In California, a service known as the Condom Access Project allows pre-teens and teens to order 10 condoms, lube and health brochures online each month—free of charge.
Not A Boring Modesto Election: “Homosexuals and Other Liberals”
Local elections are right around the corner, guys! The signs have been all over Modesto for a while now (I should know; my workplace is backing Bill Zoslocki and we have some of his Facebook-ripoff signs floating around the office), and the polls will open this Tuesday. (A pro-choice voting guide that I’ve been putting off for too long will be forthcoming, hopefully tomorrow, and my apologies for forgetting to remind you about the deadline for voter registration).
And if you’re like me, you probably don’t get all that excited over local elections. They don’t have any of the pizazz of national elections, and their debates don’t get televised. You always sort of think that they’re boring and substantive, nothing like the rollickin’ good time that is the ridiculousness on parade at every Republican presidential primary debate.
And then, out of the blue, you discover your town has its own Michele Bachmann.
As reported by the Modesto Bee, in response to her signs being torn down, stolen, and damaged (one sign was painted with a pink triangle and “homophobe” written across her face*), Mylinda Mason, who is running for the Modesto City Schoolboard, wrote on her Facebook page:
My signs are being damaged, torn down and stolen all over town by the intolerant left. The threat of a Christian, grandmother is more than they can take. I just received the third phone call this morning to let me know about the damage done in the dark of night. Having taken a stand for what is right and true, homosexuals and other liberals want to make me pay a price, if not financially at least emotionally and psychologically. Militant homosexual groups and pro abortion activists have engaged in this type of behavior for decades, only now attacks are getting even more brazen.
It’s not that I didn’t think that we had such folks in Modesto, but it is a bit surprising to see that sort of rhetoric coming out of the mouth of someone who isn’t Rick Santorum.
Suffice to say, I’m suddenly a lot more knowledgeable about Mylinda than I was before- from the fact that she has a gay adopted son who she adores but whose lifestyle she doesn’t “appreciate” (do conservatives/Christians create more gay babies than liberals/atheists? Or do we just notice them more because we all collectively cringe at the thought of those kids’ poor childhoods?), she’s very openly Christian (note), she loves homeschooling quite a lot for someone who wants to be in charge of public schools, and she opposes SB 48, the bill which changes history textbooks to include historical references identifying gay, lesbian and transgendered persons in the same way we would minority contributions. Mylinda linked to this, um, charming website on her Facebook page (“forced to admire” is the most hilarious phrase I’ve heard this month).
If it weren’t already clear, I probably won’t be voting for Mrs. Mason.
But that’s beside the point- you can clearly vote for her if you’d like. The main thrust of this post is my shocked realization that, whoa, Modesto elections can actually have some interesting characters … and that Christian grandmothers are under attack by homosexuals and other liberals in the dark of night. A little too late for Halloween, but scary stuff nonetheless. :)
* I’m not really a personal fan of vandalism, but I will admit to respecting the hell out of these rogue taggers, who I sincerely hope are a militant homosexual group a la the c(i)a. Contact me, guys!
Ten Years Later: Wither “Modesto People For Choice”?
Given that today is apparently the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity and pro-life folks are duct taping their mouths to remind you that fetuses … lack the ability to vocalize or have thoughts to communicate … I thought it’d be a good idea to delve into another kind of silence: the silence from my home town’s pro-choice contingent.
It’s fascinating; I like to spend a fair amount of my Internet time on Yahoo! Answers, and twice now I’ve come across abortion-related questions pertaining to Modesto … asking from the pro-life perspective. I of course answered each of them precisely the way I’d like mine to be answered (respectfully, with good information), but nonetheless, it’s sad that the other side just doesn’t seem to be there (or they’re hiding very well). My Google Alerts inevitably pop up with, unsurprisingly, only posts from this very blog. Far as I can tell, I’m about the only person on the whole wide Interwebs talking about Modesto and reproductive health/rights issues.
Except, as I’m finding out, the landscape didn’t always used to be so barren for the pro-choice Modesto and Central Valley community.
In one of my very random late-night boredom Google searches, I stumbled across the Fall 2001 newsletter of the Women’s Health Rights Coalition (a.k.a. the WHRC), featuring an article written by Modestan Fred Herman in honor of Abortion Access Month and detailing his experiences as a clinic escort and member of the Modesto People For Choice. According to the WHRC, People For Choice (PFC) began in the wake of the 1989 Webster decision that limited Roe v. Wade rights.
