6,000 Join Women's March In Asbury Park, Stressing Equality For All

ASBURY PARK, NJ — Women, men and children, 6,000 of them, marched through the streets of Asbury Park on Saturday, to show solidarity with marchers around the country proclaiming their intent to fight for equality for all and to fight any efforts by the Trump administration to reduce those rights.

On the day after Donald Trump took the oath of office to begin his term as president, the marchers in Asbury Park joined those who gathered in more than 600 cities around the country, including hundreds of thousands in Washington, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, as well as internationally. There were at least eight marches in New Jersey, including the Asbury Park march and one in Trenton that also drew 6,000 people, according to organizers.

The message in Asbury Park was the same as being heard at all of the marches: that they intend to fight any efforts to erode hard-won gains in women's rights and civil rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation, race, religion or any other difference.

Chanting "This is what democracy looks like" and carrying signs with messages like "Women's Rights are Human Rights," and "Normalize Equality," the marchers walked from the initial gathering spot in front of the Biergarten at Lake Avenue to Bradley Park in front of Convention Hall.

"Today, here in Asbury Park, we are here because we care about people," said Patricia Teffenhart, director of the NJ Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the march's keynote speaker. "Let this serve not as our final act but rather as our first steps."

Assemblywoman Joann Downey and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone also addressed the crowd, urging those in attendance to follow their marching with action.

"When we walk away today, do not walk away for real," Downey said. "Every day we have to walk the walk. We have to be able to show everyone we are always there, and that means always voting too because that's where you get your voice heard."

"The most important part is you are here to take action," Pallone said. "I don't care whether it's sending a letter, writing an email, or showing up at a demonstration."

It was Teffenhart who fired up the crowd the most.

"Today is just the beginning of the revolution," Teffenhart said, drawing rousing cheers as she focused particularly on women's rights. "Speaking publicly and accurately about women's bodies isn't revolutionary. Speaking publicly about equality for women isn't revolutionary. Speaking publicly about women's full range of reproductive choices isn't revolutionary. Speaking publicly about sexual violence isn't revolutionary."

"What is revolutionary is the ways in which our voices are being heard, the ways in which we as activists are organizing and using technology to create communities, share ideas, cultivate the next generation of feminists and activists, and create a world that harnesses the power of women rather than suppresses it," she said.

"Find an issue which you care deeply about and study it. Spend time thoroughly researching the other side's perspective. Anticipate their arguments. Appreciate their perspective," she said, "and then ambush them, with respect and intelligence, with a voice that speaks truth to power. Be transparent and be kind, but engage in the debate and stand by your factually supported position."

"No matter what you do, do something," she said. "Stay engaged."

Daniele Fiori, one of the organizers of the Women's March Asbury Park, said the decision to organize the march was inspired by the negative rhetoric of the election, and a desire to counter that with positive action.

That rhetoric inspired women and men from around the Garden State to attend the Asbury Park event, with marchers coming from Ocean Grove, Wall, Neptune, and Spring Lake Heights, all right near Asbury Park, as well as from Absecon in Atlantic County and from Bergen County and even Rockland County in New York.

SEE MORE: Photos, Videos: Scenes From The Women's March In Asbury Park

Many of those marching said they are worried about the plans President Donald Trump has expressed repeatedly since he began his campain for the presidency and some that already are underway, including efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and rescind the Affordable Care Act. And while much of the emphasis was on women's equality and rights, the concerns extended to all communities.

"It's important for me to be here today because I am a lesbian woman it's important to make sure my rights stay intact," said Karen McFarlane of Brick. "The support and solidarity of womanhood is so uplifting."

Sisters Monica and Dina drove up from Absecon to participate. "You can't take away anybody's rights," Monica said. "He's in for the fight of his life."

"When things aren't right, you have to mobilize," said Dina, who noted that she marched during the civil rights protests of the 1960s.

"We want to make sure the forgotten people have a voice," another marcher said.

Fiori, who started the event with a text message to friends Amanda Kane, Dallas Hlatky, and Jennifer Lampert, said the turnout far exceeded their wildest expectations.

The march was organized in less than a week after Fiori texted the others. "Everyone played a different role in pulling this together," she said.

"That's the last time I answer a text," Kane said with a laugh.

The event began with Lampert singing the national anthem, and then Hlatky led the crowd in reciting the "citizen's oath," using the same words Trump recited when he sworn into office on Friday.

It resonated with mothers who brought their daughters to the march.

"This is their future," said Sarah from Point Pleasant, who came with her children to the march. "I want my daughter to know she still has a voice," Sarah's friend Leah from Spring Lake Heights said.

"We all want the same thing," Teffenhart said. "We want the children we love to grow up safe, in a less violent society."

"We want justice," she said, referring to the 30 days former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner spent in jail after he was convicted of rape in 2016. "Working toward a more just society requires sifting through the overwhelming weight of oppression."

"We need to acknowledge that there is no one reality in this country," Teffenhart said. "Our realities are shaped by our sex, our gender identity, our sexuality, our zip code, our race, our ethnicity, our religion, our marital status, and because of these realities we must resist easy answers. We will need to engage in challenging conversations that allow truth to rise to the surface ... and we must hold our elected officials accountable. We must demand the truth even when it is hard to accept, even when it's unpopular."

"We must do the work too," Teffenhart said.

"If we are committed like our lives depend on it — because they do — and we stick together, and we pick each other up when we've fallen down, whether we've tripped or been pushed or been kicked, that's how change happens," Hlatky said. "This country has always relied upon its people to keep it honest."

Photos and videos by Karen Wall for Patch.com