NOW is the largest, most comprehensive feminist advocacy group in the United States. Our purpose is to take action to bring women into                    full participation in society — sharing equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities with men, while living free from discrimination.

June 20, 2017 Chapter Meeting

 The Next Monthly Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 20 at 6:30 – 8 PM at Chili’s, 25987 US Hwy 19 North in Clearwater. Dinner will be available at the meeting, and will be followed by a lively discussion.

The focus of the June meeting will be 2017 NOW conference that will be held June 30 – July 2 in Orlando. 

For more information, please visit http://now.org/conference/

You have an important decision to make on July 1. NOW will elect new national officers at our conference in Orlando. You have an opportunity to support a proven and experienced team of grassroots organizers and fundraisers in Toni Van Pelt and Gilda Yazzie – the All Feminists United NOW team!

Please join us in voting for the next president and vice president of NOW – Toni Van Pelt and Gilda Yazzie!

We are most excited for Toni and Gilda’s ideas to make NOW stronger. They are counting on our vote at the NOW conference. It will be a vote for confidence, for independence, inclusion, and sound judgement. 

Perhaps, most importantly it will be a vote for NOW’s relentless drive for full equality for women in our nation’s Constitution. 

We are #NOWStrong in sisterhood and with Toni & Gilda! To learn more about Toni and Gilda, please visit http://allfeministsunitednow.com/

We need volunteers at the Forward Feminism Conference in Orlando. Please visit http://allfeministsunitednow.com/and select the "Conference Volunteer" tab on the far-right side of the home page.

Vote for Toni and Gilda.  #NOWStrong

CRC PROGRAM – We must be vigilant

West Pinellas NOW held a  training on the Constitutional Revision Committee role and process on Saturday, May 27. Chapter Vice President for Action and national candidate for NOW President Toni Van Pelt led the training at the UUC, with approximately 50 people in attendance.

The last commission in 1997, chaired by Dexter Douglas, produced 11 public hearings, almost 200 proposals, 9 were suggested and voted on by simple majority, and 8 passed. Amendments to Article 1, Section 2, and Section 23, and to the preamble were among those passed.

The passed amendments include a guarantee of equal civil and political rights, the inclusion of women as equal before the law having certain inalienable rights, and the right to be left alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life.

These passed amendments are at the heart of the Florida right wing’s desire to return the constitution to pre-feminist language, for obvious reasons. We must protect these constitutional rights (and amendments).

We must be vigilant - submit proposals and make comments at www.flcrclc.gov

You can also watch videos of the hearings at http://www.fl.channel.org/

Hope to see all of you at the meeting on June 13 - bring a friend or two -Food and refreshments are available from the Chilis’ Menu.

If you would like to receive E-MAIL NEWSLETTER, please write to WPINELLASNOW@ATT.NET.  It contains our newest chapter information and a calendar of progressive events around the Bay Area. 

Like us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/24142951402/ 

We always meet on the third Tuesday of the month. Also the National Board will be meeting on Thursday, June 29th. Any NOW member is welcome to attend. The Conference itself begins Friday morning at 9am. The election for National Officers will be on Saturday, July 1st and will close on Sunday at about 4pm.  

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HOW DO I JOIN NOW? IT'S EASY .... 

Just go online to www.FLNOW.ORG and on the page it opens to, click on JOIN NOW .... it's that simple .... 

Please affiliate with our chapter, West Pinellas NOW.  Our code is FL 0640

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RFRA:  RELIGIOUS FREEDOM OR LICENSE TO DISCRIMINATE?

(Religious Freedom and Restoration Act) 

Our chapter will be sponsoring a very important and timely event very soon at the UU Church in Clearwater on Nursery Road. This presentation is to heighten our our understanding of some recent Supreme Court opinions and how it affects each and every one of us. The same issues will be raised in several new upcoming cases that the Court has agreed to hear this session.  

The primary purpose of this event is to inform the public about RFRA and the dangers it poses to our nation in terms of the separation of church and state and              more specifically, as it is used to discriminate against women, the LGBT community, religious minorities, etc. 

We will also discuss upcoming legislation in our own Florida Legislature that will profoundly change the lives of many citizens in the most negative ways          possible.  Our representatives intend to legalize discrimination under the guise of religious freedom; we must be aware and ready to lobby against these                   egregious potential  laws.  

We hope that all of you will help us in advertising this event. Please advise other progressive organizations in our area about this presentation as it is of                      utmost  importance to all of us. 