It’s hard to find much more information on Modesto People For Choice beyond that. The group gets a mention in this 1989 Modesto Bee article about California candidates, and elsewhere, some names are dropped- former president Mary Menz is mentioned in this article about Gary Condit, co-founder Yvonne Allen is listed on Stanislaus Connections and wrote with co-chair Peggy Mensinger (R.I.P) a joint letter to the editor in a 1989 issue of The Modesto Bee about Terry Randall and Operation rescue, and Berthalee Kuderna’s name can be found on this site talking exclusively about stuff done in 1992- but beyond that it remains, essentially, a mystery.
It’s not surprising to me that it [apparently] no longer exists- ten years is a long time for a single-issue, local organization in a medium-sized town to last, particularly without the aid of robust online social networking that is so often employed today, and without the “Summer of Mercy”-style theatrics and national culture war over abortion that raged in the 1990’s to motivate and mobilize pro-choicers.
It both makes me sad (where did it go? how did it fade into obscurity?) and gives me hope: it used to exist, and perhaps it could rise again- particularly with our current sad state of affairs when it comes to reproductive rights.
Californians! Call To Show Your Support For AB 499!
How to Show Your Support:
Call Governor Brown: (916) 445-2841 or 1-855-468-2796
- Select 1 for English or 2 for Spanish
- Press 2 to voice opinion on a piece of legislation
- Press 2 to voice opinion about AB 499
- Press 1 to show you are calling in SUPPORT of AB 499
If you get an “all circuits are busy” message or busy signal, please try again a few minutes later, or try the alternate phone number.
Report your call! Email sanjosepa@ppmarmonte.org with “I called” in the subject line!
Via PP Mar Monte; for more information about the bill, please see my previous post. If you’re in California, PLEASE do this! You don’t even have to say anything, for all you folks you are shy and/or not too good on the phone … just call and press a few buttons!
Urge Gov. Brown To Sign AB 499 To Keep Teens Healthy!
Assembly Bill 499, which would update the existing California law to reflect new and ongoing developments in sexually transmitted disease prevention (namely the Gardasil vaccine, but also the Hepatitis B vaccine) and remove barriers to minors as young as 12 in accessing them without parental consent, passed through the California Senate (22-17) on August 31st and is now awaiting the Governor to approve or veto it. The bill is endorsed by the California Medical Association and Planned Parenthood, who opines (and I heartily agree!) that “Young people should not be denied access to preventative methods when they are available, especially for sexually transmitted viruses that currently cannot be cured, only treated.”
Most of the opposition to AB 499, based on my Googling, comes from either the anti-vaccination movement (who I hope nobody reading this would try to defend) or the parental rights movement, who feel that their “personal belief exemptions” are being unfairly bypassed. In terms of safety, allow me to link to the CDC’s evaluation of the Gardasil, as well as their re-evaluation in the light of reports of health concerns following the HPV vaccination. They summarize that “Based on all of the information we have today, CDC recommends HPV vaccination for the prevention of most types of cervical cancer.”
As far as parental rights go, it is my belief that no parent has the right to deprive his or her child of vital preventative medical care. Unlike other vaccinations, those which prevent diseases that are either transmitted through STI’s or develop as a result of them are often denied to minors not based on any real or perceived dangers of the vaccine, but rather due to frighteningly unrealistic assumption that such a vaccine amounts to an endorsement of sexual activity for youth (who apparently had nary an inkling of nor an inclination to have sex until the appointment). I simply do not think it is fair or right that a woman will have a higher or lesser chance of developing cervical cancer based on her parents’ delusions regarding teenage sexuality. Minors who seek such vaccines without their parents’ knowledge generally have good reasons to do so- because it would be denied to them, because they fear disappointing their parents, because they fear that their parents will argue about it, or because they fear punishment, including fear of violence or sexual abuse. I have written in the past on my personal blog about my strong belief that minors who take precautions should be lauded, not condemned or forbidden to do so, and these vaccinations are no different.
So if you agree, please take action to ensure that AB 499 is signed into law. You can e-mail a form letter to the governor from Planned Parenthood’s website, or submit an e-mail with your own message on his Contact Page, or go the old-fashioned route of calling (916-445-2841) or faxing (916-558-3160) his office as well.
The Situation: While the Affordable Care Act will require coverage for maternity services, this provision will not go into effect until 2014. California should not wait until 2014 to provide this basic health care to pregnant people.
The Solution: We need you to ask Speaker Perez and Senate Pro Tem Steinberg to pass SB 155 (Authored by Senator Evans) this year to enable this essential coverage for the people of California right away.
1. Call Speaker Perez’s office: (916) 319-2046
What to say:
2. Call Senate Pro Tem Steinberg’s office: (916) 651-4006
What to say:
Please let us know you took action! Email fdiaz@pp-sp.org with “I called Perez and Steinberg” in the subject line to report your action!
