Honoring the Past and Fighting for the Future
March 8, 2025
Julia Olson and Juliana v. United States Youth Plaintiffs. Photo by Robin Loznak
As a daughter born in the 1970s and the burgeoning of women’s rights, I was told I could do anything when I grew up. The world was open to me, to dream big, choose my career path, marry or not, make decisions about my own body, choose to have children or not, explore the big cities and the quiet mountains on my own, and help leave the world a better place for generations to come. Before my first birthday, the US Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment by the required two-thirds vote to send it to the states for ratification. No generation of American women before had been born into this kind of freedom and opportunity.
Yet, even in the era of women’s liberation, there were always signs of gender discrimination and harassment. In fourth grade I was blocked from attending a talented and gifted math program because I was a girl. I witnessed sexual misconduct against girls in my church. In middle school the girls all knew which teacher to watch out for inappropriate comments. In college I took a model mugging class to learn self-defense because of the threat of sexual violence on campus. And in my first paid job as a public interest environmental lawyer, I was sexually harassed by my male boss. I’ve witnessed sexism, disparate treatment, and pay for women lawyers throughout my career. Today, men accused of all of this kind of misconduct against women sit at the height of power in our federal government.
Looking back, I can’t imagine what my life would have been, and the lives of generations of girls who followed, were it not for the women who rose up and advocated for our equal rights and for the democratic ideals that held the possibility of our futures.
The opportunities I have had to become an environmental and human rights lawyer, to work for equal pay, to fight sexual harassment, to found Our Children’s Trust, and to argue in our justice system on behalf of the climate rights of children, is a path first blazed by women like Charlotte E. Ray, Belva Lockwood, Eunice Carter, Pauli Murray, Constance Baker Motley, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Allred, and so many more. Know their names and teach their stories. They had far more barriers, but they fundamentally changed unjust systems that locked women out of our democracy.
I’ll tell you what I want to be as a grownup—I want to be a protector and defender of children of every gender to grow up with dignity, joy, and health, without the fear, lies, chaos, and despicable conduct the current majority leaders in Congress and the White House lead by. I want to secure children’s constitutional climate rights and politician proof the clean, renewable energy transition so that no child develops asthma from the tailpipes of old analog ICE cars, fossil-fueled power plants, and climate-stoked wildfire smoke.
I want all of us to stand bravely together against the bullies, rising above fear, with dignity, in the halls of justice, in our communities, in our schools and businesses and every institution, in every way we can to stand up for what our democracy has the potential to become.
Don’t let them censor or silence you. Don’t let them break your spirit or tire you out. Don’t let them take away your vision and your hope and your dreams for a better day tomorrow. Don’t let them numb you.
I want this moment to light you up. As he breaks things, we need a discipline of readiness to step in with our vision and plan for the future. We need to be on offense, just like those incredible women who came before us. Defense didn’t win women rights. Offense did.
We’re getting ready to head back to federal court, friends, on behalf of the youth of our nation. He won’t get away with it.
Join us.