Pardon my political hangover, but I was up until 3am getting schooled on the political process by a bunch of women.
A bunch of mother fucking women. In Texas.
In case you missed it, Democratic Senator Wendy Davis took to the floor to launch a 13 hour filibuster to block on SB5, which is a bill that would have made abortion laws so restrictive, almost all of the clinics in Texas would have to close their doors. For 13 hours, Davis had to talk continuously about the bill, even reading messages and stories sent in from constituents. Davis was not allowed to lean at anytime, or stop and take a break to eat or go to the bathroom. Her goal was to run out the clock to 12am, the mandatory time in which the Senate could no longer vote. Davis’ filibuster was cut short with two hours to go, but it didn’t end. Instead, Senators took to the floor to support Davis, speak out against the forced end to her filibuster, and to further run down the clock. At about 10 minutes to midnight, it seemed like the vote was going to be forced, and that’s when the people took over. For 10 minutes, the people in the capitol building screamed, chanted and cheered, filibustering the bill themselves, in front of over 180,000 people who watched it live on the internet. Most of us cried.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and offer my thoughts on abortion, I’ve done that before, and I want you to know you are very welcome to your own thoughts on the subject.
But, I do want to talk about last night.
Last night, people were reminded that we are active players in our political process. In the words of the women who stood strong in the capitol, Whose house is this? Our house. Because it is. It is our house. What happens in those buildings is our business, and it’s our right to have a say in it.
Last night, a lot of people saw a direct connection between the people they vote for and the legislation that’s made. That the people we elect and pay actual dollars to are accountable to us, before anyone else. Us. It seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes it takes physically seeing it to realize that this matters. How you vote, if you vote… it has a very direct effect on your life. It can be a scary and life altering realization.
Last night, we learned the difference between germane and Jermaine. Apparently only one of those is a Jackson.
Last night, I watched thousands of women directly change the course of history through their actions.
Last night, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said “an unruly mob using Occupy Wall Street tactics” had derailed legislation that was designed to protect women and babies,” and Senator Bill Zedler (R) tweeted that “We had terrorist in the Texas State Senate opposing SB 5.” And then I laughed. This wasn’t unruly mobs or terrorist actions, it was people finally being involved in the political process. They must have just gotten used to us not doing that.
Last night, in the Texas Senate, people were inspired to change the way our country is run. Well, at least that’s what I’m hoping.
I don’t care what side of the line you do it…. stand the hell up.
Saw your tweets during the day (your last night? Time zones are weird)
I know that in your line of work it can be risky to publicly discuss politics (LOL at the fact that abortion even falls under “politics”).
Thank you for doing it anyway.
THANK YOU for letting me… seriously. Thank you.
Everything about this. Love love love. Because exactly! I couldn’t wait to explain to my daughter who is Gigi’s age that one badass woman had done something truly remarkable last night and rallied other people to do likewise – we don’t need superheros – human beings are capable of bad assery. I mean, not using the toilet for 13 hours straight? She defines super hero on so many levels!
Love you, love this. Between last night and today I feel like America is dancing at the thought of standing up. Finally, my kid’s grandparents can get married, I *might* allow my daughter to move to Texas someday and California is now even cooler than it was yesterday.
your comments made me giggle and tear up….it really is a special day!
Thanks! I am having the hardest time pretending to be working at the office right now, lol
You just brought tears to my eyes! Now that’s one amazing woman.
Awesome! We the People need to stand up and be heard! Go women of Texas!
This is what Texas women are about. Today I’m proud to say I am one.
amazing! i am a Texan…and there are times, sadly enough, that is not somthing to be proud of. but today, i stand in the wake of awesomness and i am overwhelmed by it.
one woman took a stand, in her fabulous pink tennis shoes and gave way to our voice.
like Justin said, thanks for taking the risk and giving this woman some mad props!
