Organizers of the Women’s March-Fort Worth are expecting about 1,900 people to join Saturday afternoon’s march through downtown.
Marchers will meet in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse. The group will start on Main Street, left on 3rd Street to Commerce Street, right on 4th Street to Main Street, turn right on 9th Avenue in front of the Fort Worth Convention Center, and circle back to the courthouse on Houston Street. The march is expected to start at 12:30 p.m. and continue until about 3:00 p.m..
According to actionnetwork.org, the march is meant to show solidarity with those demonstrating in Saturday’s march in Washington D.C. Brienn Richter, an assistant organizer, said the mission of both events is to give women a voice to express their views on issues.
Marches are organized in Dallas, Austin, Houston, Denton as well as in cities all over the U.S..
A statement on the event page reads in part: “The Women’s March will send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world, that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”
Richter said, “We’re not marching against something. We’re marching for what we are for.”
Erin Blythe, another organizer, said people will be advocating for various issues like planned parenthood, Obamacare, LGBTQ rights and the inauguration.
“I voted and didn’t feel heard,” Blythe said. “I called my legislators and didn’t feel heard. Now I’m marching with other women who don’t feel heard. I feel invisible. By marching we will be visible and physically present.”
Event organizers publicizing the event on actionnetwork.org and Facebook have stressed that the march is non-partisan and does not condone any acts of physical or verbal aggression.
The event page invites anyone to join.