Blog for Choice 2010: Trust Women
Happy anniversary, Roe v. Wade! On this day 37 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that it was about time to let women make their own decisions about their health and what does or does not happen with and within their own bodies. The anniversary of Roe v. Wade is a day to be celebrared. Women having the right to think for themselves and to make their own informed, logical, emotional and difficult decisions is something to be celebrated.
Today is also the fifth annual Blog for Choice Day, a day in which pro-choice bloggers dedicate a post to answering a question presented by NARAL Pro-Choice America about some facet of their activism, of their passion for keeping abortion accessible, safe, legal and rare.
This year, we continue to mourn the tragic, untimely and unnecessary death of Dr. George Tiller who was murdered in the foyer of his church on May 31, 2009 by an anti-choice extremist in an act that can only be described as domestic terrorism. Dr. Tiller often wore a button that simply read, “Trust Women;” two words that have had a tremendous impact on the people he dedicated 33 years of his life to. Dr. Tiller knew very well the dangers of his profession and became one of the most well-known abortion providers and subsequently, a target of anti-choice extremists. Before he was murdered, a bomb had been placed and exploded on the roof of his Women’s Health Care Services clinic. Outside of his clinic during summer-long protests, approximately 2,000 protesters were arrested outside of the same place women were going to for help. He was shot in both arms by an anti-choice activist while driving away from the clinic and after a six year investigation of his practice, he was acquitted of charges that claimed he had performed 19 illegal late-term abortions. After he was acquitted, several members of anti-choice groups across the country declared that they were dedicated to getting him put in prison and that they would drudge up more false claims in order to do so. Dr. Tiller trusted women and ultimately had his life stolen from him and from his family, friends, colleagues, patients, future patients and the entire pro-choice population for being dedicated to trusting women and to providing a safe and legal procedure.
Dr. LeRoy Carhart, a friend and colleague of Dr. Tiller's and an image in memory of the late abortion provider.
So on this 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, NARAL Pro-Choice America is honoring Dr. George Tiller and his 33 year career and commitment to women and asking, What does “Trust Women” mean to you?
When laws go into effect that require abortion providers to extensively counsel women in person, instead of over the phone (and it is clearly stated that it must take place in person,) force them to see the ultrasounds of their unwanted fetuses or to have these ultrasounds explained to them and then that woman is forced to wait 24 to 48 hours after being counseled to go home and mull it over before she is permitted to actually have the abortion performed, I am offended. I am offended that laws like these exist to treat women like children who can’t make up their minds or who don’t know the severity of their own situation. It is extremely condescending to put in place multiple hurdles in order to obtain a safe and legal abortion due to the fact that the people who authored these laws and the lawmakers who voted for them think women are incapable of making an informed and logical decision for themselves that they believe is right. Laws such as these shame women and bring us right back to childhood when we’ve done something wrong and were sent to our rooms to think about what we’ve done. I probably should not give these lawmakers any more ideas, but I unfortunately would not surprised if in order to obtain an abortion, women would be required to write a 500-word essay on what they learned through making and going through the most difficult decision they will probably ever make in their lives.
It is a cliche feminist slogan of sorts, but there is that saying that is printed on endless t-shirts, buttons, stickers, hoodies, you name it, that says, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people,” and in regard to what it means to truly trust women, it is completely correct. Women are people. Women, like men, are adults and, like men, are capable. We are capable of educating ourselves or seeking the information we wish to know more about and we are capable of making logical decisions that will affect our lives and our bodies. Pregnant women are often viewed as less rational as women who are not pregnant; as hormonal and who don’t really have any idea about what they are doing or the “consequences of their actions,” which brings woman shaming down to a whole new, disgusting level. I trust all women because I know that we are strong, amazing, miraculous, kick ass beings who deserve to be taken seriously and who refuse to be seen as, talked to or treated as less-than.
If you are also participating in Blog for Choice 2010, link your post here.
Blog for Choice 2010 Open Thread
Today marks the 37th anniversary for the landmark decision that gave women the right to have access to safe and legal abortion, Roe v. Wade. Today is also the fifth annual Blog for Choice Day from NARAL Pro-Choice America.
