WMM Official Statement Condemning Anti-Semitism, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Earlier this year, Women's March National faced intense criticism because one of the leaders publicly exalted Louis Farrakhan. The national group responded by stating “Minister Farrakhan’s statements about Jewish, queer, and trans people are not aligned with the Women’s March Unity Principles.” They continued by stating “The world Women’s March seeks to build is one free from anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, and all forms of social violence.”
We in Minnesota also responded in a statement in March 2018 by saying “we unequivocally denounce Louis Farrakhan's recent anti-Semitic and homophobic statements. Anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism and white supremacy are and always will be indefensible.” We stand by that statement.
Women’s March Minnesota looks for opportunities to work collaboratively with women in all communities in Minnesota, including our Jewish and LGBTQ+ sisters and femmes. We will continue to work with the local leaders of National Council of Jewish Women (NCJWMN) and leaders of LGBTQ+ organizations to do the intersectional work to fight anti-Semitism, homophobia, and transphobia in Minnesota and to hold our movement accountable.
The movement is more than a few people - it is thousands of volunteers and in Minnesota, it is the 100,000 of you that marched and supported us even if you could not march with us. Our volunteers, leaders, partners, allies, and communities are diverse and beautifully-complex. This highlights the importance of intersectional feminism. The Board of Women's March MN acknowledges that intersectional feminism is difficult work, but we are deeply committed to it. In doing so, we attempt to create a space for all of us to build and be in community together.
Women’s March is about women rejecting a system of white supremacy that has torn us from each other for too long. We must build a true fortress of allyship against a system that was designed to drive us apart. Women’s March is committed to continuing to build deep and even more transformative relationships with Jewish communities to stem the rising tide of anti-Semitism and with LGBTQ+ communities to address the rise in violence and anti-LGBTQ+ policy. We hope you come along for this journey.
Our commitment to you is that we will continue to fight the ideas and actions that divide us as they present as racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, ableism, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-Semitism. We will hold ourselves accountable and welcome all into the deep and challenging intersectional discussions where we will make space to simultaneously recognize our opportunities to grow and our contributions.
To step into that space of working through painful divisions, we invite you to contact us via email: Admin@womensmarchmn.com and we’ll talk.