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“WOMEN ON WAVES”

MANY OF YOU HAVE PROBABLY READ ABOUT OR ARE FAMILIAR WITH A FILM ENTITLED VESSEL WHICH TELLS THE STORY OF DR.               REBECCA GOMPERTS, THE DUTCH DOCTOR WHO BEGAN THE ORGANIZATION WOMEN ON WAVES TO BRING ABORTION CARE--BY BOAT--           TO WOMEN IN COUNTRIES WHERE ABORTION IS STILL COMPLETELY ILLEGAL.THE FILM FOLLOWS THE EVOLUTION OF HER JOURNEY                FROM OFFSHORE ABORTION PROVIDER, TO NOW, A PROVIDER OF ABORTION PILLS BY MAIL, THROUGH THE SISTER ORGANIZATION            WOMEN ON WEB. 

THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM THEIR WEBSITE:  HTTP://WWW.WOMENONWAVES.ORG/:

WOMEN ON WAVES WAS FOUNDED 10 YEARS AGO WITH THE AIM TO PREVENT UNSAFE ABORTIONS AND UNWANTED PREGNANCIES BY          PROVIDING  sexuaL HEALTH SERVICES INCLUDING EARLY MEDICAL ABORTIONS WITH PILLS, ON BOARD A DUTCH SHIP OUTSIDE THE            TERRITORIAL WATERS  of COUNTRIES WHERE ABORTION IS ILLEGAL.
IN THE LAST 10 YEARS WOMEN ON WAVES HAS CREATED ENORMOUS PUBLIC INTEREST AFTER SUCCESSFUL SHIP CAMPAIGNS IN IRELAND (2001),                 POLAND (2003), PORTUGAL (2004) AND SPAIN (2008). THE CAMPAIGN IN PORTUGAL CATALYZED THE LEGALIZATION OF ABORTION IN FEBRUARY             2007.  UNFORTUNATELY, IN JUNE 2009 THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT CHANGED THE ABORTION LAW AND CLAIMED THAT THE EARLY ABORTION       SERVICES  WOMEN ON WAVES USED TO PROVIDE LEGALLY ON BOARD THE SHIP NOW FALL UNDER THE CRIMINAL LAW. WOMEN ON WAVES          DISAGREED WITH THIS INTERPRETATION BY THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT.  THE ORIGINAL LAW HAS SINCE BEEN UPHELD AND WOMEN ON WAVES          HAS BEEN ABLE TO CONTINUE ITS ACTIVITIES LEGALLY. 

WE ARE VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS coalition of women who are putting their own lives on hold as they help women               around europe to receive full reproductive health care. PLEASE START TELLING YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE website so that        we can spread the word about this important work, by women and for women. PLEASE VISIT THEIR WEBSITE TO GET THE        WHOLE STORY.

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Dept. of Justice MAY 25, 2015 ISSUE  of "the new yorker'

To Have and to Hold

Reproduction, marriage, and the Constitution.

A WOMAN'S PLACE IS ON THE MONEY

W2O: THE ELEMENTS OF EQUALITY

We at  WOMEN ON 20's Website  applaud President Obama for acknowledging that it's time to put a woman's face on our paper currency. In fact,           for almost a year we've been plotting to petition him to do just that. It struck us, for instance, that most Americans today have no idea that there          was another woman behind Susan B. Anthony --  Elizabeth Cady Stanton -- who was instrumental in ensuring the rights that women enjoy today.

As an organization, it's our mission to make sure that when the new face of U.S. money is chosen, it is decided by We the People in a widely              publicized online referendum from a slate of candidates who embody the values, ambitions and ethics upon which this country was founded. Welcome                  to that voting booth. Explore the site, familiarize yourself with the candidates, learn a thing or two about our currency and what it stands for.  And                  leave with satisfaction of knowing that you've moved the country another vote closer to transforming American history into our story. 

The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote. So it seems fitting to         commemorate that milestone by voting to elevate women to a place that is today reserved exclusively for the men who shaped American history. That           place is on our paper money. And that new portrait can become a symbol of greater changes to come. 

Let's make the names of female "disrupters" -- the ones who led the way and dared to think differently -- as well-known as their male counterparts.             In the process, maybe it will get a little easier to see the way to full political, social and economic equality for women. And hopefully it won't take                        another century to realize the motto inscribed on our money: E pluribus unum, or "Out of many, one."   

WHY BOOT ANDREW JACKSON FROM THE $20?  TWO REASONS THAT ARE GAINING TRACTION:

Andrew Jackson was celebrated for his military prowess, for founding the Democratic Party and for his simpatico with the common man. But as the            seventh president of the United States, he also helped gain Congressional passage of the "Indian Removal Act of 1830" that drove Native American                      tribes of the Southeastern United States off their resource-rich land and into Oklahoma to make room for white European settlers. Commonly known                as the Trail of Tears, the mass relocation of Indians resulted in the deaths of thousands from exposure, disease and starvation during the westward      migration.   Not okay.