If you’re not familiar with Blog for Choice Day, it is when each year, NARAL Pro-Choice America asks a question directed to pro-choice bloggers before the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and on January 22nd, bloggers let their voices be heard by answering that question. From the official site:
“Blog for Choice Day provides us with an opportunity to raise the profile of reproductive rights in the blogosphere, all the while celebrating Roe’s 37th anniversary. Plus, it’s a great way to let your readers and the mainstream media know that a woman’s right to choose is a core progressive value that must be protected and advanced.
This year’s topic is What does “Trust Women” mean to you? in honor and in remembrance of Dr. George Tiller. Dr Tiller was an abortion provider who often wore a button that simply read “Trust Women.” He was murdered on May 31, 2009, in the foyer of his church by an anti-choice extremist.
I am still working on my Blog for Choice Day post, but in the meantime, if you have yours up please link it in the comments.
If you would like to participate in Blog for Choice Day, sign up here and don’t forget to come back and link your post!
Judy Blume Plus Planned Parenthood = Widespread Anti-Choice Hysteria
Judy Blume wrote a Mother’s Day letter for Planned Parenthood soliciting donations for the organization. For Judy Blume and Planned Parenthood to team up seems only natural to me, with Judy Blume being a household name for girls and women spanning several decades and in some cases, was the only introduction to puberty for girls around the world. As a true mentor for young girls, Judy Blume has made the excellent decision to share her thoughts about Mother’s Day and the importance of mothers through an organization that truly cares about the well being, the health, and the happiness of every person who seeks their unrelenting support and guidance without any sort of judgment.
But anti-choicers were not only outraged about Judy Blume’s decision to write this letter soliciting donations for Planned Parenthood, they decided to skew the entire situation to best fit their agenda. Really, are you surprised?
Life News distorted the facts of what Blume wrote, which Jezebel points out. Life News reported:
Blume notes how more woman are seeking abortions form Planned Parenthood because of the difficult economy and she urges readers of the email to use that as a reason to support the abortion business.
The accurate wordage from Blume herself goes a little something like this:
If you know a mother who is struggling to raise strong, independent, and confident children in the face of unbelievable odds… Say thanks. Say thanks this Mother’s Day with a gift that honors her courage by making a donation to Planned Parenthood in her name. I guarantee you that she’ll be pleased. I know I would be.
It’s not easy to be a mother these days. And right now – with more and more women seeking care from Planned Parenthood health centers – we need to do all we can to support them. By honoring a mother in your life, you’ll be making a gift to millions of mothers and families who seek care from Planned Parenthood. That’s a gift any mother will appreciate.
Other anti-choice blogs are mimicking the same falsities and also adding that Blume is a “controversial” children’s author (controversial? Because puberty and learning to grow into your maturing body as you morph from child to tween to teen is a bad thing and something we should shield the kids from?) who supports what they are calling the United States’ largest abortion provider.
Obviously, (and as per usual) these anti-choice “advocates” need some clarification. Planned Parenthood is not an abortion provider, they are a reproductive health clinic. In fact, a great deal of Planned Parenthood locations do not even perform abortions; I should know, I live in one of those locations. In fact, where I live, if you want a safe and legal abortion, you have to drive up to 3 hours away to a town not so pressured by anti-choice smears and bullying. The services provided at a Planned Parenthood reproductive health clinic include screenings for breast, cervical, and testicular cancers, birth control services, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, pregnancy counseling where options are discussed which include carrying the fetus to full term and giving birth and adoption (Imagine that! Options!), testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infections, comprehensive sex education, menopause treatments, vasectomies, and tubal ligation.
Because of the anti-choice hysteria that ensued as soon as they saw Judy Blume’s face sitting on an email from Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood has issued a call to action to support and stand up for Judy Blume. No one should face the email harassment that Blume has since this email hit inboxes by the anti-choice brigade, so show your support for Judy Blume and her decision to support Planned Parenthood.
I’m also willing to bet that Judy Blume does not necessarily need the book sales she may lose from anti-choicers now, but for good measure, I’m sure every free-thinking feminist out there will be buying Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret for their children, friends, themselves, whichever.
