As usual with such events, a group of women dressed up as handmaids, in red gowns and white bonnets, from the television adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale by novelist Margaret Atwood. They held signs with statistics on domestic violence against women, mortality rates among women denied abortions, and details about victims of the child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, tying into the current discussion around President Donald Trump’s connection with him. These wordings included “38% of all domestic violence victims will experience homelessness” and “Thirteen-year-old Katie Johnson was raped by Donald Trump and Jeff Epstein.”

Also included among these signs were topics that touched on Transgender women. One sign read, “Trans people are over 4 times more likely to be victim to violent crime” and another “41% of women have experienced intimate partner violence. That # is 54% for trans/nonbinary people.”

As part of the administration's current attacks against Transgender people, the Department of Justice is looking at methods to prevent Trans people from owning guns in the wake of a shooting in Minneapolis, as the media widely reported the perpetrator to be a Transgender woman. Many on the right are using this tragedy to argue that there is a link between mental instability and being Trans, despite most shootings being perpetrated by cisgender men. Republicans have been very adamant against red-flag gun laws in response to such deadly shootings but have since changed their tune when it came to targeting Trans people. 

Zoe, one of the co-leaders of the Defund Musk Women’s Rights group told the SGN what she believes about the matter: “I think it’s absolutely disgraceful that when the majority of shootings are committed by white men, they won’t even begin a dialogue on gun control. They refuse to call them domestic terrorists. However, anytime a nonwhite male is the one to commit gun violence, they immediately jump to outlawing the person. They don’t care about gun violence; they care about hate.”

Speeches

The handmaidens continued their march through Pike Place, sparking conversations from locals and tourists alike, before heading to Overlook Walk, where a podium was set up around the base, From which speeches were given by Wylie, Evans, and Wilson.

“There will be times when the struggle seems impossible,” Wylie said. “You may ask, ‘Is there no one who can help us?’ and you may say, ‘I don’t like it, but there is nothing I can do about it right now.’ But freedom is a pure idea in the 249th year of this grand experiment, the one we call America. It's not too late to take actions, both big and small, to throw off that yoke that they seek to put around our necks. We must become more than ourselves; we must become bigger than our fears. But what chance do we have? The question is, what choice do we have?” 

Evans gave a similar speech as she stood in protest of the Trump administration. “He refused to be a second class citizen,” Evans stated, recounting her grandfather Lee Evans' experience participating in the protests at the 1968 Olympic Games, one of the most significant displays of Black power and unity in sports. “With the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the clear agenda in Project 2025, it is clear what is being laid out — they are trying to make us second-class citizens again, and we refuse to be second-class citizens. And we must fight back. 

“I left the Department of Justice shortly after Trump took office, because it was becoming a department of injustice, and right now, here in Seattle, we need a city attorney that’s a fighter that aligns with our values.”

Wilson gave a personal speech on how access to abortion in Washington potentially saved her life. “I learned that there were many problems with the fetus,” she said. “Heart, brain, spine, everything, and I made the very difficult decision to have an abortion. And it was about as heartbreaking and difficult as you might expect to have an abortion at 24 weeks. And I also felt so grateful that I was able to make that decision, because at that time, looking around the country, I was so aware that so many women in so many states were losing the right to make that kind of choice.” 

Reflecting on the damage that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has inflicted on women, she added, “And it’s not just about rights, it’s also about access and affordability. Because it’s one thing to have the right to make a choice about your body and your family, but it’s another to actually have access to the healthcare and to have that healthcare be affordable to you.”

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