By that, I mostly mean I don’t go to church. I mean, I HAVE BELIEFS* but going to church is not really my jam.
[You may call your higher power whatever you like. Or maybe you don’t believe at all and that’s fine too]
I’m mostly a do no harm, take no shit kinda person.
[Please note that you should try Jesus. You should not try me]
And as such, I spend a lot of Sundays volunteering at a Health Clinic as an pro-choice escort.
Yes. ONE OF THOSE clinics. I! AIN’T! SHAME!
Depending on where I’m assigned, my job is:
To walk whoever is visiting the clinic for whatever reason they’re visiting ** from the parking lot to the door.
To stand around and block protesters from yelling at/harassing patients (basically me standing in front of people yelling)
Opening the door to let them in.
And wear this fancy vest:
Dassit.
No. I don’t have to fist fight antis. Or tell them they all wrong as two left shoes.
In fact, I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO TALK TO THEM AT ALL.
That’s right kids! The policy is not to engage, so they do not get the pleasure of me telling them to go FUCK THEMSELVES
And that’s a lot harder than you think, guys. Because if you think all pro-choice escorts get treated the same, HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU.
I get a lot of crap for being black. A LOT!
SO MUCH that once I tapped out and moved to a different post before I flying kicked some anti in the mouth.
That ain’t gon’ make me quit, doe.
Because I believe in reproductive rights. And everyone’s right to have them. Much like today’s BHFOTD.
Faye Wattleton. First African American, AND the youngest president ever elected to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, AND the first woman since Margaret Sanger to hold the position.
Faye earned her Master of Science degree in maternal and infant care, with certification as a nurse-midwife, from Columbia University in 1967. While working towards her master’s degree, she interned at a hospital in Harlem. There, she saw first-hand the “life-threatening effects of unsafe abortions performed on female patients” and she began to work in women’s health advocacy. In 1967, she was an assistant director of Public Health Nursing services in Dayton, Ohio. This is where she “began her career as an effective coalition builder for reproductive rights.” The same year, she also joined the board of the local Planned Parenthood and shortly after, Wattleton became the president of the Planned Parenthood of Dayton.
During her presidency at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, from 1978 to 1992, Fay transformed the organization into the politically engaged entity that it is today, while at the same time dramatically increasing its health-care services. Anticipating that the 1980s would bring many political challenges, she restructured the organization so that it could respond to the new environment created by the Ronald Reagan administration and the rise of the Religious Right. She also led Planned Parenthood’s growth as a health-care provider. By the time she left the organization, it had more than 170 affiliates in 49 states and Washington, D.C., and operated more than 800 health centers.
She also:
• has received 14 honorary doctoral degrees
• was named Humanist of the Year
• formed (along w/ 15 other black men and women) African American Women for Reproductive Freedom
• received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen
• was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame
• AND served as the president of the Center for the Advancement of Women, which she helped found.
And now, I’m climbing off my soapbox and wrapping up this BHFOTD. As a side note, I almost never know who the fact is gonna be about in advance. This is one I randomly found while looking for something else. But now I wish that I COULD talk to the antis, just so I could tell them this. Could I maybe just scatter fliers around to learn ‘em something? No? FINE.
*I also have a weird sense of humor and a ridiculously varied taste in music. Deal with it!
** MY SPECIFIC PLACE is not a Planned Parenthood, but offers all kinds of services also. Because it’s a HEALTH CLINIC.
Yeah I said it 