100 Days of Pro-Woman Progress
Today marks President Obama’s 100th day in office. While there is certainly an astronomical amount of negative chatter coming from the right about Obama, including calling him an “Ritalin case” who is too busy with frivolous parties and events to get anything done for the country, I thought that Obama’s 100th day as the President of the United States would be the perfect time just to outline what Obama has done for this country’s women and families.
Barack Obama’s presidency is the perfect example of how electing leaders who support and value women makes a truly remarkable difference in the lives of women and of their families. After eight long years of unrelenting attacks on women’s freedom and privacy from an anti-choice administration, it is amazing to see an administration who supports the rights and freedoms of women. So when a deluded, foggy-headed member of the right has the audacity to tell you that Obama has done nothing for this country thus far in his presidency based on nothing but the delusion that the economic crisis is still affecting American families, you can correct them and tell them that why yes, he has accomplished a great deal for this country and unlike the last administration, he has signed in laws and regulations to protect and stand up for human rights.
- On January 23, just three days after his inauguration, Obama reversed the Global Gag Rule, a policy that has been reinstated by the Bush administration their first day in office that canceled US family planning funds to many overseas health centers and denied the world’s poorest women access to birth control.
- Also on January 23, Obama re-funded the UN family planning program, UNFPA, which the Bush administration had de-funded for seven years straight and on March 11 Obama signed legislation into law boosting UNFPA funding to a record $50 million.
- On January 29, Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 into law that restored women’s ability to sue the companies they work for for pay discrimination.
- On January 31, the Senate approved a bill to expand and reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in a 66 to 32 vote. On February 4 Obama expanded government health insurance to cover 11 million children. SCHIP provides health insurance to children from low income families who cannot afford private health care but do not qualify for federal Medicaid.
- On February 26, Obama signaled his commitment to medically accurate sex education by including it in his first budget outline.
- On February 27, Obama announced his intention to repeal the controversial, last minute Bush policy, the Federal Refusal Rule, or what some anti-choice groups claim is a “conscience clause.” The Refusal Rule could have allowed entire health care corporations to refuse to provide medical services, including abortion and birth control to patients.
- On March 6, Obama instituted a new ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues.
- On March 9, Obama lifted restrictions on stem cell research.
- On March 11, Obama signed legislation into law fixing the birth control price crisis at college health centers and safety net provider clinics across the country. In 2005, the birth control pricing crisis began when Congress amended federal law through the Deficit Reduction Act and eliminated incentives for pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide discounts on prescription birth control to college campuses and local health centers. Because the price for birth control skyrocketed, patients, including low income women and families who would be unable to pay the normal price for birth control, we unable to obtain birth control. (As a senator, Obama authored this legislation.)
- Also on March 11, Obama signed legislation increasing family planning funding for American women by $7 million and cutting the failed abstinence-only programs by $14 million.
- Also on March 11, Obama signed legislation increasing international family planning funding at the USAID by more than $30 million.
- On March 19, Obama pledged to sign UN declaration to decriminalize homosexuality. A declaration that Bush refused to sign.
- On March 20, Obama appointee Elena Kagan was confirmed as the first woman Solicitor General
- On April 23, Obama’s appointments to posts needing Senate confirmation were 32% women with a substantial portion of them being women of color.
Hillary Clinton Explains Why Family Planning & Reproductive Rights are Important & Needed
Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey is very concerned about the future of pro-life laws and policies in African and Latin-American countries that the the prior, eight-year-long administration circus had definitely worked its ass off on instating. So concerned, in fact, that he brought the question up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who not only spoke for herself, but for every woman who believes that women everywhere are entitled to access to safe and legal reproductive health services. Yes, that includes abortion.
Is the Obama administration seeking, in any way, to weaken or overturn pro-life laws and policies in African and Latin-American countries, either directly or through multi-lateral organizations, including and especially the United Nations, African Union, or the OAS, or by way of funding NGOs like Planned Parenthood; and, secondly, and so we can have total transparency—you know, you know, as a former lawmaker, we always have definition pages when we write legislation; definitions do matter—does the United States’ definition of the term “reproductive health,” or “reproductive services,” or “reproductive rights,” include abortion? I yield to the distinguished gentleman.
