Hundreds rally for women’s rights, equality at Texas Capitol

Jan. 20--A sea of people amassed on the south steps of the Texas Capitol on a blustery cold Saturday to rally for women's rights and equality on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade decision on abortion and the second anniversary of the historic Women's March.

The event had originally been planned as the Texas Reproductive Rights Rally, to support women's rights to abortion and health care. But when no one in Austin decided to coordinate with the national Women's March organization to plan a march in the Texas capital, organizer Kym Whitehead said they decided to widen the focus of the event to include all women's issues.

Topics spanned gender equality, immigration and LGBTQ rights in speeches from more than a dozen activists and politicians, including former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis, who had inspired the first Texas Reproductive Rights Rally in Austin.

"For far too long, we as women continue to be ignored, marginalized, pushed to the sidelines so that our ability to accomplish gender equity is weakened," Davis said to the cheering crowd. "We made our minds up after the election of 2016 that, well, quite frankly, we weren't going to take it anymore."

Davis spoke about the right of women to access health care, abortion, equal wages, sick leave, maternity leave and day care accommodations, among other issues.

In the crowd, people waved handmade signs and chanted, "Enough is enough."

The Austonettes, an all-female a capella group from Austin, opened with a song called "Quiet," which was sung at the first Women's March in Washington and became an anthem for survivors of sexual abuse.

About 20 counterprotesters, including some from Texans United for America and Open Carry Texas, huddled on either side of the crowd carrying "Trump 2020" flags and chanting in bullhorns to disrupt the event.

"We are here to protest the hypocrisy of the women's movement," Texans United for America President Jenni Salinas said. "We are pro-lifers, and we don't believe that the solution is killing your baby."

Rally speeches continued over the sound of their chants.

"Women expect and deserve rights," said Whitehead, who planned the event with only a handful of women. "It's 2019, and women should not be paid less than men for doing the same job as men when we have the same training as men. Women should not be marginalized and dismissed. Women deserve inclusivity, equity and equality. These are not unreasonable expectations to have in this modern age."

Saturday's crowd grew over the course of the event but didn't get even close to the 50,000 who turned out in 2017 in Austin for the first Women's March, on the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers said they believed the crowd peaked to at least 1,500 at the height of Saturday's rally, with people bundled in coats as the gusty winds whipped their protest signs.

Many people who attended said they were upset when they found out there wasn't a march this year.

"It's super disappointing," said Isis Hernandez, a 28-year-old Austin resident. In 2017, she said, "You couldn't see the end of the crowd. It was unbelievable. It was hope."

"I was never politically active. The first women's march was an experience of solidarity and standing with other women that changed me forever," said Jasmine Holan, who came from Colorado.

On a Facebook page for the rally, organizers said it had become increasingly difficult to plan marches in the city, requiring a lot of advanced notice and funding, which prompted the decision for a rally only. However, Whitehead also cited a lack of confidence in the national Women's March group, whose organizers faced backlash this year amid allegations of anti-Semitism, which led to there being two separate marches Saturday in New York City.

"We stand against anti-Semitism," Whitehead said Saturday. "We are a liberal town in a conservative state, and we do our own thing."

Marches were held Saturday in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, as well as in other cities across the country.

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