Note: I replaced ‘women’ with people everything else is as it was and is excerpted from an email from PP Shasta Pacific.
Signal boost for anybody in Modesto or California as a whole! Seriously- do this!
NARAL Pro-Choice America is hosting a Flickr-based campaign right now to “put a face to our cause” and to “show Congress that we’re fighting back”. If you submit a photo (via a special e-mail that loads it directly to Flickr) before Friday, May 27th, they will deliver all the uploaded photos…
Hey, a Modesto native putting a face to her pro-choice voice!
(Okay, fine, it’s me, reblogging my personal Tumblr. Still counts, though!)
If you’re in the Modesto/Central Valley area and wanna follow suit, just head on over to that “Submit” button to the right!
Reflections: The May 2011 Bay Area Walk For Choice
This Saturday, May 21st, was yet another nation-wide Walk For Choice, and both I and a friend came to S.F. to show support for reproductive rights! Nobody ended up taking me up on my carpooling offer, but considering the slightly meager turnout of even Bay Area locals, that’s not too surprising. Unlike the first Walk For Choice I attended in February at Lake Merritt, which, while I’m ridiculously bad at judging numbers, seemed very well-attended (this video estimates it brought in a couple of hundred people), yesterday’s only had a handful of participants- but they were awesome, cool, and dedicated, making up in quality what they lacked in quantity. I was hoping my bestie might get a taste of the sort of big, collective, organized-with-speakers kinda protest for her first time, but it’s understandable that an initial event gets more attention and attendance than subsequent ones, particularly when it’s a little iffy right up to the end on whether said event is even going to happen or not. And hey, it was still fun.
We spotted orange shirts in front of Macy’s (thank goodness the theme color is so easy to pick out of a crowd, otherwise we might’ve missed them!) and made our way over for introductions and signing up for e-mail lists and whatnot. I never did get around to making my own signs- the poster board and markers are still sitting in a lonely, neglected stack in the corner of my apartment- but there were more than enough to go around, including the one that my bud and I were offered, a giant orange-speckled “Life Begins When You Fight Against Christian Fascism”. A more ambiguous and general message than I was intending to communicate (and ironic, considering what a devoted Christian Beth is … albeit not of the fascist variety), but it worked out fine in the end.
The actual walk itself was fairly short- after a bit of passing out flyers and my trying [unsuccessfully] to get some signatures for a petition to put a stop to H.R.3 (was it because there was some sort of Christian thing going on at the same time, or because I suck at approaching people and making a case for why they should give me their time of day?), we decided not to circle Union Square, but rather to go down the far busier Powell Street. And while more people might have gathered at Lake Merritt, the number of onlookers here was greater- many more people out and about, including a couple of changes of a somewhat captive audience waiting for the trolley at the bottom of Powell, where we finally settled in to chant and get petitions signed. My buddy and I fared far better in the petition department when we got to hold our sign- between chants, it was easy to grab the attention of passersby who were obviously intrigued by our signs or in support of the cause, ask them if they wanted to help by signing a petition, and then direct them to our peeps out in the crowd with orange shirts and clipboards.
And much like my initial Walk For Choice, where every supportive car honking its horn was just so positive and affirming, all the nice smiles, thumbs up, and fists upraised in solidarity made me so happy. There were also more than a few blank or disapproving faces; one lady I noticed made a thumbs down and shook her head sadly before turning her back to us, and I’m told another woman plugged her ears against our chanting. But for the most part, aside from a slight altercation with a homeless woman, it couldn’t have been lovelier. Sometimes it did feel a little bit exposed- a combination of the relative small size of our group (i.e. you couldn’t just be one anonymous face in a massive crowd), being stationary at the bottom of Powell where people could observe us at length rather than just catching us briefly marching by, and feeling a bit like we were putting on a play for the audience of folks lounging on the steps and benches at Union Square- but visibility is the goal, and we definitely scored on that front.
Before marching back up Powell, nearly everybody (I think?) gave a quick little “I’m pro-choice because …” soundbite on camera for the people behind The Power Of Choice Project (plus we got a free DVD of their documentary film Motherhood By Choice, Not Chance, whoo hoo!), to be used in a promotional Youtube video (or end up on the cutting room floor … I’m no different than most people in the absolute certainty that I’m awful in front of a camera) and to take some group photos. When we got back, the Silver Ribbon Campaign folks holding down the fort (passing out flyers, getting petition signatures, and selling Walk For Choice T-shirts) told us that you could hear our chanting all the way back to Union Square (about three blocks away), which is pretty dang awesome for not having a megaphone or the mass of a hundred voices yelling in unison!
