Hundreds of students, activists and curious men and women gathered at a Cambridge club yesterday for One Million Voices, a pro-choice rally that incorporated bands, drag queens, speakers and sexually charged feminist workshops.
“We will not be punished when we have done nothing wrong,” said Ciara LaVelle, one of the event organizers. “We demand the right to an education, a career, the choice to do what we will with our bodies and as many orgasms as we damn well please.”
The goal of the rally, held at the Downstairs beneath the Middle East club, was to gain support for Million4Roe, a national project of the Feminist Majority, through petition signatures, fundraising and education.
“The objective, first and foremost, is to get as many signatures as possible for the Million4Roe petition,” said Monique Brewer, founder of the event. “The venue can hold 600 people; I hope we sell out and all sign. I am so committed to women’s health; I will do whatever it takes to keep that option there.”
The event ran from noon until midnight, beginning with workshops ranging from the history of abortion pill mifepristone to radical cheerleading as a new form of activism.
The cheerleaders opened the event, leading the crowd in a pro-choice cheer.
“Keep your messiah out of my vagina, rejoice for choice, rejoice for choice, get your rosaries out of my ovaries,” the cheerleaders yelled. “Keep Mr. Bush out of my bush, I get to choose if it’s win or lose. Take away my choosing and I’ll give you a bruising, keep choice and we’ll rejoice.”
The group, from Hampshire College in Amherst, normally cheers at protests but enjoyed teaching the cheers to others.
“It’s a new way of going to protests. It’s more exciting than carrying a sign,” said Nickey Robeare, the leader of the group. “It has a sense of humor about itself.”
Guest speaker Dr. Maureen Paul, an abortion provider in the Boston area, expressed similar ideas in a more conventional way. Following a video by the Million4Roe organization, Paul discussed her experience as a college student before abortion was legal and her thoughts on her work and the abortion-rights cause. She was met with respect and followed by thundering applause.
“It is a pleasure to be talking to younger people. Of all the medical procedures I do, abortion is the most important because it is about saving a woman’s life,” Paul said. “Banning abortion is an incredible act of coercion and violence against women. It is domestic terrorism.”
The facts regarding the precarious position of the Roe v. Wade issue sobered the crowd.
“The right to control our bodies is so fundamental to everything else in our lives,” she said. “When I come to events like this I actually feel tremendous hope. You guys really get it.”
Other big draws included the Sex-travaganza, a workshop devoted to safer sex toys. Jackie Mansfield-Marcoux led the discussion about the importance of cleaning sex toys, using high quality batteries and exploring sexual comfort.
“The best way to protect against infection is to use a condom on your sex toy,” Marcoux noted while waving a cucumber wrapped in a condom. “Use good batteries to increase the chances of it being a positive experience. You don’t want it to crap out on you.
“Increasing communication about sex and safety is always important,” she said. “I created this lesson plan with college kids in mind; it’s a really important thing. I love talking about sex toys. I could do it all day long.”
The workshops were not all fun and sex toys. Support groups for rape survivors and women coping with abortion met to share common experiences. The supporting choices workshop left several women crying and holding hands as women recounted stories of their own experiences, as well as those of friends, mothers and sisters.
“I worked at a clinic doing counseling. I’ve held their hands. Every one of them, I can see myself in their position,” Brewer said. “No matter what happens, you have to be there for them because it will always affect them. I wish I could be there in that room for more women.
“I would like college kids to get more involved and know more about what is going on,” she said. “A lot of kids blow it off and say it’s not my responsibility and it’s too big. That’s wrong.”
Jamie Cerretti, a senior at College of Arts and Sciences and president of the Boston University Women’s Center agreed with that concern and added that BU health services are sadly inadequate.
“I think its important to raise awareness that choice is being threatened,” she said. A lot of people think, ‘Oh, Roe v. Wade will never be overturned. The Supreme Court is in crisis.”
Performers included drag queens, Feed the Fire drag kings, Cynthia Von Buhler’s Countess With the Groove Troupe Dancers and the Princesses of Porn Dancers, singer Mary Timony, rockers The Hissyfits, humorist and singer Dred Gerestant, poet Alix Olson, lyricist Cathy Cathodic, Puppetmaster Jake, vocalist Nadine Goellner and songstress Natalia Zuckerman.
Brewer, LaVelle, and Stephanie Holiday created and ran the event. Each gave an emotional speech to the audience, explaining the importance of the support.
“I actually thought of this event. I really didn’t think this could happen,” Brewer said tearfully. “Now it is all over the country, and you people are so beautiful.”
“I want to ask for a moment of silence for all the women who have died for this cause,” Holiday said. Raising her voice, she added, “We will never go back.”
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