East End Women Raise Voices, Board Buses Heading to DC for 'Women's March on Washington'

SOUTHOLD, NY — Across the East End, women are standing strong and preparing to board buses this January and head to "The Women's March on Washington."

The event, to be held on January 21, is meant to unite women who have been left feeling disenfranchised and disillusioned after the presidential election and Donald Trump's inauguration, which takes place on Jan. 20.

According to the Women's March on Washington's Facebook page, the mission of the event is to meet in DC and be heard.

"We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families — recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country. The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized, and threatened many of us — women, immigrants of all statuses, those with diverse religious faiths particularly Muslim, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native and Indigenous people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, the economically impoverished and survivors of sexual assault. We are confronted with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear," national organizers said.

The hope, organizers said, is to "join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women's rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us. . . This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all. Hear our voice."

The march is inclusive, organizers said, and anyone who supports women's rights is welcome.

East End heading to DC

On both the North and South Forks women are coming together to gain traction and power. On both Forks, bus trips have been organized.

In Southold, Sue Stamatis, who helped to organize the march with the Southold Democratic Committee, said she feels it's critically important, now more than ever, for women to have a voice.

"As a woman, I do not want the government intruding into my personal life. Trump has indicated his nominees for the Supreme Court will be candidates willing to overturn those rights many of us have fought hard to obtain," she said. "As women, we need to be a voice for the immigrant children across our country, many of whom are now living in fear. And as women, policies that disrupt or tear apart families should be offensive to us."

The North Fork trip is a hot ticket, with the first bus selling out in five hours. "I scrambled to get a second bus and that sold out in 48 hours. So we have approximately 103 Southold folk on board for the March," she said.

When asked what message she'd like the March to send, Stamatis said, "I think the message is reflected in the statement found on the Southold Town Democrat Site publicizing this March. 'We will stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.' So on January 21, we say, 'Mr. President, we, the people, will be watching you.''

South Fork solidarity

On the South Fork, organizers of the bus event include Kate Mueth, Connie Judson, Bess Rattray, Ellen Dioguardi and Christine Sciulli.

Mueth, founder of the Neo-Political Cowgirls, reflected on what motivated her to take a stand.

"For me, it began as a feeling of anger at what was at risk for me as a woman, for the girls and women of this country, for my family, for so many of my friends who are LGBT, immigrants and minorities. I personally feel Trump showed us exactly who he was throughout his campaign and this was a very palpable worry for me. I saw the organizers of this march had put this together, and I felt action was required on my part."

Through social media outreach, Mueth said she and fellow organizers found one another and "decided to pool efforts as we all were organizing buses."

Mueth agreed that the time is now for women to raise their voices.

"I think it has always been important is important and always will be important for women, for every single human to have an equal voice — that is hard. Sometimes we have to work a little harder than other times because the powers that be are not necessarily in agreement with this basic tenet. There is a lot of fear in people who wish to disallow others a place at the table. But the light is growing and humanity is shifting. I'd like to think we're seeing the very last gasps of this kind of discrimination and politics based on fear of 'the other.'"

On the South Fork, Mueth said currently there are three full buses and a waiting list of almost 25. Roughly so far there are 156 women, men and children attending.

The message, Mueth said, is clear: "We want to show our new administration that there is a huge contingency of American women — and men — that are going to continue to work for human rights and for laws that are just. We will show the disenfranchised that we are activated for their issues and we will show the world that women are indeed working to fight against these really terrible, ongoing patriarchal governmental behaviors that put our families and our environment in peril."

Just the beginning

The March is not Mueth's only goal.

She has convened a group of women, inviting them over to her East Hampton home to discuss ideas for planning to fill in the gaps of support where needed for the community.

At the first meeting, she said, about 30 women attended and tasks were assigned for beginning to make network links out into different social groups, schools and with at risk individuals.

"For instance, if someone needs a ride somewhere because they don't feel safe walking to a location, we have women who are willing to give them a ride. We have women having conversations with school administrators, kids in the school activating to educate about at-risk students and how to help them. We are creating programs to support kids who need a place to come together, talk and create positive changes," she said.

Domestic violence escalates during turbulent times, she said, so Mueth's group is linking to The Retreat, as well.

"So many women reached out to me saying how upset and frightened they felt. Taking action for good is the very best way not only to counter those feelings, but to bring together and empower our community in a very positive way," she said.

The goal of her newly formed group, Mueth said, is to work with already established East End social justice groups to let "potentially vulnerable community members know they are not alone and to brightly show that hate and discrimination will not be tolerated in our towns."

Seeing so many women gathered together in her home for good, Mueth said, was "incredibly moving and reassuring."

And together, she said, those women share a strong and steadfast goal: "The creation of strong networks of support and education for our community."

Patch file photo.