Speakers at the annual Durango Women’s Rally at Buckley Park on Saturday honed in on housing, child care, immigration and women’s reproductive rights.
Nearly 200 people gathered in the park for the traditional march down Main Avenue, which started almost a decade ago after former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump first took office.
This year, the group failed to attain a city permit to take to the streets in time for the event, but attendees still strolled the sidewalks in a show of solidarity and activism just three days away from the 2024 United States presidential election.
Among speakers were Colorado House District 59 Rep. Barbara McLachlan and Katie Stewart, who is running for McLachlan’s seat.
“My father always told me you can’t come to the dinner table and complain about anything until you’ve voted,” McLachlan said. “ … You don’t get to complain about anything unless you vote when you have the opportunity to.”
She said there’s a lot on the line in this election.
Beatrice Garcia Waddell said she values unity and solidarity in advocating for better health care, including reproductive health care, for women and immigrants.
“Immigrant women deserve equal opportunities, regardless of our origin or our immigration status,” she said. “We labor tirelessly. We bring the weight of motherhood in a society that is full of patriarchy and machismo, and that’s why we need to vote.”
She said no matter if one is a mother, a working woman or a transgender person, she supports more government support for women, not less.
Indivisible Durango organizer Karen Pontius said about 6,000 groups are in the Indivisible activist network across the country.
The annual event started after Trump’s 2016 election victory. His presidency spurred the Indivisible Durango chapter into action in 2017, Pontius said.
“You all have power to shape our narratives and define our truth,” Waddell said. “Let’s stand here in defense of our identities. Refuse, refusing to be defined by those who make judgments. We’re tired of those judgments.”
Kelly Maclaurin, a public health epidemiologist and infectious disease physician assistant, attended the rally and said it’s not her place to choose whether having an abortion is the right choice for another person.
“After sitting through another abortion-is-a-sin lecture at my church with my parents on Dec. 24, then a further discussion at home, belaboring the point, I turned to my Republican veteran father … I said to him, ‘There’s a person out there that doesn't want to be pregnant anymore and do you really care what they choose to do? Does it really affect you?’” she said.
She said anti-abortion movements are about controlling women and preserving the patriarchal status quo.
cburney@durangoherald.com
