Seeing over 100 women and men gather in our state’s capital to lobby their legislators to help women everywhere is quite a sight to see. But, in fact, that is just happened on June 20, 2006 for Women’s Advocacy Day. Organized by NC Women United, the event provided an opportunity for women to solicit support from legislators for bills that would benefit women in NC, including one of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina’s legislative goals, medically accurate sexuality education.

Participants met during the morning at Meredith College to learn some talking points on the issues as well as to practice what they would say to legislators. Legislators are usually very busy, so it was important that everyone practice an elevator speech. Some of the bills included an increase in minimum wage, one that would correct medical inaccuracies and biased language in the public school sex-ed curriculum, an increase in funding for rape crisis centers, and one that would allow for same-day registration at one-stop voting sites. Later in the morning, participants met outside the legislative office building for a press conference where NC Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue gave a short but moving speech. Other word of encouragement came from Rep. Rick Glazier, Rep. Alma Adams, Rep. Marian McLawhorn, Sen. Ellie Kinnaird. Everybody was inspired in spite of the heat! Then, after a brief update on the status of the bills, everybody went off in search of their legislators to ask for their support. Several organizations contributed time and energy to make the event a great success, including NARAL Pro-Choice NC, Planned Parenthood, and Equality NC.

Pictures from 2006 Women's Advocacy Day: