Stars to align for Saturday's Women's March in Washington
WASHINGTON - The Women's March on Washington is turning into the weekend's star-studded event, with celebrities including Janelle Monáe, Scarlett Johansson and Ashley Judd making an appearance at the demonstration the day after inauguration. Activists Angela Davis and Michael Moore and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also will be speaking.
In the days leading up to the march, the organizers have released details about the event, giving marchers and spectators a sense of what the day will look like. The lineup of speakers and performers totals around 50.
"The speakers cut a wide swath across racial justice, reproductive rights, immigrant rights, LGBTQAI, and environmental communities, which reflects the March's inclusive platform," the organizers said in a statement.
Upward of 200,000 people are expected to attend.
It is unclear what each of the speakers will talk about, but the speeches are expected to fall under the march's rallying demand for equal rights for women after Democrat Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential candidate, was defeated in the November election.
The organizers say that the protest is not anti-President Donald Trump, but is instead intended to be a forward-looking, positive demonstration. Still, the organizers recently released a defined, progressively liberal agenda - a sharp contrast to much of what Trump has started to lay out for his presidency.
The platform calls for ending violence against women, workers' rights, reproductive rights, environmental justice, immigrant rights and more.
"We believe that Women's Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women's Rights," according to the march's Unity Principles. "We must create a society in which women - including Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian queer and trans women - are free and able to care for and nurture their families, however they are formed, in safe and healthy environments free from structural impediments."
Planned Parenthood is one of the main sponsors of the event, and the organization's president, Cecile Richards, is a scheduled speaker. The march's abortion rights stance has received backlash from antiabortion advocates. They say this excludes their voices from the march, even though they, too, want things such as equal pay and progressive child-care policies.
Linda Sarsour, one of the main organizers of the march and director of the Arab American Association of New York, said the march is for abortion rights but is inclusive to everyone.
"We don't believe a quarter-million people will see themselves in every platform," Sarsour said in an interview last week.
Although the march is not an official national event, like the inauguration ceremonies, there will be security. March organizers have secured a permit through the city and have been working with local and federal law enforcement in planning the event. They have also hired a private security firm. Attendees are permitted to bring only small bags and backpacks, and all items are subject to searches.
The rally starts at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Independence and Third streets SW. Organizers are asking people to use Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh streets SW to get to the starting point. There will be about three hours of speakers and performances, and at 1:15 p.m. the attendees will begin the march. They will march west until they reach the Ellipse, near the White House.
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