More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Ms. editors and contributors are going to be on the ground at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Monday, Aug. 19, through Thursday, Aug. 22—listening in on key speeches, and reporting on the policies and politicians that matter to feminists this election year.
If you’re in Chicago, we’d like to invite you to join us! We’ll be featured at several events throughout the DNC.
President Joe Biden’s decision to not seek a second term—and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him—gives Democrats the opportunity to elevate an eager and consistent messenger on abortion rights heading into the first presidential election since the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Harris had already become the administration’s leading voice on the importance of abortion rights, one of the Democratic Party’s top issues, at the federal and state level. She has spent the last year using rallies and interviews to make a clear-eyed case to voters on how a second Donald Trump presidency and Republican majorities in Congress could restrict abortion access.
In 1972, Roe v. Wade was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, Title IX was signed into law, and for the first time, a gay woman stepped up to the mic at a national political convention and announced: “I am a woman and a lesbian.” Madeline Davis’ words to the Democratic National Convention marked a milestone for gay rights.
“I knew there were gay people out there at four o’clock in the morning, sitting in front of their television sets, waiting to see one of their own people stand up,” Davis later said about her historic speech.
Speakers—including Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Ady Barkan, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton—addressed the public through a virtual Democratic National Convention. Speeches included pleas to vote, praises for youth involvement, recognition of empathy and calls to keep fighting.
On Tuesday, a powerhouse lineup—including feminist leaders like Dolores Huerta, Eleanor Smeal and Gloria Steinem—will convene (albeit, virtually) to discuss what it will take to push the Equal Rights Amendment over the finish line and finally enshrine equality into the Constitution.