For University of Pittsburgh graduate student Sonya Znati, Inauguration Day is perilous. Ms. Znati, 24, of Highland Park, is the child of a Muslim immigrant who wonders whether the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case will see its 44th birthday.
“Planned Parenthood was the first place I went to get birth control, and I have personally had two abortions,” Ms. Znati said, fearful that the organization will lose federal funding. “It’s always been there for me. I can’t imagine them not being around.”
Ms. Znati is one of at least 12,000 Pennsylvanians expected to attend the Women’s March on Washington this Saturday, which is shaping up to be the largest demonstration connected to Friday’s inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Upward of 200,000 women and men plan to mobilize from across all 50 states to join the march in support of women’s rights and equality, slated for a 10 a.m. start near the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
From Allegheny County, 21 coach buses are scheduled to depart for Washington early Saturday morning for the 4½-hour journey, according to Alexandra Hackett Ferber, one of the state’s co-organizers. Of these, 15 buses will leave from Pittsburgh.
“There are so many reasons that so many people are going to D.C. for the 21st and they’re very personal reasons to each of us,” Ms. Hackett Ferber said. “That’s why we’re going to be there on the 21st to say we’re here, we have a voice, this is your first day, we’re not going away ... we will be fighting for our rights for the next four years.”
The day after the election, Cheryl Walter, a retired high school choir director who owns a travel company, remembers reading a book on her porch when her husband asked her to draft bus plans.
It began with just two buses that Friday. By Monday it was up to four. Now, Ms. Walter’s Norwin Express Tours is responsible for 10 of the buses leaving Pittsburgh. That equates to 560 protesters, with 30 to 40 still on waiting lists.
iCandy Pittsburgh, an organization created for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, also has organized a bus.
In response to the new Republican-led administration, partners Eileen Dever and Sandy Macejka began organizing transportation to the capital after realizing others had been experiencing similar outrage to their own.
“We look forward to Trump and his administration seeing a million women and their allies staring them in the face on their first day on the job,” Ms. Dever said. “It is critically important that women speak out after the way Donald Trump has repeatedly insulted, demeaned and diminished women.”
Planned Parenthood also has connected supporters with a bus company to attend the Women’s March.
“In the state, we have over 90,000 patients who rely on Planned Parenthood, so this is very real for us,” said Jessica Semler, public affairs director for Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania. “We have a lot to fight for and we’re going to show up.”
Debolt Unlimited Travel, the oldest family operated transportation company in the country, also will bring two buses to Washington. George DeBolt, president, noted that most of his customers acknowledged they hadn’t been particularly active in the past. “For that reason, I think it’s really important that we get down there,” he said.
Many demonstrators will be wearing pink hats as a show of solidarity. Kitty Spangler, a 61-year-old artist from Lawrenceville, is among scores of women locally who are crocheting or knitting these rose-colored “pussy hats” for themselves as well as friends attending the march. Ms. Spangler’s crocheted hats are comprised of hot pink or baby pink synthetic yarn, forming cat ears at the top of the head.
They’re part of the nationwide Pussy Hat Project, which seeks to reclaim the terminology Mr. Trump used in a video released last fall, in which he made lewd comments about women and saying he grabbed some in the crotch.
“I haven’t been particularly politically active throughout my life, but I thought it was time to get on the bandwagon and be a part of the crowd,” Ms. Spangler said. “I hope Mr. Trump notices all these people because it’s one thing to see 200,000 people on the Mall, but another to see 200,000 people in pink pussy hats.”
The Pittsburgh Sister March, intended for activists who can’t make it to Washington, begins this Saturday at 11 a.m. Attendees will assemble at the City-County Building, Downtown, at 414 Grant St.
“This is not a quick fix to women’s rights, but then, there has never been a quick fix for women’s rights,” Ms. Dever reiterated. “The only way to make sure we don’t lose more ground is by showing up and making sure our voices are heard in the greatest numbers possible.”
Courtney Linder: clinder@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1707. Twitter: @LinderPG.
First Published: January 15, 2017, 5:00 a.m.