Attacks on Our Rights Are Attacks on Democracy

Reproductive rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and democracy cannot be discussed in isolation; fundamentally, they are all about who has the freedom to make choices for themselves, and each one affects the other. Cristina Uribe, Chief of Programs at the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity (CGRE) and Director of the Gender Equity Action Fund (GEAF), sits down with us to explain how these topics are deeply interconnected.

Attacks on women and LGBTQ+ communities weaken our democracy by pitting Americans against Americans and creating enemies out of neighbors. Opponents of these communities—and democracy at large—understand these connections and use strategies like ballot measures and wedge issues to divide coalitions and erode rights. Responding to these coordinated attacks requires coalition-building, commitment to civic engagement, and a recognition that attacks to one group’s rights ultimately threaten everyone’s freedoms.

For more information check out Babes in Bookland: https://womensmemoirpodcast.com/

Transcript

Jennie 1:59

Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast on all things related to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. Hi rePROs, how's everybody doing? I'm your host, Jennie Wetter, and my pronouns are she/her. Y'all, I cannot believe it is August. I'm not really sure where the summer has gone. I know I think I shared last week that we had interns for 11 weeks and like they're gone already. It feels like they just started. It is, it just the summer has flown by. It is just kind of wild. I hope everybody is having a lovely summer. I'm hoping that it will slow down a little bit in August and I can catch my breath a bit. I don't know if that's gonna happen. I am just starting a period where I am doing some judging for the Signal Podcast Awards. So, I have a bunch of that that I need to do, but I'm really looking forward to it. It is, you know, you just get assigned like a random collection of podcasts that I need to listen to and judge. They hope that you do at least 20 and they can be on a whole range of things, which makes it interesting. I definitely listened to podcasts last year that I would have never listened to otherwise, and some were just really great, and I would have never found them if I hadn't been assigned to judge them. So, it is so much fun. I'm hoping to have that again this year where I find some really fun new podcasts to check out. Yeah, so I'm gonna be doing that for the next couple weeks, which is so much fun, and I yeah, I really enjoy it. It but it is kind of random. You never know which categories you're gonna get, and it's a little bit like roulette because you don't see what's in your queue. You just like hit next, and then like the next thing popcorn's up. And it and so it's kind of fun. So I am really enjoying doing that again this year. So much fun. Let's see what else is new. Oh, how a little bit of like housekeeping type thing. I'm thinking that it's summer, we maybe let's do another fun, kind of lighter episode. So I was thinking it's been almost two years since we have done an Ask Me Anything episode, which feels wild. I can't believe we haven't done one in almost two years. So I'm gonna do one hopefully sometime soon. So if y'all have questions that you would like for me to answer, feel free to reach out to us on social media. We're at rePROs Fight Back on most platforms or @reprosfb on Instagram or Threads. So feel free to reach out there. You can reach out to me on social. I'm at @JennieInDC, mostly on Blue Sky or Threads. So, feel free to reach out there if you want to get your question directly to me. You can also email me at jennie@reprosfightback.com, and that's Jennie with an IE. Yeah, I would love to hear what you would like me to talk about on our Ask Me Anything episode. And hopefully it'll be a little bit of a more fun episode, not talking about super heavy things. So something to look forward to, but I would always love to hear what kind of questions y'all want me to answer. So feel free to ask about anything. Okay. I think, you know what? I think with that, I'm gonna go to this week's episode. It's such a fun interview. I had so much fun talking to Cristina. I hope you all enjoy our conversation. Joining me this week, I have Cristina Uribe with the Collaborative for Gender and Reproductive Equity. We have a really wonderful conversation around the attack on LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights and the attacks on our democracy and how they are all intertwined and interrelated and why we need to be talking about them together. It was such a wonderful conversation. I hope you all enjoy it. So, with that, let's go to my interview with Cristina. Hi, Cristina. Thank you so much for being here. Hi, thanks for having me. Before we get started, would you like to take a second and introduce yourself?

Cristina 6:10

Sure, I'm Cristina Uribe and she/her pronouns, and I am the Chief of Programs at the Collaborative for Gender and Reproductive Equity, but CGRE for short, because that's a mouthful.

Jennie 6:26

Yes, I feel that.

Cristina 6:29

I know people don't like acronyms, but it's easier for us to say CGRE. And I should also say my side hustle is I'm also the director of our C4 Sister Fund, which is the Gender Equity Action Fund, which is GEAF for short.

