“I’m proud to say the first time I voted was for a woman president,” said Danni Siminerio, who attended the rally with her friend Lauren Cagnetta. The two young women heard about the event from Linda Brosseau, who they met as regular attendees at Hedwig and the Angry Inch performances. “We’re superfans,” Siminerio said.
Amanda Harmon (left) and a friend bought their shirts at the after-party, and Harmon borrowed a “F*** Trump” trucker hat from a musician in one of the bands. Harmon, a 47-year-old Harlem native, said this election has been eye opening. “Hillary’s ascension has brought out some things I think I knew but didn’t admit for lack of confidence. You get used to misogyny and just function because it’s reality, but it’s like, wait a minute. I’ve kept myself small, and I don’t need to do that anymore,” Harmon said.
Lisa Cannestraci is a co-owner of Henrietta Hudson, but has no qualms about mixing business with politics. “I was VP of Marriage Equality USA when DOMA was struck down, activism is kinda my thing,” she said, “This is how I pay the mortgage.”
Brother to event organizer Carolyn Marosy (and Best Dude winner at the 2014 NYC Lebowski Fest), Michael Marosy came out to support his sister. “Her wife Beth is here, and Beth got upset that if Trump were elected, all of a sudden they would go from legal to illegal. It has to stop, and if this can help, I want to be a part of it,” Michael said, “I’ve always been against misogyny.”
“For the last two weeks this election has gotten into some interference from the U.S. government against Hillary Clinton,” said Margarita Lopez,who served as a New York City Councilwoman from 1998 to 2005. “When I saw this happening, it was like an alarm five star fire to me, I decided that a day and a half before this election, I needed to be on the street to make it clear Donald Trump don’t belong in the White House.” Lopez is originally from Puerto Rico, and has been openly gay since age 19.
Alex London, 29, is originally from a small village in Russia. “When you’re gay in a small town you think you’re crazy,” she said, “then you come to the West Village!” The March Against Misogyny popped up randomly in London’s Facebook feed, so she decided to attend on a whim. “It seemed like a smaller one where every person counts, especially when I saw there’s a marathon the same day. I’m only one person but I brought two friends,” she said.
“As women and members of the LGBT community, we’re just really tired and wanted to draw attention to this,” said Stacy Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn and co-host of the event. “How any woman can vote for someone who calls us pigs and rates us on a scale of one to ten, and thinks that’s ok, is unbelievable in 2016.”
“Everybody says they’re upset about things, but they’re not doing anything about it,” said a frustrated Sarge Gamble, a long-time friend of Carolyn Marosy. Gamble pointed to the assault and abuse issues plaguing the NFL as just one example of the misogyny she sees all around. “It’s going to be a close election, though, because a lot of people aren’t gonna vote because they don’t want either choice,” Gamble said.
Some members of the Sirens Womens Motorcycle Club of New York City came out to Sunday’s events, among them Beth “Pitbull” Fletcher and Donna “Tito” Loria, who said they attended because of the stakes of Tuesday’s election. “We can’t afford to have it be anything else,” Fletcher said.
Donna Deady spoke to the Voice fresh off the stage, where she’d been belting it out with fellow musician protesters (she performs regularly with Carl Wyatt & the Delta Voodoo Kings). “As a mother and grandmother, we can’t have this locker room talk. It’s important not only for women but for men. I have a grandson, and even with the men in my family, we just don’t tolerate that.” Deady said this election is especially important to her not just as a woman but as a black woman, because her right to vote was so hard-earned.
One of the night’s most prominent vocalists, Lisa Zwier sang several covers at the march’s after-party. Among them were Bonnie Raitt’s “I Will Not Be Broken” John Lennon’s “Woman is the N***** of the World,” and David Bowie’s “Heroes.” Zwier, a New Jersey resident, said she plans to spend Tuesday praying. “It’s terrifying hearing people who want to repeal the 19th amendment who are voting for a mainstream candidate,” she said.
Diane T. (left) and her friend were eager to show off their photos from the march earlier in the day, pointing to the image of protesters spelling out RESPECT with large letter signs as an emotional moment. “That it was a gay and lesbian event was really important, and young and old. There was a lack of people of color, which surprised me,” Diane said.
“I cancelled all my plans,” said Lauren Cagnetta, recalling her invite to the March Against Misogyny by friend Linda Brosseau. “In New York you can find a lot of people who are fake, but this is a genuine love fest. I locked hands with people I’ve never met before,” Cagnetta said. She attended the day’s events with her friend Danni Siminerio, and the two likened the safe space at the rally to their experience in the community of Broadway superfans.
Tara Lynne’s band Dolly Trolly performed at Henrietta Hudson on Sunday night, where they kept things as political as possible. She quoted one song’s chorus back for reference: “I wanna take a late night walk alone in a dress just because it fits me nice.” Lynne, lead composer and lyricist for the band, wrote that song in 1999. Another song, “All Boy Party,” dealt with the hypocrisy of politicians who take away rights while leading closeted lives.
Gerard Kouenhoven plays guitar and sings for the band Dolly Trolly, who performed at the march’s after-party. While their lyrics aren’t always political, they played primarily topical songs at Henrietta Hudson. “We tap into these kinds of things,” Kouenhoven said, “We’re very honest in our writing so if we’re pissed off, it comes out in the music.”
Omer Nehmad and Eran Heizler stumbled into Henrietta Hudson by chance, because they heard live music. “But we support anything anti-Trump,” said Nehmad, who is visiting the U.S. from Israel with Heizler. “We talk about [this election] I think more than the U.S., because it will affect us a lot, too. We do have some people supporting him, but the majority want her to win,” Nehmad said.
Linda Brosseau invited two young friends to join her at Sunday’s events, who she had met outside of a Hedwig and the Angry Inch performance. “Seeing the generational dots connected today is really powerful, that’s why I invited them. They’re next, they need to know how it is,” Brosseau said.
Canadian resident and member of Democrats Abroad, Pat Hogan is originally from the U.S. and came back for a week to do volunteer work for Hillary. “I felt I had to be in the U.S. for the election,” said Hogan, a former West Village resident who has lived in Canada since 1969. Hogan left the event shortly after speaking to the Voice, to try to get in some more phonebanking shifts.
Bass player Mary Feaster played with several of the bands on Sunday night. “This election has really highlighted for me how much misogyny is present in how Hillary is perceived and reported on,” said Feaster, who is trying to stay positive nevertheless. “For all its flaws, America is great, not to quote Trump. There’s a lot of stuff I can do here I couldn’t do anywhere else.”