There were lots of little things that stick out in my mind (and forgive me that I have forgotten everybody’s names): the passionate Code Pink lady who was with us for a bit and then seemingly just disappeared, the gal who celebrated her birthday by walking with us, the delightfully adamant World Can’t Wait/BAYCORR lady who led our chants and whose homemade sign harness, coupled with the gusty wind, sometimes threatened to make her airborne or at least topple her over, and the adorable older woman* who promptly marched up to our little collected group, confirmed we were who she was looking for, and immediately grabbed a “Get your Boehner out of my uterus!” sign to hold (it only took about two seconds for someone to stop to ask her a question, which she started answering pretty animatedly.)
All in all, I had a great time- even if I did fry a bit. (Why yes, you can have a high of 63 and still get sunburnt when you’re fair-skinned and forgetful . . boo!) Major thanks to the gals (and guys!) who came out and decided to put this on, and the organizations I’ve linked to above that lent their support. And of course, thanks to my buddy for coming with me- especially considering the judgment and potential fall-out that might accompany being open and honest about participating in a pro-choice event when you’re part of a Christian community. You amaze me with your bravery!
I’ll be updating this with pictures whenever they’re posted, so keep checking back. And in the meantime, don’t forget to follow the Walk For choice Tumblrs, Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages so you’ll know about the next one (because the Republican leadership shows no signs of flagging on the anti-choice legislation) … who knows, maybe we’ll put one on a little closer to home in Modesto!
* I know that so much focus nowadays is on young feminists (not in part because the media seems hellbent on insinuating that we don’t exist), but seeing older women at these events is always inspirational for me- a reassurance that not everybody becomes a grumpy Tea Party conservative once they hit 65, a reminder that activism doesn’t have to end after the so-called time period of “youthful idealism”, and how it hearkens back to the Women’s Liberation movement and all their protest (after all, I and other relatively young people have never known a world where abortion was across-the-board illegal, never had our sisters needlessly dying in hospital wings devoted solely to dealing with the results of unsafe abortion). Of course, having said that, it was equally inspirational to see people closer to my age, too.
A nice video posted by Modesto News (see their Youtube Channel) covering the annual Planned Parenthood-sponsored Capitol Day event held at our capitol, Sacramento, on May 3rd.
There’s a plethora of problems with Emily’s speech- like the fact that Live Action has a history of editing and manipulating their video footage for smear campaigns and its president, Lila Rose, has been quoted as saying “We will work to de-fund them [Planned Parenthood] in every state wherever it is possible, to de-license them and to expose them” (gee, it’s almost like they want to shut down PP whether the organization is corrupt and engaging in illegal activity or not … clearly, they have no agenda to further, right?).
And then, of course, there’s the conflation of these accusations with the general anti-choice stance- if Emily and her fellow protesters are against Planned Parenthood because they believe it is a part of statutory rape, sex abuse, and sex trafficking, that’s absolutely understandable- so might she recommend an abortion provider that doesn’t engage in such activities? If those accusations were true, then you better believe I would denounce PP myself, and focus my support on good, decent, law-abiding abortion and comprehensive reproductive healthcare providers. Oh, what’s that? Emily is against any and all abortion providers? Huh. It’s almost as if she would callously use any other issue in order to sway people to her chief cause, abortion …
And if you’re dying of all this eye-rolling sarcasm and snark, I apologize; it’s hard to not want to argue against the other side. Adrienne makes a lovely case for Planned Parenthood, and even though it’s not clear how many Modesto peeps came, it’s nice to see Modesto News covering it.
Saturday, May 21st: Need a Ride to the Bay Area Walk For Choice?
Walk For Choice events will be taking place all across the country on Saturday, May 21st, and the Bay Area is no exception. (And yes, I know that this Tumblr is focused on the Central Valley, but given that there are no Walks For Choice happening here- yet?- this is our closest event).
I and a friend (both of us from Modesto) will be attending the Bay Area Walk For 
Choice and would love to find and meet others who are interested in tagging along (or, if you’re already planning to come, perhaps carpooling). We will most likely be taking the BART into the Bay Area from the Dublin/Pleasanton Station, so you will have to pay for your own BART ticket, but if you would like to save on gas money, save the environment, and have some company, I have three empty seats and would be more than happy to drive us to and from Pleasanton. (I would also be willing to come and pick you up from other cities near Modesto, although distance is obviously a factor … i.e. if you’re in Chowchilla, that’s probably not going to work).
Location and time for the event are still in the works (see the Facebook page for updates), but if you’re interested in a ride there, you can message me here on Tumblr, post to my Facebook group, @ me on Twitter, or e-mail me at cando_86 at yahoo.com.
