PORT TOWNSEND — Women in Port Townsend have organized a march to mirror those in Seattle and Washington, D.C., on the day after the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the United States’ 45th president.
The march, organized by Emelia De Souza, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday and take a short route around Port Townsend.
“It’s meant to be a place for women to be in solidarity,” said De Souza, secretary of the Human Rights Alliance North Sound.
“It’s to show that women stand together.”
The march will start at 817 Water St. and proceed down Water Street to the Port Townsend Plaza.
Marchers will then head back up Water Street, down Taylor Street and gather at the Haller Fountain.
De Souza said people are encouraged to dress up and bring signs but emphasized that the march should be positive.
“Port Townsend is leading the [North Olympic] Peninsula on equality,” De Souza said. “This is so Port Townsend can wave its flag and be a beacon on the Peninsula.”
De Souza said the city of Port Townsend and Jefferson Healthcare hospital have both been ranked highly on equality indexes.
However, De Souza said all that didn’t make her feel safe after the election.
“When the election finally hit me, probably a few days after the actual results, I realized I have a target on my back,” De Souza said.
“I’m a person of color, a wounded veteran, a transgender woman of color. I know we need to have our human rights.”
While Port Townsend is rallying, four busloads of men and women — not counting carpools — will leave Jefferson County for the Seattle Womxns March on the same day, according to Debbi Steele, founder of the Fund for Women and Girls of Jefferson County, who is among the organizers of the trip to Seattle.
The Seattle Womxns March also will start at 10 a.m., but the over-3-mile march will take quite a bit longer than the smaller march in Port Townsend.
“Womxns” is spelled that way to promote the inclusion of all women regardless of color, faith, sexual orientation or gender identity and all feminist people, including men and boys, according to organizers.
The buses to Seattle are scheduled to leave from the Haines Place Park-and-Ride in Port Townsend at 7 a.m. Saturday.
“We have 193 people on the buses,” which are filled now, “and several carpools,” Steele said.
“I think there are a total of 250 of us going.”
The buses are from Port Angeles. Steele said nine people from Sequim are among those who will ride in the buses to Judkins Park, 2150 S. Norman St. in Seattle.
Sign-ups for a carpool will be taken from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave.
Also Monday at the fellowship hall, people can make signs for marches, Steele said.
The Seattle and Port Townsend marches are smaller versions of a march planned in Washington, D.C., on the same date.
At least 35 people from Jefferson County are heading to the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington, Steele said.
The Women’s March on Washington is meant to unite women and show support for the protection of the civil rights of women, different faiths, people of color and the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community, according to its website.
More than 200,000 people are expected to march in D.C., and, according to The Seattle Times, 30,000 people are expected in Seattle.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