And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s response:
Congressman, I deeply respect your passionate concern and views, which you have championed and advocated for over the course of your public career. We obviously have a profound disagreement.
When I think about the suffering that I have seen of women around the world—I’ve been in hospitals in Brazil where half the women were enthusiastically and joyfully greeting new babies and the other half were fighting for their lives against botched abortions. I’ve been in African countries where 12- and 13-year-old girls are bearing children. I have been in Asian countries where the denial of family planning consigns women to lives of oppression and hardship. So we have a very fundamental disagreement.
And it is my strongly held view that you are entitled to advocate, and everyone who agrees with you should be free to do so anywhere in the world, and so are we.
We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women’s health—and reproductive health includes access to abortion, that I believe should be safe, legal, and rare. I spent a lot of my time trying to bring down the rate of abortions, and it has been my experience that good family planning and good medical care brings down the rate of abortion. Keeping women and men in ignorance and denied the access to services actually increases the rate of abortion.
During my time as First Lady, I helped to create the Campaign Against Teenage Pregnancy, and while we were working to provide good information, access to contraception, and decision-making that would enable young women to protect themselves and say no, the rate of teen pregnancy went down. I’m sad to report that, after an administration of 8 years that undid so much of the good work, the rate of teenage pregnancy is going up.
So, we disagree. And we are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including their rights to reproductive healthcare.
h/t Shakesville
Plan B Now Available to 17 Year Olds
Plan B, the so-called ‘morning after pill’ is now available to people as young as 17 years old without a doctor’s prescription.
The decision to lower the legal age to buy Plan B over the counter came from a decision made by Judge Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court in New York. He stated that the decision to limit easy access to Plan B to those 18 and older in November 2006 was driven by politics, not by science and gave the agency 30 days to lower the age limit to 17.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights said that they are pleased that the FDA is taking the necessary steps to comply with the court’s order and that it is time for the FDA to restore confidence in its ability to safeguard the public health and put medical science first.
And as per usual, where there is good news for reproductive and women’s health, there are people and organizations fighting to take us 5 steps backward.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, a conservative advocacy organization, said the agency’s decision was driven by politics and a mistaken judicial decision. She added that parents should be furious at the FDA’s complete disregard for parental rights and the safety of minors. Anti-choice advocates have vocally predicted that easier access to Plan B will lead women to have more unprotected sex and thus, more abortions, while there is no evidence that either has happened or will happen.
Anti-choice advocates are always painting women to be completely clueless and careless human beings and while a lot of anti-choice advocates are women themselves, this paints a beautiful picture of privilege and women’s love of woman shaming. Yes, I said it… Women are also guilty of woman shaming, most often when they are accusing other women of being unable to form an educated decision over their own reproductive freedoms.
Plan B being available to people 17 years old and older is a great victory for reproductive rights. We have seen time and time again that abstinence-only education does not work and we must give people, of all ages, the necessary and comprehensive education they need about sex and contraception in order to effectively protect themselves and their partners. To do any less is cheating our youth out of the education they deserve.
An Example of Why it is So Important to Thank an Abortion Provider
While March 10 is National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers, it is very easy for us to forget why it is so important to thank the people who make the right to exercise our reproductive rights possible.
In late March in Wichita, Kansas, a six year investigation of late-term abortion provider George Tiller came to an end. According to Kansas law, late-term abortions are only permitted when two independent doctors agree that a woman would be irreparably harmed by giving birth. Prosecutors in the Tiller case were pushing the story that Tiller had an improper financial relationship with doctor Kristin Neuhaus, who was second opinion in 19 separate abortion cases.
Dr. Tiller’s clinic is one of just three clinics in the United States that perform late-term abortions, so it is no surprise why Dr. Tiller is such a controversial abortion provider. By simply doing his job as well as making it possible for a woman to have a late-term abortion, he has had despicable things done to his clinic as well as to him by radical anti-choicers.