Jennie 6:43

I feel like we have so much we could talk about today. We already had like this pre-conversation that ended up going in 10,000 directions, and I kind of think that's what is gonna happen again today. But but that's great because it was such a good conversation. But I was thinking we could focus a little bit on something that we know is like inherently super connected, but I think a lot of people see them in like separate silos, and that's LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, and democracy. And I think people think of them as separate buckets, but they are all in conversation together.

Cristina 7:19

They I was just having a conversation this morning actually about this, and we're always trying to think of like the right visual cue, like, is it interwoven? Is it interlocking? It's like threaded together, right? Someone's like, think about a friendship bracelet and all the threads woven together in that. And I was like, oh, I love that visual of yes, the friendship bracelet of reproductive rights, LGBTQ plus rights, and democracy really are interwoven together. They're not separate movements, they are deeply connected, and at their core, I mean, we were having this conversation about this, they're all about who has the freedom, right? Who has the freedom to make decisions about their own lives, about their bodies, really individual liberty and expression and participate fully in democracy. If you don't have that individual freedom and liberty and bodily autonomy, you can't participate fully in the democracy, and you can't have a robust democracy if people don't have those rights and freedoms. And so we really do, you know I said with CGRE, there's a reason we have gender and reproductive equity in the title of our organization. From the beginning, we saw this as these are not issues but values that are really important to the type of country, the type of states that we want to build, and it's why our funders came together to think about how they can move together to impact all of that. And I don't know where to have a whole conversation about this, the opponents of those, right? The people who want to limit democracy, the people who really want to have, I think, dominion over folks. Dominion over the choices we make, for them, this is all part of the same project. So we have to think about as we're both expanding and strengthening our movement around this, we have to see the strength in keeping those connected because our opponents absolutely see those connections.

Jennie 9:14

Yes, I was just thinking as you were talking about how the other side absolutely sees this because you see, one of the first things authoritarian regimes do or on the road to authoritarianism is go after gender and LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights. That is the entry point, the tip of the spear to start breaking up movements and taking away people's bodily autonomy.

Cristina 9:38

It's how they see the the strength in our coming together. And so the first to your point is like, how do we drive a wedge within the coalition? How do we split apart people who care? We see it in reproductive rights and access. Well, they try to split folks who feel really strongly about contraception and try to split them away from abortion, right? So, in this broader movement around bodily autonomy and gender expression, and again, just individual liberties and freedoms, they're like, How do we start to break apart this coalition, which is a reflection of, it's so important to remind people, these are majoritarian views that most Americans hold, right? These are values that most people hold every single time since Dobbs fell that when voters have the opportunity to weigh in on how they feel about abortion access in particular and enshrining it in their constitution, they say, yes, we want to do that overwhelmingly. And so the opposition to those rights has seen that, and they're like, Oh, okay, so what we need to do then is really focus on not just LGBTQ+ rights, but like a very small part section, population of that to start to question, drive the wedge, have people raise questions, start to question, like, oh, is this too far? And around things that people have genuine questions about. So, from our perspective, when communities have come together across issues to build power, that is really the strength. We know this in our daily lives. When communities work together, they're just stronger, right? When people come together across differences or questions, but with a bigger focus, there is strength in again, not just defending rights, but expanding those rights. And so, as a funder and within the philanthropic community, we just feel like that is an important place for us to be resourcing and funding because it's also about power from our perspective. This is not, I often say we are not issue funders, we are power funders. We want to resource frontline organizations and leaders who are building power that's around governing power, coalition power, narrative power, movement power to again allow people to have their full expression, freedoms, rights, and liberties, and that strengthens our democracy.

Jennie 12:06

I really have been thinking about the like using these issues to like try and peel off people. Really, a really clear example right now is Missouri, right? They had they passed amendment three in the 2024 election that expanded abortion rights. It was really popular, it passed, that was so exciting. The opponents didn't give up though, right? Like, they are still fighting, and they decided that they were gonna put it back on the ballot, again called amendment three, but voting for it would actually take away abortion rights this time. And they also thought that wasn't enough, so then they also put in restrictions around trans rights on it, thinking that hopefully they can peel off enough people who are uncomfortable with trans rights to vote and confuse people, but who knew they supported amendment three last time that they are going to support amendment three thinking they're supporting abortion rights and like have that confused vote, and then also peel off the people who don't support trans rights and get them to support it and to hopefully overturn the will of the people from the previous ballot initiative.

