A Woman's Right to Vote

"I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality. "
-Alice Paul

Ben and I had our favorite bull dykes - hereafter referred to as FBD's (this is a term of endearment, which they use themselves just for the record. It's an inside joke.) over for dinner a few nights ago. We love our FBD's for many reasons - they are our couple BFF's, our soulmates. One of the things we love the most is the stimulating conversation we always have. I'll admit we did spend about 20 minutes on Heath Ledger and who wore what to the SAG Awards, we can't help ourselves but we also had an amazing conversation regarding a woman's right to vote. I love knowing there are other women out there who are as passionate about their right to vote.

I am not sure where my love of voting comes from, my mother never voted that I know of and never instilled in me a sense of pride regarding this right but I do love it. I requested an early ballot this year and it has been sitting on the table for me to complete and mail in but I can't do it. I get so excited about going to the polls and showing my voter registration card. I am the dork who wears her "I voted today" sticker until it loses it's stickiness and falls off. Just thinking about it makes me teary.

I don't think that schools place enough emphasis on the history of the women's rights movement. If it weren't for my own research I wouldn't know about the women who fought and the sacrifices they made for the right to vote.

I received the information below in an e-mail like I usually do around election time but have decided to pass it on. While it's pretty graphic and the women mentioned are only a few of those who worked for women's rights, I find it inspiring.

How Women Earned the Right to Vote

A short history lesson on the privilege of voting...

The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

I know we are all busy with things that are just as important but I hope you think about these women come election day and the respect you feel for them will hopefully move you to vote.

AMENDMENT XIX

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.

Ratified August 26, 1920

I promise this will be my last post on politics for a while. I am afraid they may be getting annoying. I am looking forward to voting on Tuesday and even more excited about staying up all night watching the returns. I am a junkie.

Rock the Vote!