A Message from NOW President Kim Gandy

November 21, 2003

Once again we've tried to condense two weeks' worth of news, alerts, and action items in one place for our busy activists! I hope you enjoy receiving our free biweekly News & Action Summary, and hope you won't mind when we occasionally ask subscribers to shop at the NOW store or donate to our voter mobilization effort. Please pass this "newsletter" on to others who will find it useful and informative.

The last two weeks have been explosive—a 40-hour marathon filibuster of Bush nominees to the federal bench (the Democrats prevailed and, in a weird role reversal, the Republicans accused them of treating the right-wing women nominees "like dirt"), the AARP's abandonment of older women as the 35 million member trade association spends our dues money to finance an ad campaign to pass the drug manufacturers' dream of a Medicare "reform" bill, the ongoing bombing and killing in Iraq, another Bush administration give-away to corporations (this time under the guise of an energy bill), and the stunning Massachusetts' high court decision supporting same-sex marriage ... for which we can expect a backlash from conservatives and the religious right, with Rush Limbaugh and George W. Bush leading the charge.

Sometimes it's hard to make our "thankful" list when there's so much to fight against, but these are a few of the things on my list:

Thank you for your daily renewal of a commitment to equality and your work to promote the rights of girls and women, for doing the things you do—whether it's pointing out in your subtle or vocal way the injustices that exist, or bringing new feminists and social activists into our movement, or responding to our alerts, or meeting with or writing letters to your representatives in Congress and local government, or renewing your NOW dues, or donating something extra to your local NOW chapter, battered women's shelter, and all the other groups that we all belong to—or maybe all of the above.

Thank you for volunteering in soup kitchens and at rape crisis centers, for taking care of your elderly parents or welcoming your thirty-something child home during rough times, for not resting until all women—whether they look like you, share your religion or ethnicity or economic status or lifestyle or not—are assured reproductive rights, educational opportunities, retirement dignity, privacy, safety and economic worth and security.

Whew. I am thankful for all of you and for all that you do. We are not special interests; we are concerned individuals who have the peculiar notion that it is our duty to hold our leaders accountable. We're the busiest people in the country who still find time to make social change and stand up for what is right!

YOU are the backbone of the feminist movement and the heart of the National Organization for Women. Thank you.