Cristina 13:13

Right. So, this is a democracy fight because it's overturning the will of the people, right? At the same time, there's a separate ballot measure that's also on the ballot that would directly attack the ballot initiative process, right? So there's citizen-led initiatives in Missouri, it has been successful across a number of issues, so they're trying to confuse folks under the will of the voters because they've tried to do this through the courts, they've been unsuccessful, right? So majoritarian views, voters showed up, knew exactly what they were voting on, voted overwhelming, as you said, to pass this measure, and so they've come back immediately. And I think this is an important lesson, and this is something that we hold very true at CGRE. No win is permanent, no failure is fatal. Our opponents, when they lose, they triple down. When they win, they double down, but when they lose, that is just a bump in the road and they keep coming back. So Missouri is the perfect example of state power that's been built and invested in, state organizations who actually understand their communities best and are working across organizations, across issues to speak to their communities and hold together their coalition to not let our opponents pit rights around trans rights and LGBTQ plus folks and abortion rights and access. That is this is the playbook. We saw it in 24 in Ohio, a successful ballot measure that established the right to an abortion in the Constitution. All of the ads against that measure were about gender-affirming care, around trying to scare parents, around trying to scare women who felt very strongly across ideology, about abortion access, and still across partisanship. We know you can't pass ballot measures in places like Missouri and Ohio if you're not getting across the partisan landscape people who are voting for these. So the opposition's like, okay, what we're gonna do then is come back and put something confusing, convoluted on the ballot, have it be the exact same amendment number, and this time actually force voters to decide do you want to, again, using their scary tactics, right? Vote for something that might take away, which we know also is not true, your rights, or introduce something new into the equation for people who maybe were like, Oh, now I have real questions, and now I might be a little confused. But this is why winning in Missouri is going to be so important because we know 26 is a trial run for 27 and 28 on these ballot measures. If it happens in Missouri, and it's why we invest so much in states, what happens in one state spreads quickly to others, both good and bad. And so, this is why the fight in Missouri is so important this year. It also demonstrates the power of coalitions, the power of folks in Missouri saying, we're not gonna let this happen. We are smart, we're not gonna let them divide us. And again, it's an opportunity for philanthropy and for funders to step up and say, and we have your back, and we are gonna support you because we understand what this fight is about. It's so much bigger than just Missouri, but critical for folks in Missouri too.

Jennie 16:36

Where else are you seeing these issues come together? Because I feel like there's countless examples, but I'll let you pick this time.

Cristina 16:42

So many. So we're seeing them obviously legislatively this this past year, and really since '24-'23, we started to see just an increase in state legislatures, not just on what's making the headlines around these supposed bathroom bills and around participation in in sports, which when you see all the cuts and underinvestments that is happening to girls participating in sports, we all know this has nothing to do with the participation and strengthening of who participates in sports. My two nieces are in Rockford, Illinois right now participating in the women's baseball league that is happening there. I wish I was there. But so we know that's not what this is about. Again, we know what this is really about. So, we're seeing it in legislatures, we're seeing it in courts. These folks will try to litigate this. Even when voters pass something, they refuse to acknowledge the will of the voters. So we're seeing this play out in state supreme courts, which is why we also invest heavily in building the strength of these impartial courts, and we're seeing it on the ballot. So, Missouri, yes, this November. We also know there are ballot measures in Colorado. Colorado, a place that people think about as like, oh, freedoms are safe there. They have they have pushed back on parental notification ballot measures are multiple times. Opponents still keep bringing them, and now they're dealing with again two ballot measures that attempt to limit and target LGBTQ people, um, again, through scare tactics. We're seeing that in Colorado. We're seeing a place like Washington State. So it is not just where people think the Missouri's, the Mississippi's of the world, but in places where you have citizen-led ballot measures, and so in places like Colorado and Washington. So we again we know this is the start, this is the test. How something does in Colorado or Washington State will lead then to an Oregon, a Montana, a Utah, right, a Virginia, places where you can both through citizen-led or through the legislature put things on the ballot. We've seen this playbook around abortion access and rights for years. Like I said, we saw these type of ballot measures put on the ballot and we kept beating them. And it was really in 24 when we had our first wave of affirmative, proactive ballot measures that restored access, but we know this playbook. And so wherever someone lives who's listening right now, like there is likely a bad if you live in a state where that has ballot measures, there is either right now something that's gonna appear on your ballot in '26, or there are efforts happening by your legislature or others in state to try to qualify something like this for '27 and '28. So, it's so important for people to ask questions and really question like, wait, where is this coming from? Why am I being asked to sign this petition? What is this about? And then I also say there are some measures like the one in Kansas. This happens on August 4th. So just less than like two weeks from tomorrow, there's a ballot measure on their primary that is it looks like it's about the state Supreme Court, right? They have had practice in place in Kansas that has worked, that got instituted after there was mass corruption in Kansas judicial system that has a selection process of how judges are selected through an impartial, non-political process, and then voters get to decide if they want to retain them. This is a state Supreme Court that has ruled that Kansas have a right to an abortion through their state constitution, and their interpretation of that has allowed for the expansion of not just the rights but access. The legislature there tried to put a ballot measure as we know, first one out of the gate after the Dobbs decision, tried to have a ballot put a ballot measure on that said the state constitution actually doesn't say anything around protecting the right to abortion. That ballot measure was defeated. So now they're back almost two years to the date to say now we want to change the way judges are elected because we want to make them more partisan and political because we want to overturn the right to an abortion. So that is how we're seeing this again. Our opponents do not give up once they lose, they just think about new and different ways. And for me, I think it's important for folks listening that we shouldn't see that in like sigh and shrug, like, oh my god, this again. It's an opportunity for us to keep restating over and over that voters do not agree with these people and their ideas and do not want to ban abortion or target people based on their gender and their expression. These ballot measures are an opportunity for people to keep sending that message because that does shift the narrative on these.

