Demonstrators from Los Angeles to New York marched in support of female empowerment and denounced US President Donald Trump’s views on immigration, abortion, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and women’s rights on Saturday, the anniversary of his inauguration.
In Los Angeles, Eva Longoria, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis, Alfre Woodard, Scarlett Johansson, Constance Wu, Adam Scott and Rob Reiner were among the celebrities who addressed a crowd of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators at a women’s march.
Longoria, who starred in TV’s Desperate Housewives, told marchers their presence matters, “especially when those in power seem to have turned their backs on reason and justice.”
Photo: AFP
Portman, an Academy Award winner, talked about feeling sexualized by the entertainment industry from the time her first film, Leon: The Professional, was released when she was 13 and suggested it is time for “a revolution of desire.”
Woodard urged everyone to register and vote, saying, “the 2018 mid-terms start now.”
And Davis spoke with the passion of a preacher as she discussed the US’ history of discrimination and her past as a sexual assault survivor.
People marched in Casper, Wyoming, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and in Houston, Texas. More marches were planned in cities yesterday.
In Park City, Utah, where the annual Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, actress Jane Fonda and nationally known attorney Gloria Allred joined the women’s march.
In Morristown, New Jersey, that state’s new first lady told a crowd she became a victim of sexual violence while attending college.
Tammy Murphy, the wife of Democrat New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, said the attack occurred while she was a sophomore at the University of Virginia.
She said she was walking along a path when a man grabbed her and pulled her into some bushes.
She said the man tried to take her clothes off and put a crab apple in her mouth to silence her, but she bit his hand and fled half-dressed to a nearby fraternity house, where students called police.
Critics of the weekend’s marches said the demonstrations were really a protest against Trump.
Trump on Saturday tweeted that it was a “perfect day” for women to march to celebrate the “economic success and wealth creation” that has happened during his first year in office.
“Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months,” the US president wrote. “Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!”
Demonstrators denounced Trump’s views with colorful signs and even saltier language.
Oklahoma City protesters chanted “We need a leader, not a creepy tweeter.”
In Richmond, Virginia, the crowd burst into cheers when a woman ran down the middle of the street carrying a pink flag with the word “Resist.”
The march in Washington took on the feel of a political rally when US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and US Representative Nancy Pelosi, both Democrats, urged women to run for office and vote to oppose Trump and the Republicans’ agenda.
“We march, we run, we vote, we win,” Pelosi said, to applause.
Meanwhile, thousands of Australian women yesterday rallied in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to express their solidarity with the international Women’s March movement calling for reform of sexual assault laws and a change of culture.
As thousands marched across the US and Europe, the Women’s March in Sydney saw about 1,000 people gather in Hyde Park.
It was attended by a diverse range of women and some men, with younger women dominating the crowd.
Additional reporting by the Guardian
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