It is not often that someone in politics makes me proud to be from Texas. Most of our politicians are absolute morons. I am so unbelievably proud of Wendy Davis! It is time to get old white men out of our vaginas.
YES! I laughed my ass off. And I’m at work.
That was some badass shit – brava to all who made it happen!
Texas girl here, and so proud. After NSA and VRA, I needed a win. People forget that POTUS isn’t the only election. Proud of my Texas women for essentially noise-bombing the Tex Leg last night, and even prouder of SCOTUS this AM. Love it or hate it, even the little people have voices, and we forced the big guys to listen.
Brit, you are a step in this process. You’ve stepped out and encouraged women to recognize their value and acknowledged that not all of us are June Cleaver. Keep it up!
CHILLS. I have chills. This makes me feel like my vote does indeed matter but also makes me realize that it doesn’t stop there. Raise your voice and it raise it often.
To quote our dearly beloved Mackelmore: “This is fucking awesome.”
It is truly amazing what collective voices can accomplish! She really was a rockstar!
Not even lying, this made me cry! It moves me to know that women are finally standing up for their rights and letting their voices be heard! I hid behind religious viewpoints for so long because that is what I was told I had to do in order to be “right in the eyes of the Lord” and fought with how I really felt about things like abortion or same sex marriage. I can’t wait for my kids (especially my daughter) to grow up in a world where women are strong and not afraid to take a stand on things they feel are important! Thank you so much for sharing this!!
I’m so proud of my home state.
And you’re right, it is SO, so good to see THE people actually stand up for what they believe!
Between this and DOMA being struck down, I’d say this is a great day. Bravo on speaking up. Gives me faith that our political process might not be as broken as we think.
You could not be there or watch it on TV without feeling a massive amount of pride in yourself and your fellow citizens for standing up for an issue that is so important, controversies aside. We let our voices be heard in a HUGE way, and our efforts overwhelmed the opposition. It was a wonderful thing to witness.
Kimber
Word.
Being a Democrat in TX, I am usually in the minority. I can say today, I am proud to be from Fort Worth (I am represented by Wendy Davis). This wasn’t about the issue at hand but about the people standing up to the “man”. Thank you Wendy and thanks Brittany for not backing down and writing about it :)
Did I post and have no memory of it?!? I’m Heather from Fort Worth and a democrat too! And I’m definitely proud of my representative! Way to stand up and fight for your people, and definitely thanks to Brittany for having the courage to post about a sensitive issue. You rock Brit!
OMG! it is almost twilight zone-ish huh LOL
well hello heather from FW, from heather in FW
Love me some Wendy Davis! I can assure you that had the people in the gallery been cheering on a Republican position, Whiny Dewhurst’s comments would have said that the voices were those of the people.
I don’t care which side of the fence you are on, but we have the right to be heard by our legislators. They heard us. Now if only the white, Republican males will listen instead of trying to send us back to 1956…..
Amen.
I stayed up too. I felt represented. And I’m not even from Texas. I did live there for 4 years in Bexar County home of http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist26/dist26.htm and http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist21/dist21.htm who like Senator Davis, gave me hope http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/22/hillary-clinton-i-hope-we-have-a-woman-president-in-my-lifetime/ :)
I am so proud of my fellow Texans. In fact if I was still in Austin I might’ve tried to convince my husband we needed to be at the Capitol. I watched it stream live and followed it on twitter and countless Texas newspaper websites, horribly saddened that Nancy Grace can once again talk about Travon Martin and coverage of people taking back government issues and standing for what they believe in.
It gives me a glimmer of hope that we have a future that doesn’t include Brando as our major source of basically…just because has electrolytes.
I’m sure that this will be one of those things, similar to Roe vs. Wade that isn’t taught about, except for only grazed upon. Maybe.
I’m glad SB5 is dead. I’m glad that their are some educated, free thinkers in this state. I’m tired of being bright blue in a sea full of red.
