On Election Night, Kristin Birdsey forced herself to go to bed early so she could still have hope. The next day at work, many of her female co-workers could not stop crying.
To help them grieve, she bought them margaritas.
Now, nearly a month after Donald Trump’s election, Birdsey said she is well past grief — but not yet ready to quietly accept a Trump presidency, which she fears will infringe upon the rights of women and immigrants.
On Jan. 21, 2017, a day after the Republican real-estate mogul is inaugurated, Birdsey will march in the District of Columbia, protesting Trump’s presidency alongside dozens of other Gainesville residents.
They plan for two buses to transport the group Jan. 20 to the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington. So far, one bus has 56 passengers assigned to it, and the other has been ordered to meet demand, she said.
The oldest rider is 76. The youngest is 7, traveling with her mother.
“That’s really moving, too, seeing that this speaks to women across generations,” Birdsey said.
Birdsey, a 33-year-old small-business owner, first planned to march with her best friend but soon discovered how expensive a trip for two would be. As what she first thought was “a shot in the dark,” Birdsey created a Google form and posted it on the Facebook page of the Gainesville City of Resistance Group, an anti-Trump group formed after the election.
Her form received about 90 responses. Since then, interest in the chartered buses has only continued to grow. The Gainesville chapter of the National Women’s Liberation group has been redirecting its interested members to Birdsey, causing the interest to blossom further.
Although Birdsey has attended some rallies as an individual, including those in Gainesville following the election, she never intended to become the organizer of a mass migration like this trip.
“It’s sort of like a giant field trip but for adults,” Birdsey said.
For the first bus, riders will pay $115 per ticket but are encouraged to donate more if they can so others who may not be able to afford the ticket price can pay a reduced fare. Graduate students have reached out about a reduced ticket price, and Birdsey said she wants the trip to be accessible.
Men and women will make the trip, but the group is mostly women. One rider, Birdsey said, paid in cash and has yet to tell her husband, a Trump supporter, that she plans to attend the march.
Regan Garner, a UF Honors Program adviser and a member of the steering committee for the Gainesville chapter of NWL, plans to attend the march with her 68-year-old mother and aunt. She fears the status of women’s reproductive rights under a Trump presidency, along with the president-elect’s ideas about deporting undocumented immigrants.
“The only way people have made a difference is through direct action, is through protest, is through fighting,” Garner said. “We were not given Roe v. Wade. Women demanded it.”
Independently, other women have planned their own trips to the District for the march. Jessica Terkovich, a 19-year-old UF criminology and law freshman, had planned to attend the inauguration before Election Day, back when she assumed Hillary Clinton would be the one onstage.
“At first it was a big disappointment when we found out we didn’t win,” Terkovich said. “I got to the point where I’m motivated to go out and do something and keep working in the next four years to ensure Democratic representation locally, and in our state and in our country.”
Another bus will be leaving Gainesville for the inauguration — but this bus will be filled with 16 students taking a non-partisan historian’s perspective. The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and the Center for Gender, Sexualities and Women’s Studies organized the trip post-election. Donors have helped to fund the trip.
The group will document the inauguration and the women’s march. Paul Ortiz, the program’s director, said the students will interview attendees and present their reporting Feb. 22 in Pugh Hall.
“The whole world is going to be watching what transpires in Washington, D.C. that week,” Ortiz said. “History is going to be made, and the University of Florida needs to be there.”
Protest Information
- First bus tickets are $115 or higher donation
- Ticket price for second bus to be determined
- 56 set riders, more interested
- Leaving 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20
- Arriving in Washington, D.C. on Saturday morning
- Returning to Gainesville on Saturday evening