Jennie 21:33

I think the other thing I really think about as you were talking about the things you're seeing with the the anti-LGBTQ stuff is how we learned, particularly in the abortion rights side, they use naming these things to make them seem unthreatening and like, oh, a heartbeat ban, like, oh yeah, no, it's a person at this point. We need to like protect the person. And so, this is the knack to protect women and girls, and needing to take a minute and not just hear the words they're using, but understanding what is really at stake, right? Because women and girls are gonna be the ones who are harmed in a majority by these anti-trans bills, right? The the trans population is so small that means they're going to be policing women and girls who don't present the way they think they should. That means that young girls at sporting events, you may have parents on the opposing side be like, "that girl is not a girl, this is a trans girl." So then they're-

Cristina 22:41

100 percent.

Jennie 22:41

-gonna have to traumatize this poor young girl to try to prove that she is a girl. Like this is about harming women and girls and policing gender norms. It is not about trans people.

Cristina 22:55

We've already seen this happen in Minnesota. Yep, right? So, gender justice, a great organization in Minnesota, is represented this young woman who went to the bathroom at a Buffalo Wild Wings and lads, one does, was there eating, went to the bathroom, and when she came out of the stall, there was a worker there who was preventing her from leaving the bathroom, who wanted her to prove that she was, quote, "a girl" because she didn't look like how she thought she should. And this poor young woman had to unzip her sweatshirt. Luckily, she was wearing a t-shirt underneath that showed that she was "girl enough" to this person who worked there. And I think about I saw her mother speak. There's a great video on Gender Justice's website if you want to see it, about how traumatizing that is.

Jennie 23:48

Yeah.

Cristina 23:49

I thought about myself, like, when I was younger and would have been called like a tomboy. I think again about my nieces. Who are playing baseball and amazing at it. Like, I just think about all the the young women in in my life. This is absolutely, to your point, not about trans people. It is a hundred percent about policing what women and young women, young girls look like, how they behave, the choices they make. So, I said earlier around having power, and I really do think it's almost like dominion over them, right? And dictating what that looks like. And this young woman, their family is successful in their case against Buffalo Wild Wings, but they still will have to live with that. And that was not that these bathroom bans, these bills, even the ones that haven't passed, it is about creating this hysteria, this fear that compels someone at their job, right? I don't know how much you make up Buffalo Wild Wings, but I'm guessing it is not enough to go into a bathroom to terrorize someone, right? But there's been a frenzy created, this hysteria that this is an actual thing that needs to be policed because women and girls may be in danger, but that incident put that young person in danger, right? We saw this with the father taking his young girls into the bathroom because he was traveling with them, right? And having a man follow him in to stop him from doing that, and screaming and frightening his young girls. You can see it on camera. Like, this is what these bills are leading to. This is what these campaigns are leading to, creating this false hysteria and policing by everyday people on their neighbors. So when someone sees this on the ballot or hears about a bill being passed that on face value to your point may have like an okay name and sound like, oh, this makes sense. You need to question that. Like you need to bring that right back to yourself and be like, wait, who asked for this? What is this about?

