Has it occurred to you, whether recently or over the past several years, that the government has lost its grasp on reality? Certainly, it doesn’t seem as if either party has much commitment to the rights or needs of women and girls.
Just this year, the President of the United States nominated a man who insists upon being called a “woman” as Assistant Secretary for Health. This man, Rachel Levine, believes that some children were born in the wrong bodies and should, therefore, be prevented from experiencing normal puberty. Instead of using the power granted by the U.S. Constitution to check such poor Presidential decision making, U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination, with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) lamenting the fact that other Senators even asked Levine questions about his preposterous views.
A bill currently sits in the Senate that would enshrine “gender identity,” a nonsensical concept that allows men to claim the ”identity” of women, into law.
On September 1, Texas enacted a law that bans nearly all abortions in that state and includes a bizarre enforcement mechanism involving lawsuits from ordinary citizens.
The truth is that the only movement standing up for women and girls on all of these issues is grassroots. Billionaires tend to be men and they tend to donate to organizations that prioritize men. The resistance is us. If you’re a signatory to the Declaration on Women’s Sex Based-Rights, you’re already already part of this grassroots movement.
In this post, I will highlight one of the easiest ways that all grassroots feminists can help bring some sense to government in these crazy times: contacting your legislators.
Getting Started
If you are in the United States, there are most likely five people with whom you can and should correspond on matters of legislation: your two U.S. Senators, your U.S. Representative, your state Senator, and your state Representative.
The first step is to be familiar with legislation that affects women and girls. If you can catch a bill before it is introduced, or soon after it is introduced, you can ask that your legislator not co-sponsor a bad bill. This is important because it is rare that a legislator ultimately votes against a bill he or she has co-sponsored, although it is technically not prohibited (and you should still request it). Likewise, this is a good time to ask your legislator to co-sponsor a bill that protects the sex-based rights of women and girls.
To learn about important legislation, get in touch with your WHRC USA State Contact. She has most likely been keeping track of legislation in your state and she definitely wants you to be involved. You can also search your state legislature’s website, using terms such as “women,” “girls,” “gender identity,” “surrogacy,” “abortion,” etc., and subscribe to publications (web or print) that cover politics. In Pennsylvania, I find the First Read newsletter from City and State, which also has a New York edition, to be particularly useful. Federally, The Hill is a good source.
After a bill has been introduced, it is time to thank your legislator for co-sponsoring it (if it’s a good bill) and, regardless of co-sponsorship, to ask him or her to vote “yea” or “nay.”
Staying Involved
There is debate over the best method for contacting legislators. If you are comfortable scheduling a face-to-face meeting (likely, with a legislative aide), that is wonderful. Often, this can be requested via your legislator’s website. Try to make this meeting as positive as possible, and let it be the start of a relationship between you and the aide, whom you can then call and email with questions and information.
Short of a meeting, a hand-written letter is generally considered to carry the most weight, although phone calls have the advantage of being received the same day and are best when a matter is time sensitive. (Your call will most likely go directly to voicemail, so be prepared with a short statement, including your name, city, and zip code.) Email (sent via a web form on your legislator’s site) is quick and convenient. Don’t hesitate to use the format with which you are most comfortable.
Here are some guidelines to follow when communicating with legislators:
- Senators and Representatives, whether state or federal, are addressed as “The Honorable [Full Name]” on the envelope, and the proper salutation is “Dear Senator [Last Name]” or “Dear Representative [Last Name]”
- Always be polite. Burning bridges never helps. No matter how useless your legislator may seem to be on one issue, she or he may be surprisingly helpful next time. Nearly every politician in the United States, for example, supports some Articles of the Declaration and opposes others; unfortunately, there isn’t one “women’s rights” party.
- Don’t hesitate to contact your legislator just because you know he or she disagrees with you. Politicians will do the darndest things in the face of overwhelming public support or opposition, and whether you write a letter or leave a phone message, someone (a staffer who may be planning a career in politics) is reading or hearing it.
