The Power of Pink

This week, I’m traveling from Nashville to Pittsburgh to meet up with nearly a thousand volunteer leaders so that we can strengthen our commitment to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and freedom. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund “Power of Pink” membership summit is central ground for young people, people of color, the LGBTQ community, and patient advocates who are energized to organize in our communities on political advocacy and electoral work. We are determined to make a difference in this election, and change the power dynamics in this country.

I am drawn to Planned Parenthood because it is committed to protecting bodily autonomy. When you live in the South and you’re queer, you don’t get to control or take ownership over your own body. My people aren’t allowed to use the bathroom that we need, and our bodily rights are constantly up for debate. Plus, a lot of queer people need birth control and abortion access. And we all need high-quality, comprehensive sex ed, which Planned Parenthood is a leader in providing. When it comes down to it, all these issues — sexual and reproductive rights — affect every one of us.

I became a social justice activist after I had a bad experience with an abstinence-only curriculum in my public high school in Tennessee. Because of a vague state law, our teachers never taught us about condoms, masturbation, or LGBTQ identities. In fact, we were told that the law — known as the Gateway to Sexual Activity Act — also restricts any discussion about penises, vaginas, and breasts, and if a teacher violates the law they could be fined $500. As a teenager coming out as queer, I was confused and enraged. I saw that this malicious law not only hurt me personally but all teenagers across the state. I saw that they were suffering from sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, and unhealthy relationships. And I knew that we deserved better.

So I called Planned Parenthood and asked how I could help disrupt my state’s harmful policy and provide sex education that would help other teens. They helped me become a peer educator through an innovative program called the PG-13 Players that uses skits to teach about sexuality. The other peer educators and I wrote the skits and then performed them at other high schools — which we had to do after school hours to avoid getting fined — and for professionals who work with young people.

Once I got the activist bug, I was hooked. Some of our most effective actions have been performative. Last year I participated in a “Mad Women Speak Out” — referring to the television program Mad Men that took place in the 1950s and ’60s. We dressed up in vintage clothes and protested a state bill that mandated a 48-hour waiting period for people getting an abortion, saying that our state politicians were trying to turn the clock back to the 1950s. We attracted a lot of media attention, including from Glamour magazine.

I also participated in a guerilla performance of abortion stories compiled by the organization Advocates For Youth for its “1 in 3” campaign. A few classmates at Middle Tennessee State University and I went to a central location on campus and performed. People walking by were intrigued and stopped to watch, and one student even told us that seeing our performance made them rethink their anti-abortion perspective.

Although I always try to make activism fun, the issues are deadly serious. Access to basic health care — including safe, legal abortion — is under attack in state legislatures, in the presidential election, and in the U.S. Supreme Court. There’s too much at stake to remain silent.

This is why I am packing my bag for Pittsburgh. In today’s political climate, there is no option but to be an activist and to stand up and speak up.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund has carved out space for me and other young people to take control of our sexuality and our bodies, and it has inspired me to take action. I am fighting to make reproductive freedom a reality in my home state of Tennessee and across the country — and I will not back down until everyone gets access to the sex education and high-quality health care we all deserve.

And I’m not alone. Hundreds of young people are joining me in Pittsburgh because they feel the same way. We’re going to learn the skills that need to organize to ensure our voices have power and are heard in this election. There is just too much at stake to sit on the sidelines.