The Right to Love and the Magna Carta

This post originally appeared at Her Blueprint, a blog of the Global Fund for Women.  

For the United States, Friday, June 26, 2015 will go down in the history books. In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires states to license marriages between two people of the same sex and to recognize such marriages licensed in other states. I distinctly remember two months earlier, on April 28, when the Court heard oral arguments in the case.  On that day, all I felt was trepidation. I could not imagine being a citizen of a country that denied such a basic right. 

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The United States Supreme Court slip opinion of Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. _ (2015).

Collective Trauma and Creativity: Pregnant with Possibility

This post originally appeared at Her Blueprint, a blog of the Global Fund for Women.  

Once again, a small African country has erupted in violence. This time in Burundi, mainly young men are in the streets, protesting the president's run for a third, five-year term, despite the two-term constitutional limit. The government has banned the protests, calling the protesters "terrorists." So far, 12 people have been killed, according to protesters, although the government claims only six people have died. Last week's constitutional court decision, ruling the president's third term as constitutional, was met with cynicism, as it is widely believed that the Constitutional Court is under the thumb of the president. Four of the seven court judges, including the Vice President of that court, have fled the country. 

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"Art" as a shadow on a concrete floor. Copyright Deborah Espinosa.

The Power of Voice, Redux, on International Women's Day

US congresswoman Jeanette Rankin speaks from the headquarters of the National American  Women Suffrage Association, 1917. Three years later, American women had the right to vote. Photo: Library of Congress.

This post originally appeared on March 8, 2015 on the Global Fund for Women's Her Blueprint blog.  

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.                                                         

~ Maya Angelou

Today celebrates International Women’s Day, a 104-year old tradition, honoring women’s social, economic, and political achievements and calling for greater equality and recognition of women’s rights. Its history dates back to the suffragette movement in the United States, when women took to the podiums and the streets, demanding the right to vote.    

You may remember that my first post for Her Blueprint,The Power of Voice, shared my experience introducing a public speaking training, grounded in the right to self-expression, to a group of Maasai and Kalenjin women in Kenya — and the transformative effect such training had on them and their community.  To continue reading, please click here.