I am not even from the US, but I stayed up way beyond my bedtime so proud of Wendy, my new pretend boyfriend, Kirk Watson, and all of the people that stood up in Austin. It is sad that in 2013, this was needed, but what an amazing day for all the uteruses in Texas!
Wow, just wow….what an amazing women!
I’ve been buried in work & life for the past week and it wasn’t until today that I turned on the TV and found out about everything that’s been happening in the country! Of all weeks to disconnect, I had to choose this one…
It makes me proud that a woman had the guts to do this, and that the “unruly mob” stood up for what they believed in . So proud.
I stayed up to watch to and cried several times! Powerful night for democracy.
It was electrifying, last night, even all the way across the country. Those were some strong women (and allies!) standing up to be heard, and all I could do was cheer (and cry) along, and hope. It was beautiful -super frustrating and rage inducing – but amazing.
Wendy did good. I wish she didn’t have to do what she did. I wish this country would stand up together for the rights of women to control our own bodies. But I’m so proud she did do it.
I was up late as well watching it all take place. I live in TX and all this is scary and telling. The bill is a test case to get this kind of restrictive legislation passed on other places. They have already passed bills similar to this in states with little fanfare. I was an emotional night and its not over because the Governor and Lt. Governor want to push there agenda over the clear opposition in the state. Gov. Perry called a new session because, well the nation saw what he’s like when he made his run for president, facts don’t matter to him.
It’s been a crazy few days for democracy.
I’ve been following your blog for a while but have never commented. However, last night, I was one of almost 200K people in the Texas Senate watching Wendy Davis do us proud. I’m on the West Coast so only stayed up until midnight but what an incredible event!! I am pretty sure that these ugly old white men, bent on regulating my uterus, will come up against US going forward. I was never so proud of a woman in government AND women and men standing behind her!!
In the wake of all that has been going wrong with our government/society… The events of June 25th in Texas was a huge milestone, not just for the women in Texas, but for those of us that reside all around the US. So proud!!
Yep, stayed up monitoring the filibuster online (my satellite wasn’t fast enough to see the video feeds, so I relied on text from Texas news media). The victory specifically over SB5 may be short-lived, but the participation by so very many people at the Capitol was inspiring. This was participatory democracy, inspired by a fearless state senator in a white suit and red running shoes. It’s one moment, but it can inspire the next moment – and enough next moments lead to escape from cultural inertia to tangible change. I feel your analysis here added perspective, highlighting just how we citizens have power when we choose to use it.
Last night’s discussion on YNN’s Capital Tonight centered on debate in the Texas Senate on anti-abortion legislation. It was one of the most infuriating Senate debates I’ve watched in years, and while I was unable to watch the entire debate because we went on the air while the Senate was still in session, I was very proud of Senators Whitmire, Davis, and Van de Putte for standing up to this ridiculous legislation.
I am Conservative (used to be uber Liberal) but once I started running a health care business and saw how badly Government *already* interferes in medicine, how ridiculous most of the COSTLY, USELESS regulations are imposed on us while we cannot charge more for services to cover this AND I didn’t like the hope/change Obama brought (Honestly, I went into it with an open mind and some hope for more middle ground), I became more vocal about my Conservative view point–which is mostly a fiscal based stance and anti-ObamaCare. However, I am NOT conservative when it comes to personal freedom and CHOICE. I am pro-gay marriage/marriage equality. I am Pro-Choice and fear a country where women and girls are forced to go to some back alley butcher for an abortion (moving back into the dark ages). I am more spiritual than religious, so I hate people of the Conservative nature shoving their religious beliefs down people’s throats. I fully believe in separation of Church and State in all matters. I believe there are more businesswomen who are “Conservative” in the way that I am.
Love your comment. I could not agree more, while I am a liberal overall, I share your disdain for religious led politics, it’s absolutely detrimental.
I adore you, and I adore this! Thank you for continuing to represent women, and for giving us a larger voice :)