Supporting women’s rights

Texas Senator Wendy Davis filibustered a bill for 13 hours that the Texas legislature was trying to pass that limits women’s reproductive rights. Wendy Davis’s strength and poise make me proud to be a woman. But it does not stop there. Governor Perry has called a special session to get the bill through. Meanwhile, the press has reported that Texas men have joined the women in their fight for their reproductive rights. They have appeared at the state legislature with signs in support of women and have made statements to the press with regard to women’s rights that I want to quote in part.

Phil Perkins: “Inside that building there are a lot of men working against women. I’m just representing all the men that are outside this building that support women.”

Mickey Shanahan: “Just like every civil rights fight, if someone is not free, none of us are free. All of our rights are at stake. This is not the first issue where our rights have been eroded, but this is one that happens to affect 52 percent of the population. We all need to fight for this.”

Bill Lambert: “I drove all the way from Houston. I want society to be better than it is today and I wouldn’t have the right to hope for such a thing if women were still not fully emancipated and equal partners in that process. They hold up half the sky.”

Michael Cook: “In Houston there are a lot of men standing up for this issue. There are a lot of men who feel very strongly about it. We’re going to stand side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder with the women of Texas and show them that we support them.”

Beyrl Amrstrong: “I have a mother, I have a wife, I have nieces. It’s real important they be treated as competent human beings who can take care of themselves.”

Ted Krause: “I’m a father of two girls and I have to protect their healthcare rights and their ability to control decisions about their body.”

Zack Munstermann: “We really need to stand up and support women. I think it’s more of a civil rights issue as opposed to a gender-specific issue. I think women need to see that men understand this.”

I have been fighting and speaking out for women rights since the late ’60s and I always felts it was a perpetual fight against men. When I read the above quotes I could not help but get teary eyed because I have always said that women’s right will not become a reality until men join in the fight for our rights. Just like the civil rights movement, blacks would still be fighting for their civil rights if white people had not stood up and joined their march for freedom after seeing the brutality that black marchers were subjected to at the hand of the police. So, thank you Texas men.

Corina Aragon

Dillon