Jennie 26:10

I'm just trying to go to the bathroom.

Cristina 26:10

Right.

Jennie 26:10

Just let them use the one they want. I don't understand.

Cristina 26:13

My favorite thing is, like, people's gas prices aren't high because of trans people.

Jennie 26:21

Yeah.

Cristina 26:21

Right? The reason you can't afford gas has nothing to do with trans people. The reason why your healthcare insurance isn't working has nothing to do with trans people. The fact that you can't eat a salad without living in fear if you're gonna get like some explosive bad stomach flu has nothing to do with trans people. But these things weaken our democracy, they weaken our communities, and they start to turn neighbors against neighbors. And that is, again, not what I think the majority of people in this country want to see and experience. And it really does. It puts women at risk, these bills.

Jennie 27:00

And I just think of the trans people who just want to play sports with their friends, and thinking through the number of bills or lines of ink spilled writing about these stories and how far they outnumber the actual number of people who are trying to play sports. I think about West Virginia, I think it was West Virginia, and there was only the one girl at the time who was trying to play sports when they passed that law. That is like a state bullying a young person, one young person writing this law that is gonna impact basically one young person. That is wild.

Cristina 27:40

Yeah, and so again, we have to, when I think about the power that's being built in states, a thing that like brings me joy, makes me hopeful around this is there is a muscle being built and an acknowledgement amongst the organizations that are doing this work. Hey, maybe a decade ago, I know my my work, probably yours too, in this movement, maybe a decade ago or 20 years ago, you would have these issue silos and organizations sort of split from each other and being like, well, that's their fight, even if I agree with them, like that's their fight, that's not for us. And what we're seeing in community after community and state after state, organizations that are recognizing that no, working together actually, we can defeat these folks because they're gonna show up around trying to limit access to contraception. They already are, right? They're gonna show up around book bans in schools, right? We've seen the organizing success of when you saw labor and moms and parents and civil rights activists and LGBTQ+ groups pushing back around these book bans and these school boards again that we're overreaching. It's this issue of that I do believe is an American value where people don't like overreach. Like you've gone too far, right? This has gone too far. Now, for some of us, we're like, okay, well, too far was like a mile and a half ago. But I think for the average person, right, who sees this is like, wait, this is too far, right? Who sees that incident in Minnesota, which isn't an isolated incident, just that we happen to know about it, right? We know this is happening to people across this country and we're not hearing about it, but people see these incidents and are like, that is too far. And again, we have community organizations, advocacy organizations, state after state who have recognized this, and I often say are further ahead than maybe some of the thunder community of recognizing if you want to strengthen democracy, or if you want to make sure there's contraception access, or if you want to make sure that there's an investment in women's health, right? That all of this is linked together, and we strengthen all of these, we don't have to be scared that we might lose something by protecting someone else. That is what our opposition wants us to think. That you have to trade off against each other. And I think once we recognize that this is about power and expanding power and expanding rights, we have examples of where people have been successful. And it's just important to not take our eyes off of that prize, essentially, right? When we win, we have to then want to win more. We want to, we have we too have to double down and protect. When we lose, we have to think, okay, what it what can we learn from this? Let's keep going. This is not fatal. Let's keep going. You and I both know every big victory in the broader civil rights movement and the gender justice movement and any movement had some setbacks, but it was a commitment to, okay, that's a setback. We're gonna keep going. And I just think we have to look at these challenges, whether they're on the ballot or through the legislature at your local school board, as an opportunity that to organize and think about okay, how do we beat this back and then how do we win, and then how do we keep winning? And again, we have seen that happen across both abortion rights and reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ issues. We've seen these wins happen, and that is why we know we're also experiencing these attacks because there has been success.

Jennie 31:27

I feel like that brings us to a good point to talk about: what role do funders have in all this? Like, what should funders be doing in this moment?

