Meet The Women Leading The Trump Resistance

When the Women's March on Washington was first announced in the aftermath of Trump's shocking win, worries about a lack of racial and ethnic diversity overflowed from feminists of color. In response, founding organizer Bob Bland invited seasoned activists Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, and Carmen Perez to co-organize the march. Activists in other cities took an interest, and by Jan. 21, there were hundreds of sister marches that saw millions of women protesting Trump's inauguration. Their history-making message was as loose as it was powerful: the women of America and the world are watching. With Sarsour, Mallory, and Perez leading, the march showcased the amazing and beautiful diversity of American women.

Despite the overall success of the worldwide women's marches in attracting attention to the political power of women, one of its most glaring issues was the exclusion of trans women from its sisterhood narrative. That very division was addressed by celebrated trans rights activist Janet Mock during her speech at the Women's March on Washington:

I stand here today because I am my sister’s keeper. Our approach to freedom need not be identical, but it must intersectional and inclusive. It must extend beyond ourselves.

Mock's call for sisterhood isn't just symbolic: one of the first publicized acts of post-election transmisogny (misogyny directed specifically at trans women) happened on Nov. 29, when trolls celebrated the suicide of Lizzy Waite after she posted her goodbye letter on Facebook.

Following news of Waite's defaced suicide note, activist Danielle Muscato's tweets directed at Trump himself went viral. The tweets addressed both the perilous state of trans women in America and the then-President-elect's own foolishness.

With all the ills facing trans women under Trump's presidency, Orange is the New Black star and trans activist Laverne Cox said the response to the women's marches inspired her to keep fighting:

What gives me hope, what inspires me is to know that people understand that they have a voice, that they can mobilize and that their voices matter. What gives me hope is people getting involved and we have to be involved more than we ever have been before.

Mirriam Seddiq's career organizing against Trump began when the then-candidate launched his audacious attacks against the family of slain Gold Star veteran Humayan Khan after they spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Seddiq was offended by his assertion that Ghazala Khan was not "allowed" to speak — a viewpoint many perceived as Islamophobic. The Muslim-American lawyer founded the American Muslim Women Political Action Committee in response to Trump's ever-increasing Islamophobic rhetoric. And when his controversial executive order barring refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries came down, Seddiq rushed to Dulles airport to help her fellow lawyers defend her fellow Muslims from mistreatment and potential deportation.

Just a day after Trump issued his travel ban order, Federal Judge Ann Donnelly of New issued a temporary stay on deportations after reviewing a request submitted by the American Civil Liberties Union. Other judges began following suit. Virginia Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a similar stay almost simultaneously with Donnelly, and in Boston, Judges Allison Burroughs and Judith Dein issued a ruling stating that the executive order was likely unconstitutional. The swift and courageous rulings by these four female judges show that women don't just advocate for change, but can and will legally enforce these changes during the Trump administration.

Black Lives Matter was famously founded by queer Black women, and two of the movement's co-founders have found prominent positions in the Trump resistance. BLM's statement following Trump's election was a much-needed call to action, and provided activists with the important reminder that Black lives were at risk before the election, and would continue to be so after.

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors spoke of the urgent need for organized action during a tech conference shortly after the election:

This is not a game. We, and this generation have never ever experienced something like this. We have no idea what is about to come. If we don’t understand the state of emergency we’re in, you should not be a part of these discussions. This is not a time for just dialog.

Alicia Garza, one of the other BLM co-founders, spoke at the Women's March on Washington, and called not only for organizing across racial and ideological lines, but for deliberate and sustained resistance following the turnout for the inauguration weekend.

Trump's immigration ban drew ire from around the country, but the highest-profile fallout from it was Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates' refusal to enforce the ban — a refusal that got her fired by the president for her "betrayal". Yates, who was the acting AG until Trump deposed her, told her subordinates not to enforce the ban because she was not persuaded that it was legal. In response, the White House fired Yates.

Yates' bravery in defying Trump earned her major accolades, and in the days following her firing, she has been nominated for the JFK Profile in Courage award for standing up to the country's biggest and arguably meanest boss.

Betsy DeVos, Trump's nominee for education secretary who's never worked in education, is quite incredibly disliked outside of Washington and Wall Street. But the latest challenges to her confirmation come from a surprising place — from within the GOP itself. Notably, Republican Senators Susan Collins and Linda Murkowski vowed to vote against DeVos' confirmation, and their break with the party line substantially threatens the billionaire's majority confirmation vote in the Senate. Their defection could signal another predictable shift within the Republican party against Trump, and their leadership as women in a party not known for being particularly friendly to women is noteworthy.

Dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party has reached an all-time high since the election, but Democratic congresswomen are leading the anti-Trump movement from within the capitol building. Most visible among them is Sen. Kamala Harris, a new California senator who has already begun making a name for herself by attending protests and using social media to announce her refusal to capitulate to Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress. Harris is joined by New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, the only senator who has voted against (almost) all of Trump's appointees. These courageous female senators are far from alone: their ranks include Sen. Elizabeth Warren, as well as Californian Rep. Barbara Lee and New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez in the House of Representatives.

Winnie Wong, one of the co-founders of the popular "People for Bernie" group is no stranger to grassroots organizing — her group's page garnered over a million likes, and was considered part of the grassroots movement that catapulted Sanders closer to the Democratic nomination for president. After Sanders lost the primaries, Wong and her fellow Sanders organizers shifted their focus to continue engaging the first-time campaigners in politics. And after the election, Wong helped organize the Women's March and co-authored the march's manifesto. In a CNN Money article about women of color and the women's marches, Wong spoke to the unique difficulties faced by working women of color:

Women of color are on the front lines of this low-wage work as caregivers, domestic workers, fast food workers. They deserve to be paid $15 an hour and they deserve to have healthcare.

In a political atmosphere dominated by those in and vying for the highest offices in the land, work like Wong's, which focuses on the power of the everyday working class, will make all the difference in 2018 and 2020.

During her seven months at the Oceti Sakowin camp in Standing Rock, ND, activist and photographer Desiree Kane showed the world and her fellow activists the truth, beauty, and brutality that the water protectors faced. Her beautiful photographs and role as a Native American photojournalist during an administration that's openly hostile to journalists and the movement she documented is as brave as it is necessary.

As co-director of the queer liberation group Southerners on New Ground, Paulina Helm-Hernandez is used to fighting for the rights of her people. Helm-Hernandez, SONG, and other pro-immigrant groups are at the forefront of the campaign to ensure sanctuary cities remain safe for all. The Atlanta-based organizer is a strong advocate for sanctuary cities despite them being targeted by Trump in an executive order:

It's clear that southern communities will have to protect and defend ourselves and each other from the political regression and repression the Trump regime is only beginning to unveil. Part of our push back to this tyranny must include local organizing and resistance. SONG is working with our members and coalitions all across the South to build and expand towns and cities that we can call sanctuary.

Within Trump's first two weeks in office, women gathered first by the millions to protest his inauguration in general, and then organized by the tens of thousands (and with little notice) when he issued his immigration ban order. The immediate and incredibly visible protests against Trump not only angered our new president, but also sent a powerful message about what he can expect when he tries to trample on the rights of Americans. Despite not being woman-centric, the protests against Trump's immigration ban attracted a majority-female group of lawyers, proving that without women, the resistance against our new fearless leader couldn't exist. Women aren't just the real MVPs of the movement to resist Trump and his agenda — they are the heart of it.