The Women's Rally on the Denton Square took place on January 21, 2017 in Denton, Texas, one day after Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. There were Women's Rallies hosted across the country including in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Austin. Internationally, rallies were also held in Mexico City, Paris, Berlin, London, Prague, and Sydney. Various causes were attached to the march, largely billed as a demonstration in support of women's rights and civil rights, but for many had clear political undertones connected to the inauguration.
The original Facebook event was created by Teresa Shook of Hawaii on November 9th, 2016, in response to the election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency. Teresa Shook invited friends to march on Washington in protest, followed quickly by similar Facebook pages created by Evvie Harmon, Fontaine Pearson, Bob Bland, Breanne Butler, and many others. Brit-Agnes Svaeri, Marissa McTasney, Karen Olsen, Kerry Haggerty, and Rebecca Turnbow also organized rallies internationally. Organizers called the rallies, "a stand on social justice and human rights issues ranging from race, ethnicity, gender, religion, immigration, and healthcare."
Hosted by A United Denton, the Denton Women's Rally convened at noon on January 21, 2017, circled the courthouse, and affirmed a collective commitment to promoting hope, love, peace, human rights, and justice. The Official Statement of the organizers of the Women's March on Washington read, "In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. The Women's March on Washington will send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women's rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us."
Author: Catherine Keenan