Cristina 31:35

So, as I said, wins are never permanent, right? We have to recognize that. They're never permanently secure, and so there continues to be organizing everywhere, and that needs to be sustained by a funder commitment. So, one of our grantees said, people ask us what's our five-year plan, what's our 10-year plan, but they're coming with one year of funding. And you want me to build you a five-year plan with one year of funding. And so I think that what funders can do is be equally committed to this fight, not just with funding, which is our primary job, but to think about for how many years, right? Like, for can you be committed for four years? Can you be committed for five? Can you be committed for 10? Yes, you'll have questions, but people talk about the opposition movement as being very strategic. And I think that gives them too much credit. I think what they are is very committed. They were committed to reversing row. They took many different paths to that, but they were committed to that. That was a 20-year, 30-year commitment, right? 50-year commitment. They were committed to that. We have to be equally committed to that. Like whatever that may be, full abortion access, both rights and funding, great. What is your commitment to that? Even if you don't know the dollar amount, what can funders say? Is it a five year, is it a 10 year, is it a 15-year? We are also playing unique role in providing flexible support. I think this is a something we're seeing increasingly from funders. It is a value we hold at CGRE, which is flexible support, which means we trust the organizations and leaders on how to best spend these resources and not locking them into what we has historically saw in philanthropy, which is like project support. Like, I'm gonna give you a hundred thousand dollars, but you can't use any of it on operations or overhead. And we are literally in the people business. The way this gets done is with people doing the work, they're not making widgets, right? They're not putting a product out. So, we are making an investment in people, so you have to provide that general operating flexible support. The third thing I'll say that funders can do and should think about doing, we are primarily focused on funding state-based organizations that are building this power in states to advance gender and reproductive and racial equity. I know that for a lot of funders, it's hard to do grant making across 12 states like we do, right? So there is a role for collaborative funders like CGRE, which allows funders to come together. You don't have to do this on your own if you're an individual donor who's not a large institutional funder; if you're a large institutional funder that doesn't have your own state-based grant making. Funders, we have more models of collaborative funding, which allows funders to move more strategically together, to respond more quickly, to make larger investments that they could individually. And I would really encourage my colleagues in the philanthropic community to think about doing that more. There's sometimes been a hesitation because everyone's like, we like to do our own thing, we want to have our own name on it. But again, in the same way that we want groups, you hear this all the time from funders, we want groups on the ground to work together, to be more collaborative. We have to model that behavior as well. Being more collaborative, working closer together, aligning our strategies, talking to each other more about where we're funding and how we're funding, and if we have limitations, is there someone else maybe who can fund in a state that we don't fund in and we can fund more in another state that they're not in? I just think we have to be much more collaborative and share a much longer-term flexible commitment to the work.

Jennie 35:35

I feel like we didn't talk about discussing this in advance, so sorry to spring this on you. And if you don't want to answer it, totally fine. But I'm also thinking about this moment and the environment right now and how there are real attacks on gender or DEI and whatever, and seeing a lot of groups stepping back or wanting to pull back or change what they're calling things, and some of that is happening in the funder space. So, I would just love to hear your thoughts on this moment because it definitely seems like you're very much like, no, we need to double down in this moment on these things, but it just feels like there are a number of people who are not, who are playing it safe, I guess, but then like letting down the the work.

Cristina 36:20

I think there's a difference between risk-taking and being reckless. We are not reckless, so we are the due diligence, the making sure I say this all the time, your house is in order, right? Making sure that you are upholding your fiduciary responsibility, that you are operating in all the legally appropriate ways, especially if you're a a C3 institution and funder, and many of us have boards we report to, all of that is so important. And I say that to our grantees as well. So, that is critical. But we have gender and reproductive equity in our name. So, when people asked us, like, aren't you worried? Of course we're worried. Of course we are. It's right there in our name. But we have a commitment to these not just issues, but these people, like making a material difference in people's lives. So, how we operate, like I said, we have a strategy, we have a plan, it's all legally appropriate. We are doing extra due diligence. I think every funder should be doing that, but it's also we have these resources for a reason. And I invite people to funders to go to a clinic in somewhere like Illinois or Kansas and talk to folks about even where it's legal, all the steps, even where it's legal, you can't just walk up and make an appointment at a clinic in Kansas. Like, there's all these rules about what building you enter and this building, and like to think about how hard it is for someone who has to leave their state to go access care and the risks they're taking and the time off they need to take, and and we know the stats already on the threats to maternal health care. Like, we know how people are suffering already, and so what we're what I say to funders is this is all legally appropriate, it's actually our mission and job as charitable organizations, and people need our help, and people are taking risks themselves, right? To your point, people being targeted, being harassed, being threatened. This is what the opposition wants. Again, that's in the authoritarian playbook. They want to instill fear, so where they don't have to cut off funding, but philanthropy will step back. Yep, people will step back and say, I can't do that, that is too risky. And so there is strength in numbers, including in philanthropy, and I want to credit the leaders who have come forward and said publicly, we're gonna continue to fund, we're gonna double down in funding, we're gonna stick together. It is not about offense or defense in these fights, it's: are you even going to get in the game? Like, are you even gonna get in it? And that is the moment we're in now. This isn't about being on offense or defense or being scared or not. Are you even gonna get in it? And there is no guarantee that you won't be targeted. Not engaging doesn't keep anyone safe. Your institution can still be targeted. You as an individual can still be targeted. So, not engaging doesn't keep anyone safe. So, I just encourage more funders to find their funding community and not and feel and not feel like they have to act on their own and not assume that progress is gonna happen on its own. Yeah, it just will not. We need as many people as possible to not only continue to fund this work, fund this power building, but increase their funding to this work.