In 1986, a bomb exploded on the roof of Dr. Tiller’s clinic, Women’s Health Care Services. In 1991, approximately 2,000 protesters were arrested outside during summer-long protests. In 2003, Dr. Tiller was shot in both arms by an anti-choice activist whole driving away from the clinic. To this day, protests continue outside of Dr. Tiller’s clinic almost daily. These occurrences are shocking, despicable, and something no person should have to go through in order to simply do their job and make a legal service available to women. This is not only a full-blown war against Dr. Tiller or against abortion, this is a war against women. Women undoubtedly have the ability to make an educated, informed decision of their own to seek a service that is fully legal and within their reproductive rights to seek. Because a group of people do not agree with the service being performed, does not give them permission to bomb his clinic, shoot him, or protest outside of his clinic most likely scaring away women who are already scared enough and really do not need someone shoving their moral convictions down their throats. When it comes to a woman’s right to do what she feels is best for herself, no one should stand in the way of her decision or question the decision she has already thought long and hard about. No woman goes into an abortion clinic with a smile on her face.
Luckily, after a six year investigation and four days of testimony, jurors took all of 45 minutes to acquit the doctor of charges that he performed 19 illegal late-term abortions in 2003. If convicted, Dr. Tiller could have spent up to one year in jail and would have had to pay a $2,500 fine on each of the 19 counts.
However, the fight for women’s rights is not over, and as we have seen time and time again, it will most likely continue until anti-choice forces can come to accept that fact that people who have a uterus also have a brain and are very capable of using that brain to make their own decisions. This trial is not the end of Dr. Tiller’s legal problems. The state Board of Healing Arts is investigating a complaint that is very similar to the accusations already made against the doctor during this trial.
Blogging IS Activism
Debra Dickerson recently published a reply on Mother Jones to a New York Times article on the future of abortion providers, saying:
Today’s feminists need to blog less and work more. If women want reproductive choice to remain more than rhetoric, they’d better stop assuming these clinics will be there when they need them.
I agree with the fact that women should stop assuming that abortion clinics will be there when they need them, which is why I encourage pro-choice people to speak out on behalf of reproductive rights and how important it is for every woman, everywhere, to have the right to choose. And one of the most influential ways to reach a great amount of people now is to start a blog or incorporate feminism and reproductive rights into your existing blog.
I am often asked what I am doing for feminism and what I tell them is that I blog. I share my feminist ideals on my blog and encourage educated and informed conversations on a wide range of topics that matter to me, to humans, and to my feminist activism. Many people don’t think that blogging is enough, but if you read the bulk of feminist, womanist, and humanist blogs out there, most of the topics that are brought up for discussion come directly from living life and being a humanist out in the big, sometimes cruel, always controversial world. We see the injustices in our society around every corner we walk. We experience sexism and misogyny nearly every time we go to a bar or club. We are confronted by men as well as other women for our basic viewpoints and our refusal to back down and stay silent. Just by blogging, we are informing the people who read our blogs, who identify with our principles, and we are also faced with younger generations finding our blogs, being educated about feminism and perhaps identifying as feminists who would otherwise perhaps not know what feminism is and what it is to be a feminist without our openness and passion to share our thoughts and views on a public platform. And hell, maybe one of those people who read what we have to say will go to medical school and become an abortion provider. Perhaps they will even blog about their experiences.
Dickerson also posted:
But you young chicks maybe need to go the Northern Exposure route, sending folks to med school in exchange for a few years running an abortion clinic. That feminist fire in the belly? I gotta say: Pole-dancing, walking around half-naked, posting drunk photos on Facebook, and blogging about your sex lives ain’t exactly what we previous generations thought feminism was.
Yes, “young chicks.” The feminist fire in our bellies encompasses many feminist principles. We care about reproductive rights, we care about birth control, emergency contraception, and we care about comprehensive sex education in every school in the country and around the world so abortion services are not so widely needed. We care about equality. We raise awareness about where we are not treated equal and who we are not being treated equally by. We raise awareness about gender, gender identity and expression, race, privilege, and we raise awareness about when we are being blamed by so-called previous generations of feminists for not doing enough.
