Reasons for Hope

Progressive, The, Feb, 2001

Someone observed to Patricia Ireland recently that the formation of the rightwing Bush Administration is about as discouraging for progressives as Ronald Reagan's ascendancy in 1980. "I said, `Oh, no!' "Ireland, head of the National Organization for Women, recalls. "We are much better positioned than we were in the Reagan era." Activists are more sophisticated, more experienced, and better organized. And there is the hope, with the partisan split in Congress, that the worst of Bush's rightwing program can be resisted. A Democratic Congress passed many of Reagan's most regressive programs. Dick Gephardt, for one, supported Reagan's early slash-and-burn budgets. But George W. Bush lacks Ronald Reagan's popular support. And progressive interest groups are making it their mission to demand that the Democrats in Congress stop caving in to his agenda. Still, it is a daunting time for people concerned about women's rights, gay rights, social justice, labor, and the environment.

The key to defending and advancing progressive interests is revving up grassroots efforts around the country. "We've got to reach folks who might be prone to let their anger turn into disillusionment and depression," says Ireland. "We have to give them a place to plug in."

Here, then, are a few "places to plug in"--where citizens can apply their energy to defend and advance the progressive cause:

* Reproductive rights: Pro-choice groups in Washington focused on the confirmation battle over John Ashcroft for Attorney General. That was only a prologue to any battle that will rage if Bush gets the opportunity to nominate justices to the Supreme Court. Another fight will be over Bush's expected efforts to reinstitute a global gag rule, barring nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. family-planning aid from discussing abortion. Some of the organizations in more than fifty affected nations use their own funds to speak out about abortion-law reform. For example, in Nepal, where hundreds of women are in jail for having abortions, the reimposition of the gag rule would mean that groups could no longer advocate the release of these political prisoners. The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy succeeded in getting Congress to lift the global gag rule in 2000, and it will be aggressively monitoring Bush's efforts to put the gag back on.

For the most part, though, battles over reproductive rights will continue to take place at the state level, where most abortion restrictions occur. Parental consent laws, waiting periods, intimidation and harassment of abortion providers, and a decline in the accessibility of abortion clinics outside large urban areas are the main problems the reproductive freedom movement confronts. Shaking off what Patricia Ireland calls the "complacency that we will always have this right" means mobilizing pro-choice citizens to fight for abortion access in their home states. Ireland doesn't see a revival of the clinic defense movement, or of the anti-abortion blockades around clinics in the 1980s and 1990s. Instead, the threats are less public--and more harrowing. In Madison, Wisconsin, landlords received ominous letters when the city's sole abortion provider was looking to rent space. The letters suggested that an increased risk of arson would make renting to an abortion clinic prohibitive. It is up to the local chapters of pro-choice groups to protect abortion providers and monitor state laws. For a list of state affiliates of the National Abortion Rights Action League, contact www.naral.org, (202) 973-3000. Or try Planned Parenthood at www.plannedparenthood.org, (202) 785-3351.

* Gay rights: Elizabeth Toledo, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), says it's time to "take off our tuxedos and put on our marching shoes." She says it made sense to compromise and work on the inside to some degree when the Clinton Administration gave gays and lesbians greater access and visibility than any previous Administration. But that strategy had its costs, too. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military, conceived as a compromise between bigotry and gay rights, was an abject failure. Toledo welcomes the return of a more aggressive, local activist approach.

"We need to take all the power that the movement amassed inside the Beltway and unleash it at the community level," she says.

That means recruiting and supporting gay and lesbian candidates for local office and blanketing the country with town hall meetings, rallies, and protests, as well as getting spokespeople into the media continuously. Because George W. Bush lost the popular vote, Toledo believes the gay and lesbian community should not adopt a defensive posture but should go on the attack. NGLTF monitors hate crime legislation, discrimination, domestic partnership and sodomy laws, anti-gay harassment, and other issues in state capitals across the country. To plug into the NGLTF activist network, check out the web site at www.ngltf.org, (202) 332-6483.