THE CANDIDATES

There are currently 15 candidates for you to consider in this first Primary Round of voting.  You may vote for 3 on the Ballot.  The top 3 vote-getters              will advance to the Final Round. When that begins, you may return and vote again. These candidates were chosen from a field of 30 through a vigorous        survey  process involving more than a dozen women’s historians and academicians.  

The candidates on the site are: Alice Paul, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Sojourner Truth, Rachel Carson, Rosa Parks, Barbara Jordan, Margaret              Sanger, Frances Perkins, Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony, Patsy Mink, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. 

RALLY FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

Our chapter participated in the RALLY FOR A BETTER TOMORROW which was held on Saturday, September 27^th in the Walton Center Gymnasium in                    Tarpon Springs.  We've posted some photos on our Facebook page at West Pinellas National Organization for Women. We had atleast 15 members from our own           chapter, one  from Tampa NOW, half a dozen from Pasco NOW and a several members of Pinellas NOW. All in all it was a great day and gave us an                      opportunity to visit with one another.

 The purpose of the event was to gather community activists representing the entire spectrum of the Progressive Community to give their vision of the future,         to inspire action and to remind everyone present of the importance of Getting Out The Vote to elect progressives who support liberal causes, including women’s              rights and equality.  The RALLY featured speakers and organizations representing education, the environment, ethnic minorities, faith, health, LGBT, seniors,         women, youth, elected officials and candidates. Media celebrities, Rob Lorei of WMNF Radio and the PBS television program Florida This Week (which can                 be seen at 8:30pm every Friday evening)  and Patrick Mantegia, the editor of the tri-lingual newspaper La Gaceta, attended and gave very informative and                       inspiring presentations.  

Each speaker was tasked to give a 5-10 minute speech to present three specific actions  to be taken by individuals, businesses, organizations and/or local,                        state or federal government that would result in a better tomorrow for  their particular issue/cause/organization. Everyone was so well prepared and we                      learned so much from every speaker. It was a really inspiring day and if you missed it, there's always next year. 

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RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP

Many of the members of our two merged chapters have allowed their memberships to lapse. We hope             you will take the time to go online to either the Florida State NOW website or the National NOW website         and renew your memberships. http://www.NOW.org  and  http://www.FLNOW.org ....This is especially                  critical this year as we gear up for many important elections in November. Be the most informed person               in your circle of friends by joining or renewing your NOW memberships. Be part of the solution and join          the largest feminist organization in the world. We need you to be one of our activists- to get involved in               local issues, to volunteer for candidates and to be a vocal proponent of women's issues in our community. 

The Florida Legislature continues to attack our right to full health care and only a  concerted effort of all                the women in the state of Florida can change that. We need to help elect women-friendly legislators and             to raise the community's consciousness when legislators waste their precious 60 days in session with                more gun bills, raising speed limits and giving corporations more and more tax breaks. We need the                       passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in Florida and and then on to the U.S. Constitution. Women will              never be equal citizens of this nation until we are inside that document. We need to teach our neighbors             and legislators that even in the 21st Century, women do not have Constitutional equity in this country.We also need to convince our Senators to support CEDAW, a United Nations Treaty that the USA has never               ratified.  It is a crime that America is one of only 7 nations who have not signed on to the "Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women" along with such nations as Somalia and Iran. 

PLEASE JOIN US NOW !

 UPDATES________________________________________________

Our Chapter is also very involved in a new statewide campaign being led by the Tampa Bay Area Caucus           of which our chapter is a member. We intend to write our own reproductive justice legislation modeled     after New York State's Gov. Andrew Cuomo who has also submitted to his Legislature a bill containing a               10 Point Women's Equality Program.  We hope to make our chapter a vital part of this statewide           movement. 

Please don't miss our next meeting. And please consider bringing a friend or two with you. We need to       increase our membership numbers if we are going to continue to engage our Florida House and Senate             in our fight toward equality. 

Please call if there are any other issues that you would like to discuss or materials we can gather for you          to bring to the meeting. 

If you did not receive our latest newsletter which outlined a number of upcoming activities of interest to              our community, please send an e-mail to bjstar@att.net so we can forward one on to you. We try to make            our newsletters as helpful as possible and to include as much local information that we know about.                    Please call or write to get on our e mail or mailing list NOW.