Year in Review2017

The Maine Women’s Lobby’s round-up of the highs and

lows from this past year.

“The blacks, the NAACP (paint) all white people with one brush. To say that every white American is a racist is an insult. The NAACP should apologize to the white people, to the people from the North for fighting their battle.”

- Gov. Paul LePage clarifying his criticisms of Congressman John Lewis (January 17)

“A movement is much more than a march. A movement is that different space between our reality and our vision. Our liberation depends on all of us.” - Janet Mock at the Women’s March in DC (January 21)

“All great movements in this country and indeed around the world started with the people, were nourished by the people and succeeded because of the people.”

- Maine Sen. Shenna Bellows at the Women’s March in Augusta (January 21)

“We reject the demonization of our Muslim brothers and sisters. We demand an end to the systemic murder and incarceration of our Black brothers and sisters. We will not give up our right to safe and legal abortions. We will not ask our LGBTQ families to go backwards. We will not go from being a nation of immigrants to a nation of ignorance.”

- America Ferrera at the Women’s March in DC (January 21)

“You’re saying it’s a falsehood, and they’re giving—our press secretary, Sean Spicer, gave alternative facts to that.” - Kellyanne Conway (January 22)

“Women around the world deserve to make important personal health care decisions without politicians in Washington interfering.” - Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in response to the Trump administration’s reinstatement of the global gag rule (January 23)

“No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here.” - 1,500 Mainers at a rally in support of immigrants after Pres. Trump announced his Muslim travel ban (February 1)

“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”- Sen. Mitch McConnell speaking about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (February 8)

“Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” - Pres. Donald Trump (February 27)

“The world has changed tremendously in 230 years. The world is changing and it will continue to change. We need to have a judge who will keep their mind open.”

- Eliza Townsend speaking against Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court (March 5)

“But when you have as many bad plans as Trump (aided by his allies in Congress), it’s possible to not win every single time, yet still do a lot to undermine women and families.”

- Jillian Edmonds & Sabrina Joy Stevens, National Women’s Law Center (April 28)

“By basing future salaries on previous wages (which may have been discriminatory), employers perpetuate the earnings divide between the sexes. This practice is an albatross around women’s necks, limiting potential lifetime earnings.”

- Maine Sen. Cathy Breen writing about LD 1259, which would have helped address the pay gap, but was vetoed by Gov. LePage (May 13)

“For most people $30 is nothing. Pocket change. Coffee money. But for me, it changes my life. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true. That little extra bit of money each paycheck changes major crises into simple incidents.”

- Kathy Rondone, an Augusta senior on the impact of Maine’s new minimum wage law (May 19)

“How do you pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you are overworked, underpaid, and have no boots? You refuse to be silenced. You get active in your community, learn who your elected officials are, and create spaces for people who fight the same battles you do even if you are from different communities. You run for office at local, state, and federal levels. Lastly, you stop working in silos, move in solidarity, and keep pushing to change these policies by sharing the stories of our lives. If not for ourselves, then for our children.”

- Staci J. Lowry, a community organizer with Mothering Justice (May 25)

“From employment to housing, to education, to police violence, sexual assault, access to health care and beyond, transgender Mainers experience disparities that can scarcely be compared to the lived reality of the general population.”

- Maggie Campbell of the Health Equity Alliance speaking about a survey on the lives of Transgender Mainers (June 15)

“If we truly support survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence, we must advocate to maintain protections for their health and well-being.”

- MCEDV and MECASA writing about one of the attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (June 29)

“Shame!” - State workers chanting in the halls of the State House as government shut down due to the failure to pass a state budget (July 1)

“I’m sorry, but I’d tell you the sooner the print press goes away the better society will be.”- Gov. Paul LePage (July 6)

“Stay prepared, and keep speaking up. Don’t risk silence.”- Southern Poverty Law Center in a guide to help us all respond to everyday bigotry (August)

“… you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.” - Pres. Trump speaking about the white supremacist protest in Charlottesville (August 15)

“You can’t say you denounce white supremacists and at the same time support voter suppression, attacks on immigrants, a ban on Muslims, an increase in use of force by police, a dismantling of affirmative action, and the defunding of public education. Powering all of these and more are efforts to diminish the power and status of people of color. They’re also meant to divert the anger of whites who are struggling to get by, in a democracy that has transferred the nation’s collective wealth to the millionaires.”

- Ellen Bravo of Family Values @ Work (August 28)

“Universal earned paid sick time will improve the lives of workers, but will also improve public health, increase worker productivity and employee retention, and provide an economic safety net for working families.”

- Drew Joy speaking about the proposed paid sick time ordinance for Portland (September 4)

“We’re making people choose between the family they love and the job they need. No other nation on the planet is making these choices.”

- Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez in the new film Zero Weeks, which debuted in Maine (September 16)

Credit: Jen SorkinCredit: Jen Sorkin

“Research tells us that quality early childhood programs make a real difference for children, for our schools, and for our economy. Maine’s children are our future. Our current system isn’t working so it’s urgent that we fix it.”

- Eliza Townsend at the release of the MWPC report, Investing In Our Future (September 21)

“I think it was great at the time when families were united—even though we had slavery—they cared for one another...Our families were strong, our country had a direction.” - Roy Moore, candidate for US Senate from Alabama, in response to a question of when America was great (September 21)

“It’s imperative that we forge a future where no woman is left behind, where we address the systemic injustices that make it impossible for everyone to live their lives with safety, with the ability to be their true selves, and where they can thrive.”

- MWL/MWPC Board Chair Gillian Schair at the Maine Women’s Summit on Economic Security (October 11)

“How do we build a world where many

worlds fit?”- Alicia Garza at the Maine Women’s Summit on Economic Security (October 11)

“Activism is deep service work.” - Loretta Ross at the Maine Women’s Summit on Economic Security (October 11)

“#MeToo”- millions of women on social media shared their stories of harassment and assault using a phrase originally begun by Tarana Burke (October)

“We’ve won at the ballot box, we’ve won at the legislature, and we will make sure this law stands.”

- Robyn Merrill of Maine Equal Justice Partners in response to passing MaineCare expansion at the ballot box (November 7)

“Vulnerable, Transgender, Diversity, Science-based, Evidence-based, Fetus, Entitlement.”

- Words the US Centers for Disease Control are no longer using in certain documents (December 16)