An estimated 8,000 people marched through downtown Ashland Saturday to voice opposition to the new administration of President Donald Trump. The march was one of hundreds that took place across the country the day after Trump’s inauguration.
The marchers surged through Ashland’s Main Street, chanting and carrying signs with messages such as “Women’s Rights Are Not Up For Grabs” and “Love Not Hate Makes America Great.”
The march led to a rally at Lithia Park, where protest organizer Samae Horner called on the crowd to resist returning to a past era when racial, ethnic and sexual minorities were legally discriminated against …
“We will not go back to a time when members of the LGBTQ community could not get married, or be by their loved one’s side in the hospital … We will not go back!”
Co-organizer Sharon Dohrmann said many people were surprised by President Trump’s election because they believed the country was moving in a politically-progressive direction during the Obama years.
“And this election taught us we were wrong,” she said. “That if we’re not careful, if we don’t stand up for what we believe in, that things will start to get taken away. We won’t continue the forward progression we thought we were on.”
Sharon Dohrmann says she and others are considering how best to channel the momentum of the Women’s March into an ongoing political movement that pushes back against the Republican-controlled Congress and the new president.
