“I can’t stand Trump,” Josh Bennett said as he stood out in the cold waiting for the Women’s March on Washington rally to begin on Jan. 21, 2017.
Bennet came to Washington, D.C. from Pittsburgh, PA.
“Republicans do not care about women’s rights at all,” Bennett said. “Equal pay for equal work is completely correct.”
Bennett was one of many men showing their support for women’s rights. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to show their commitment to standing up to President Trump.
Mark Mayes from Santa Barbara, CA came to the march because he believes the changes that are being made are going to affect our nation in a negative manner.
“A lot of political changes are threatening civil liberties and posing the possibility that anyone that isn’t a white straight male could be alienized. A lot of dangerous historical precedents could return,” Mayes said.
Mayes believes that all people should be valued no matter the person, everyone should be considered important.
“[Men being here is] as important as women or anyone that is any kind of orientation; gender, gender identity, any sexual identity, you name it,” Mayes said.
Mayes was in attendance at the march in 2009 after the inauguration of former president Barack Obama.
“It strikes me how important it is that the United States has been built on being an inclusive society as sort of a net force over our history, so it is important to defend some of the gains that were made in the Obama years and that’s why I’m here.”
Mayes said it felt like a “full circle” experience.
“We’ve made all this progress the last 8 years, we can’t take that for granted.”
Some men attended to directly go against Trump supporters. Don Stopper was attending the march all the way from Tampa, Fl. Stopper was wearing a bright red hat similar to the ones Trump supporters wear to mock Trump supporters.
“The election of Trump is devastating to our country,” Stopper said. “I just hope we can last the four years.”