"We can't sit by and let this happen without fighting back," said Crystal Lett, the Ohio program director for a national advocacy organization called Red Wine & Blue. It organizes suburban women to fight state and local officials on issues from book banning in...
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MI group working to put abortion rights on November ballot
“To not have the assistance of medicine to get, when we know how we can do that and how we can help women and families to be able to conceive babies, that part just is horrible. And then also, too, when you think about birth control, it really should be your choice...
After national backlash, Ohio GOP leader says ‘genital inspections’ won’t be part of anti-transgender athlete bill
Mother and Northeast Ohio Democratic activist Katie Paris knew former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was speaking at the City Club event, however, she didn't know that Huffman was there. "No child, regardless of gender, should be subject to internal genital...
Parents push for parental rights when it comes to school books
“When our children don't get to see people who look like them in the stories they are reading at school then they have to think well, maybe I'm not a part of this society. Maybe I'm not a part of this world.” Proud of our very own Julie Collins and Katie Paris,...
Book bans and the threat of censorship rev up political activism in the suburbs
On a school night in late January, Stephana Ferrell, a 39-year-old mother of two elementary school children in Orange County, Fla., logged onto a virtual meeting with more than 200 other parents around the country who, like her, have been alarmed to see books pulled...
Education advocates rally after Lt. Governor calls for banning certain books
This is an orchestrated culture war started by think tanks out of DC who are using this as a tactic to scare suburban moms and particularly white suburban moms into showing up at the polls and voting for right wing candidates up and down the ballot," said Janice...
Suburban moms push back against book bans in schools
Typically quiet school board meetings have turned hostile across in many communities, with heated debates over hot-button political issues like critical race theory, book bans and mask mandates. A nationwide group of women called "Red Wine and Blue" is working to...
Suburban moms call on groups espousing parental rights to condemn death threats
Source: Reuters Investigates. “School officials and their families should never be subject to death threats and harassment. Full stop. No matter where you stand on specific books or school policies, violence and intimidation are never the answer.” Suburbs Across...
Janice Robinson, NC program director for Red, Wine and Blue, on efforts by parents to push back against recent book banning
Radio Interview with Rob Schofield at NC Policy Watch. Listen here.
Opinion: Let’s not stifle teachers or students
Source: The Washington Post. Thanks to Katie Paris, who is leading a network of about 300,000 people in her Red Wine and Blue group and helping save our democracy, as reported in the Feb. 10 Politics & the Nation article, “ ‘Blue’ suburban moms mobilize to counter...
Recent Posts
Okay, But Why Are Romance Novels Political?
When people think of romance novels, the first thing that comes to mind is shirtless men with windswept hair on the covers of mass-market paperbacks, or maybe the “damsel in distress” main character who is waiting for a love interest to come and save her from the clutches of evil. They’re often not thought of as ‘real’ reading, because they are stories typically written by women, for women, and starring women. But what if the truth is that even the most “raunchy” novels of the genre are deeply political?
Okay, But Why Is Autism in the Headlines?
Millions of Americans are pushing back against claims made by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and President Donald Trump about finding the cause of autism and their promises to find treatments for the disorder. Trump has called the rise in diagnoses of autism “a tremendous horror show.” Many autism advocates – and people with autism themselves – say Kennedy’s and Trump’s statements are misinformed and even dangerous. So what’s the truth? Are autism rates rising? Do we know why? Is it even something that needs to be “cured”?
Do This: Unite Against Soft Censorship
The only way to end censorship, whether it’s the quiet removal of books from library collections or in-your-face book bans, is to fight it head on. We saw a huge example of this – and a big win for free speech – this week when ABC and Disney returned Jimmy Kimmel and...
Watch This: Learn How to Spot Soft Censorship
A lot of people are talking about freedom of speech right now. As Americans, it's a right that has always defined us and that we all hold dear. That’s why the majority of us oppose book bans and censorship. The rise in book bans over the past few years has been well...
Read This: The Quiet Danger of Soft Censorship
We’ve been fighting the explosion of book bans since Red Wine & Blue started. PEN America reports 16,000 book bans in public schools since 2021 — a level not seen since the 1950s during McCarthyism. This increase has been driven by organized groups with a...