I truly thought that it wasn’t possible for this country to get much worse, but in the past month America has proven itself otherwise. In addition to the anti-trans legislation being passed across the country, the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, rolled back the EPA’s mandate to protect the environment, gutted our Miranda rights, and eviscerated the separation of church and state. Since today is the fourth of july and we are very much not free, I decided to put together a document of ways that you can fight back and make a difference. I’ll be trying to update this document as much as possible.
Abortion Rights
People deserve the rights to their own bodies, full stop. Here are some things you can do to try to make this a reality once again
Places to Donate
- I linked a general abortion fund that is run through planned parenthood that will help people to get abortions. The better thing to do is to find local abortion providers in your area (or an area affected by Dobbs) and give them money directly. It is always better to give to local organizations, but Planned Parenthood is a good backup if you are struggling to find places to donate
Get Involved
- Planned Parenthood has a list of state chapters that you can go to and find one nearest to you. Getting involved here is a good first step to building your advocacy network and starting to fight for change
Find Grassroots Organizations
- People have been mobilizing around this problem for years. Find places in your area online that will allow you to get involved. In Boston, the Boston Socialists and the Boston Liberation Center are both groups that work hard to advocate for abortion rights and many other topics. Generalized groups like these are places where you can find the right people and start building your network to truly make a difference.
Boycott
- There has been some attempt to arrange a no-spend boycott this weekend to prove the value of women’s dollars in a capitalist society. If you’re somebody who is having your right to your body taken away, or an ally of people who are, try not to spend your money on anything non-essential this weekend. Obviously boycotts do not work if there is an end date, so I do not have high hopes for this campaign, but it is still important to support where we can.
- I linked a map of protests that are happening this weekend. Protests that are planned and advertised are more of a demonstration than a protest, since they receive government permission. However, attending these can be a way to find out where other true protests are occurring, and to lend your support to people who need it. Numbers are important and your voice is important.
What Not to Do
Register for a Protest
- if there’s ever any legal ramifications of a protest, you don’t want your name to be on a list of people who attended. That is not safe.
Start your own Program
- There are people who have been organizing for years and likely already have better contacts than you do. Find these people. Get in touch with them. Then maybe take on a leadership role in these organizations, but find the right people who will ensure that support is being done in an efficient way
Post on Social Media
- Posting to show your support or sharing facts is good. Posting that you will help illegally house people who need an abortion is not. This is just another traceable way for people to find and persecute you or the person you are housing. Get involved in local organizations who will help you to help people in a safe and untraceable way.
Transgender Rights
There are hundreds of pieces of transgender legislation already this year. Transgender people deserve the right to exist just like everyone else does, and it is all of our jobs to make sure that nobody is persecuted for being who they are.
Places to Donate
- The Trevor Project is a suicide hotline dedicated to working with youth ages 13-24 who are in crisis. As the number of bills aimed at hurting trans children increase, so will the calls to this hotline.
- The TLC works hard to fight cases brought up against trans people as well as to fight for advocacy and awareness. This is a good organization to donate to that will directly do the work on the frontlines.
- When donating to the American Civil Liberties Union, you don’t really know where your money will end up. This group does important work defending people who are being discriminated against, and as a result do advocate for lots of trans people.
Get Involved
- I linked to the National Center for Transgender Equality, which has compiled a list of many of the active transgender legislation across the country right now, along with direct links to get in touch with your legislators about it. Prove to your representatives that you won’t tolerate discriminatory laws of any kind
Post on Social Media
- The trans community is featuring even more backlash than the rest of the LGBTQ+ community in part because it is not as visible. There are fewer out trans people that the majority of people come into contact with in their daily lives, so it is easier for politicians to trick you into thinking these people aren’t actually people at all. Posting in support of these communities can go a long way to making others feel safe. Be a vocal ally at every opportunity.
Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA is one of the only things preventing our world from heating up to an unbearable temperature and killing all of us in our lifetime. Unfortunately, the supreme court just gutted its jurisdiction and made it so that it won’t actually do that much to save us after all.
Donate
- The EPA itself recommends donating any food to people in need in order to reduce overall food waste. This is a simple thing that you can add into your regular schedule and help make the world better.
- I opted to link you to yet another link roundup because “climate activism” is such a broad category that I truly do not know how to include just 1-2 links that sum everything up. Donate to an area that you feel the most passionate about.
Get Involved
Vote + Support Green Candidates
- With the gutting of the EPA, that means more than ever that it will be up to individual candidates to help protect the environment. I am well aware that voting doesn’t change very much, but it is our only viable shot for large scale regulation of companies
Protest
- Although I was unable to find a link that rounds up national protests for this weekend, there have been protests happening in support of the EPA. Look one up in your area or head to DC to protest.
What Not to Do
Invest in Pollutants
- If you are investing your money, don’t invest it into companies that are making the biggest negative impact on the environment, big oil being the biggest offenders. Look into social good index funds which will weed out the worst offenders and ensure that your money isn’t passively supporting the destruction of the environment.
Other
I did not have the time to address everything that’s wrong with the US in this post, but here are links to other posts that I’ve written that have additional resources for specific communities. They’re mostly book lists, but there are activism/donation roundups at the bottom of each:
Write Through the Night 