Left Behind

The Post & Courier ran an article last Wednesday on the local coalition which had organized to send buses to Washington for the "new march," the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's March for Jobs and Freedom.  I read through it a few times and then concluded that, once again, women were being left behind.

The purpose of this coalition:

“to stand together against the recent attack on voter rights, against Stand Your Ground and racial profiling, and to continue to raise awareness on unemployment, poverty, gun violence, immigration, gay rights and other critical issues affecting our nation,” according to the National Action network.

Apparently, women's rights fell into the unnamed "other critical issue" category.

Sure, just like in the 60's, we could join up and demonstrate against the war in Vietnam, or for civil rights, but we signed up as helpers, keeping the men happy so they could do the real work.

By the 70's, women like Gloria Steinhem and Betty Friedan confronted that hypocrisy, questioning our second place position in society, from family roles to economic rights.  It was a fight that continues today, because we continue to be the second class citizen, with lower pay and less input.  While we run more things than ever, we continue to have a supporting role in our own lives.

Our struggle for freedom and equality has never been greater than it is today, when state and federal legislators strike down programs that would provide economic security, and push through laws that make us prisoners of our own bodies.

Imagine vasectomies being banned from government health insurance plans, as are abortions.  Suppose a man had to prove he was married before he could buy erectile enhancement drugs?  Imagine couples of mixed race being refused service for religious reasons, as pharmacists are now allowed to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions.  Just as those of us in the LGBT community are winning hard fought battles for equal rights, women are being threatened with imprisonment for refusing to carry a pregnancy to term.

The public spectacle that we have allowed to exist with women's bodies as the object is as horrific as Russia's attack on its gay citizens.  In this country we should be appalled that women would be subject to government control by virtue of the fact that we are capable of getting pregnant.

If so many of our government leaders are opposed to that mythical evil that the ignorant call "Sharia Law," how can they propose the same kind of religious imprisonment and call it Christianity?

Getting back to the article about the 50th Anniversary March, it seems that we -- women -- have gotten so desensitized to our exclusion that we don't even realize that the coalitions that are fighting for freedom and justice are not fighting for ours.

It's time, once again, to open our own eyes, so that we can confront that hypocrisy each time it occurs.  Don't let our leaders make a set of rules for free Americans, and another for women.  Don't support Democratic candidates who refuse to stand by a woman's right to the same privacy as a man.  Stop allowing our government to be controlled by religious extremists that prove their power by exploiting women's bodies.

Don't forget, and don't let our fellow Democrats leave us behind.