DL Opinion columns

Don’t tolerate today’s anti-women trends — by Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

“Why did we bother?” That’s my cousin Jan’s response to the current dismissal of women. She and I were prominent activists in what was called the Woman’s Libration Movement back in the sixties. We demonstrated and advocated for gains like equal pay for women. We made progress for women power by gaining representation on executive positions and boards. Jan created the Kathie Rasmussen Women’s Theatre for plays written and directed by women. I created Chattanooga’s Women’s Council on Diversity after 9/11. But now, we’re disheartened.

How can we not be discouraged! For 28 years, Republicans and Democrats came together every year to lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery honoring women who served and died for this country. Women’s Veterans Day has always been a bipartisan event, a simple act of recognition for servicewomen veterans. But not this year! Servicewomen buried at Arlington are ignored for their sacrifice per DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) which has become akin to a curse word. Rejecting DEI, the Navy, Air Force, and Space Force wouldn’t participate. The ceremony was canceled. 

Further, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed the names of every POC (person of color) and every woman from a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington Cemetery. Erasing them from the history of the fallen is just the beginning. Hegseth also struck women and POC from promotions lists, supposedly as an anti-DEI move. 

Understand that the underlying basis for Hegseth’s decisions goes far beyond DEI and intersects with the Southern Baptist Convention vote to eliminate female pastors. The controversies surrounding the role of women had been ongoing for decades, but during a recent meeting, Al Mohler, head of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, claimed the Bible demanded that Southern Baptists ban all women pastors and their churches. His ban reflects the growing trend marking women as threats to both church and country among conservative evangelicals and MAGA advocates. 

The consequences of this ban-the-women-pastors movement are far reaching. With male-only leadership, accusations of sexual impropriety will be dismissed as female exaggeration. Even more unnerving, is the attempt to repeal the 19th amendment to our constitution which gave women the right to vote.  One such advocate is Doug Wilson, co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. 

Wilson, a self-described Christian Nationalist, wants to repeal women’s rights and has defended slavery. Wilson also wants our country to be a Christian theocracy. He created a Washington D.C. congregation of which Hegseth is a member. Hegseth now holds monthly prayer and worship service at the Pentagon where he invited Wilson to deliver a sermon, making Christian nationalism mainstream.

Mobilizing against this normalization of Christian nationalism might require a new Women’s Liberation movement reflecting the energy and passion of the 1960s. A good example of such action is one of the women fired in Hegseth’s purge was 3-Star Navy Admiral Nancy Lacore. Protesting the label of ‘DEI recruit’, she’s chosen to run for elected office for the House of Representatives and has already won the Democratic primary in South Carolina. The state is in chaos politically following the passing of S. Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, but she still might be able to flip a Republican House seat in November’s midterm elections. And her visibility will generate much-needed discussion about Hegseth’s decisions and the emerging Christian nationalism behind them. 

Our country has a good many people who are, and will be, affected by the movement towards a Christian theocracy, but women will be on high on the list.  It’s time for us women to be energized, protest, vote and run for office. Advocate for women’s rights and power.  It’s now or never!

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