Jennie 40:15

That was perfect. I knew you would have something great to say around that. Okay, so I want to be cognizant of your time, and we always love to wrap up with what can our audience do? So, at this moment, what can our audience do to get involved?

Cristina 40:31

So, I always encourage people to start locally because there is something happening in your community that requires your help and talent. So, also think about your talent. So I know there are some people who are like, I don't want to go canvas and knock on someone's door. That seems like something I couldn't do. I actually don't even want to call someone and ask them how to vote. But are you a great artist? Can you help create some of the visual aids or posters or crafting or are you already part of a book club? Can you introduce a topic around this to engage people you are already in community with? So start locally. It's so important, these connections that we build, we again are seeing this play out in community after community when people know their neighbors, know each other, and can work together. So I always say start locally. Think about where you can volunteer your time or advocate within your own community. If you live in Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Idaho, Idaho has an important ballot measure on the ballot in November. You can volunteer on these campaigns. Again, don't think you have to go knock on someone's door. They will love you if you can do that, but maybe they need someone to deliver yard signs, or maybe they need someone who will help write postcards. If you live in any of those states, there is a ballot measure on the ballot. So you might be like, I don't like candidate stuff, or that's too partisan. Get engaged in one of these ballot measures. They are all going to be close. They're again an important way, one of the best ways to send a message about what people value and believe in because it really does. It is not just about the ballot box, but it is about the coalitions that are being built, the volunteers that are turning out. People pay attention to that, your neighbors pay attention to that. So that is another action I would say in any of those, any of those states, you can get involved. And then the last thing I'll say, I just always like to put a plug for one organization that organizes both online and offline. There are several, but I will say groups like Red Wine and Blue, which are doing great work organizing suburban women, which they always remind me are not just white women, both online and offline in states across the country. And then you have groups like Ultraviolet that are very focused on gender justice, organizing folks also online and offline. So if you live somewhere and you're like, I don't like my neighbors though, and I can't be in conversation with them. I get that. You can also find so start locally, but there are also groups you can find online that will help you build an online community as well that may actually lead to you building an offline community too.

Jennie 43:21

Cristina, thank you so much. I had so much fun talking to you today.

Cristina 43:25

Yeah, I had so much fun too. I could talk to you all day long. And I appreciate you again having this podcast, having so many great leaders come on, providing an opportunity for people who might be curious around some of these issues that are unclear. And I guess I'll give you my last thing. Like, folks, like it's okay, no one has all the answers.

Jennie 43:45

No.

Cristina 43:46

You don't have to have the answer to any of this to engage. We're gonna figure them out together so you don't have to come to any of this work fully fully knowledgeable, come curious, and your podcast provides such a great opportunity for people to maybe be a little curious, hear something, and then get much more engaged in their own life around some of this. So, thank you for doing this.

Jennie 44:10

Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Okay, y'all. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Cristina. Like I said, I had such a great time talking to her. So thank you again for being on the podcast, Cristina, and I will see everybody next week. If you have any questions, comments, or topics you would like us to cover, always feel free to shoot me an email. You can reach me at jennie@reprosfightback.com, or you can find us on social media. We're at rePROs Fight Back on Facebook and Twitter, or @reprosfb on Instagram. If you love our podcast and want to make sure more people find it, take the time to rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform. Or if you want to make sure to support the podcast, you can also donate on our website at reprosfightback.com. Thanks all.