- Don’t hesitate to contact your legislator just because you know he or she agrees with you, either. Thank your legislator for his or her opposition or support and consider sharing a personal story or providing useful data. A legislator who shares your position on a bill is more likely to use information you provide.
- It’s okay to be concise. As long as you have provided a bill number and stated clear support or opposition, it is not necessary to write more than a few sentences.
- Use accurate language. Particularly on the subject of “gender identity,” language is a great deal of the battle. Don’t begin by ceding ground with terms such as “transwomen” to mean “men.” If you mean “men who claim the ‘gender identity’ of women,” say so.
- Define terms, especially when writing on the subject of “gender identity.” Believe it or not, some legislators may not even know the definitions provided in the legislation they are co-sponsoring.
After you have made your initial contact, you will most likely receive a canned response; you may be disappointed to see that your well-crafted points were not addressed. This is normal. Rest assured that your opinion was registered and is being weighed against opposing opinions and other factors. (Legislative aides have confirmed to our volunteers that tallying constituent support and constituent opposition to bills is standard practice and ultimately is a factor in voting.)
The next step is to follow the bill’s progress by using https://www.govtrack.us/ or by clicking “get alerts” on the bill’s page on the website of the U.S. Congress. For state bills, state legislative websites often have similar tracking options. It’s a good idea to make additional contact when a bill is scheduled for a vote or when it is scheduled for a committee hearing, especially if your legislator serves on that committee.
Going the Distance
If you have done all or most of the above, you are, most likely, quite knowledgeable about the legislation in question.
To reap additional benefits from that knowledge:
- Tell other women in your community about the legislation and about the issues surrounding it. In-person conversations in settings that are relatively free of distractions often work best.
- Educate your social media followers about the legislation.
- Make it easy for friends and family members to contact legislators by providing them with direct support. If you know they agree with you, but are unlikely to take the time to learn how to make contact, provide them with the phone number and a brief script.
- Especially for state legislation, look for opportunities to submit written testimony, or even to testify in person. Your written testimony need be no longer than a typical constituent letter. The timing and format of the testimony is better explained on some state legislatures’ websites than others. For help, ask your legislator, the prime sponsor of the bill, or your WHRC USA state contact. (Typically, the time to submit testimony is when a committee hearing has been scheduled for the bill.) All kinds of ordinary people submit testimony; no special expertise is required.
- Look for articles in local papers that mention the legislation, or articles about related topics. (For example, when a male criminal “identifies” as a woman, that’s a great time to write about the Equality Act, which would require that men who “identify” as women be housed in women’s prisons.) Write a letter to the editor, keeping in mind the word count restriction, which may be as low as 150 words. If possible, mention your legislator by name, offering praise if his or her position helps women and urging him or her to change course if it harms women. Legislative staffers keep track of such mentions.
- If you have thoughts that exceed the word count of a letter to the editor, look for opportunities to write a longer piece. Requirements for guest editorials or “reader’s view” pieces are often explained on the same page where letter-to-the-editor guidelines are explained.
On the topic of “gender identity,” it is important to remember that many legislators are thoroughly confused. A volunteer in Maine, who was very helpful in the preparation of this post, says that “the ignorance of politicians is the biggest stumbling block” when lobbying for women’s sex-based rights. Some politicians, especially “progressive” ones, believe that support for lesbians and gay men necessarily means supporting the notion that some men are, and should have the legal rights of, women. Nothing could be further from the truth; it is impossible to respect or protect same-sex attraction without acknowledging the reality of sex.
Final Thoughts
I hope this post has provided you with some ideas for action. Remember, you can always ask your state contact for additional advice. If you are feeling overwhelmed, remember that any clear, polite message, regardless of length, format, or level of detail, helps. It is better for your legislator to receive twenty messages simply saying, “Please vote ‘no’ on the Equality Act,” than for one person to send a ten-page letter and nineteen people to do nothing.
*Please note that the Women’s Human Rights Campaign USA (WHRC-USA) is now officially known as Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI-USA)