Dickerson somehow got some warped perceptions of feminism; feminists today are allowed to speak openly about sex and sexuality and give other women the permission to identify with their sexuality because it is still seen as taboo for a woman to be open about her sexuality and that is the result of woman shaming; the same woman shaming that Dickerson herself is displaying and condoning.
Feminists do not blame other generations and call them slackers. We do not tell them that they aren’t doing enough when every day, we are raising awareness and working towards an ideal, woman and human-friendly world.
Dickerson asks us, today’s feminists, what we are doing for the struggle. Head on over to Mother Jones and clue her in.
Thank an Abortion Provider Today!
March 10th is National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. This is such an important day to recognize and to celebrate the completely selfless people who make a woman’s right to choose possible. Without abortion providers, we would be a country without the right or ability to choose.
While having a pro-choice president is certainly a triumph for women in this country, we not only continue to deal with anti-choice people, organizations, and groups, we are also seeing a dramatic increase in state-wide abortion bans.
It is imperative to stand up for a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion and the need for free-thinking, pro-women people to continue to fight to keep abortion legal; for the safety of every single woman who will seek abortion services. And the person who makes that abortion possible is the person willing to perform the procedure.
Support abortion providers and the courageous work they do. If you’re looking for a good blog read by abortion providers, check out abortion clinic days. You can also show your support for abortion providers by making a donation to the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP), an all-volunteer group which helps low-income girls and women around the country pay for abortion care.
WRRAP raises money for low income women of all ages, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds who are unable to pay for either emergency contraception or a safe and legal abortion. Our services are provided free of charge to clinics all over this nation. All clinics are State-of-the-Art and most are members of the National Abortion Federation (NAF) or the National Coalition of Abortion Providers (NCAP). Both organizations have high standards for affiliation. The money is never asked to be repaid, nor do we judge the woman or her situation… We just help her.
The Roman Catholic Church Voices Disapproval of Abortion, Says Nothing About the Rape of a 9 Year Old Girl
An estimated one million illegal abortions occur in Brazil each year. However, very few women have ever been imprisoned for seeking an abortion.
Brazil has nestled itself into a disgusting and unfortunate (for the lives of millions of women living in Brazil) state of tolerance when it comes to illegal abortion practices and in April of 2008, officials in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul emerged from their cocoon of tolerance and arrested the head of a two decade-old family planning clinic and seizing the medical records of nearly 10,000 women; their crime was providing abortion care. Not only did these officials lack to respect a need for the care this family planning clinic provided, they also invaded the privacy of their nation’s women without a care in the world.
Not only is Brazil a woman-hating nation, they are a young girl-hating nation as well.
Brazil’s latest attack on not only their people, but one young, nine year old girl in particular, is appalling and downright sick.
A 9 year old girl was raped by her stepfather and if that wasn’t horrific and traumatic for that young girl alone, she was also pregnant with twins.
Not only is abortion illegal in Brazil, but Brazil is also dominantly Roman Catholic–*cue the super creepy music*
If you know anything about the Roman Catholics, you know that with any problem, any issue, any frame of mind, question, answer, and etcetra, they are right and you are wrong. Not only that, but they also believe that with their faith comes the “god-given” right to be as outspoken as possible due to the fact that “god” is on their side (and no one else’s.) The pretty much constant degrading tone of Roman Catholicism and its followers has come to be expected, at least by “people like me,” anyway.
It does not necessarily come out of left field when the Roman Catholic Church publicly objects to reproductive freedom, women’s health, and science in general, but for Brazil’s Roman Catholic Church to publicly state that this 80 pound, 9 year old child should have carried twin babies to term and had a Cesarean section and backed up that statement with “It’s the law of God: Do not kill,” is disgusting.
It is in no way acceptable for the Roman Catholic Church to feel as if they have a right to voice any opinion about the abortion of a young child.
The real subject that we should be discussing, instead of the archaic mindset of a lapsed, counter-productive, greedy group of women/victim-shaming bigots is the fact that a comment about the rapist is nowhere to be found. It’s certainly fine to blindly speak out about your disapproval of an abortion had by a 9 year old girl but nothing about disapproving of a man who raped a child.
Get Social
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Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
