A Family Act (ECDF) was re-introduced in congress by Senator Gillibrand (D-NY), Rep. Lewis (D-GA 5th) and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL 27th). The bill was introduced first in 2009 and has been re-introduced in each congress since. Each year it garners more support but has yet to be enacted. The last re-introduction was in 2013. The ECDF Act would prohibit any entity that receives federal child welfare funds from discriminating against prospective adoptive or...
We often hear the figure that women still earn 78 cents to a man’s dollar. However, what that figure fails to capture is how many other factors contribute to an even more significant disparity for some women. Women of color face even more pay inequity, with black women earning 64 cents to the dollar and Latina women earning 55 cents to the dollar of their white male counterparts. Other marginalized identities likewise impact the pay gap such as immigrant women or women in the lesbian, gay,...
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”). As initially passed, the Act aimed at targeted and addressing crime that disproportionately impacted women by providing federal money for investigation and prosecution of these violent crimes and imposing automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted. In the twenty years since its passage, VAWA’s focus has expanded to capture a broader and more comprehensive segment of violence that...
