2.25.25 Action Center Weekly Update

Side With Love
Action Center 2025

Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we will provide a brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment, share immediate actions you can take, and provide helpful resources to deepen knowledge and practice of our collective work to side with love.   

Nothing is inevitable. All justice movements are powered by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and build a loving world.  You are not alone.  We have power. Together we can practice and win a just and loving world where all of us thrive.   

Remember we build strong movements when we take action together. Organize teams and networks that can take these actions together. For support on practical organizing skills and support check out our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.    

Democracy 

We are witnessing the consolidation of power in the hands of the few instead of the many. Democracy is a process and practice grounded in our values of interdependence that affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all. We are the majority, but it will take organizing our communities to harness our power to defeat authoritarianism and build a truly multiracial democracy.   

The Update:   

This week threats to democracy continue to be marked by overreach, the consolidation of wealth, and clear assertions of deputized and vigilante violence. The administration, under the helm of unelected oligarch, Elon Musk, continues expulsion of federal workers, while enriching himself through dangerous government contracts. Federal workers and their supporters showed up outside federal agencies to demonstrate their support for government workers and uplift how these jobs are critical to the health and safety of the everyday people. People continue to make their voices heard through advocacy and in town halls across the county. While advocacy is one tool, we are witnessing the need for more community-based solutions to keep people safe. At an Idaho townhall a woman was illegally “detained” by two unidentified plain clothes men. Soley appealing to those in power will not save us, building our own power through community connections and commitments to our collective safety are paramount in the fight for democracy.   

Act: 

  • Phonebanking with Center for Common Ground to call Wisconsin voters about the April 1 election 

  • PDI (call at your own schedule and leisure)

  • Tell your representative to vote NO on the SAVE Act - a voter restriction law that will require all voters to show their birth certificate or passport to register and in effect suppressing millions of people in the US from voting from UUs for Social Justice) 

 Read: 

Join:  

  • The Gathering: Fortifying Ourselves for the Long Road Ahead 
    Monday, March 10, 2025 8:00 PM -  9:15 PM ET 
    Join Side With Love for this monthly call to action and community.  Our launch will be led by Side with Love Staff Nicole Pressley and Rev. Cathy Rion Starr with Katia Hansen sharing about the immigration context, and Rev. Lane-Mairead Campbell sharing lessons on showing up for and with trans folks in Western New York. bēheld will ground us with live singing. 

  • Check out Vision Change Win to learn critical safety and security measures that will be critical to all democracy organizing in the coming days.  

Watch/Listen: 

  • Love in a F*cked Up World from Barnard Center for Research on Women with Dean Spade and Thảo Nguyễn 
    Wednesday, February 26, 7PM - 8:30PM ET 

Gender & LGBTQ Justice 

Every body is sacred.  Side With Love unapologetically affirms that trans people are divine, that abortion is a blessing, and that no one is disposable.  Attacks on identity is a part of a divide and conquer tactic that relies on the belief that one group's safety comes at the expense of another group's safety.  Solidarity is the moral and strategic mandate of our time, and we must rise to challenge these attacks and build communities of care and safety for all.     

The Update:   

“None of this...criminalization is new.  There is just renewed political will to enforce it at a different level.” - Janis Rosheuvel, Executive Director of Building Movement Project  

In the past week, significant political developments have impacted LGBTQ+ individuals and reproductive rights. President Trump’s administration has faced legal challenges after issuing executive orders restricting gender-affirming care for transgender youth; federal judges have temporarily blocked these orders, citing constitutional concerns.  Additionally, the administration opened an investigation into Maine’s policies on transgender athletes, potentially jeopardizing $250 million in federal school funding. Dr. Margaret Carpenter, a New York-based abortion provider, faces legal challenges and a $100,000 fine in Texas for not appearing in court. This case tests state-shield laws designed to protect doctors in states where abortion is legal. These and other political developments are occurring within a society that continues to threaten trans lives at interpersonal levels, especially transgender people of color, as in the case of Sam Nordquist, who was recently murdered in New York.  All of these events underscore how the capture of the courts and the history of criminalization through our law enforcement agencies pose an immediate threat to a LGBTQ+, Black and Brown, and disabled people and communities and all who assert their rights in the face of authoritarian power.  

Act: 

  • Resist Anti-Trans Legislation in Your State 

  • Navigating Personal Safety while Taking Action as an LGBTQ+ Young Person 
    Guide from the Trevor Project 
    As protests and actions continue in the wake of these political developments, LGBTQ+ people are among those who can face higher risks of retaliation and violence.  No matter your age, this guide can provide a foundation for how to keep yourself, and your community, safe. 

  • Donate to the Pink Haven Coalition 
    The Pink Haven Coalition creates networks of safety and direct support for trans beloveds and their families who need to relocate, access healthcare across state lines, or stay as safe as possible where they are. 

Read:  

  • Zine: Capturing Our Voice 
    Featuring articles, art, and poetry, this zine from URGE (Unite for Reproductive & Gender Identity) examines Reproductive & LGBTQ+ Justice in the South through the perspective of young Alabamians. 

Learn:  

Join:  

Watch/Listen: 

Decriminalization & Immigration 

Criminalization and dehumanization are a political and spiritual project. We must dismantle the false idea that safety for some must come at the expense of safety for others. As people of faith, we cannot affirm the worth and dignity of all while privileging the well-being of a chosen few. We proclaim a future where care and safety are abundant because our relationships are cultivated through mutuality, not domination.   

Migrant detention and deportation. The school to prison network and mass incarceration. Unceasing police violence toward Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. Bills making protest and resistance movements illegal. Laws criminalizing poverty, gender identity and expression, sex work, abortion, accessing and providing health care. All of these forms of criminalization are used by the state to disrupt, disempower, and dehumanize our communities. 

The Update:   

Last week marked the 83rd anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced removal and incarceration of more than 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II by the United States government. Also last week, Trump began deporting people to Panama when direct deportation to their home countries was not possible. Some of them have been sent to migrant camps in the jungle, while others have been forcibly returned to their countries of origin. In addition, he signed a memorandum ordering the construction of a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 immigrants. With its long history of indefinite detention, torture, and human rights violations, Guantanamo should have never been opened. 

As Mijente wrote this week, “But we’ve been here before, and we know how to fight back. Across the country, our hubs are mobilizing, organizing, and defending our communities. From hosting Know Your Rights trainings to leading direct actions at their state capitol, our compas are ready to push back.”  

Act: 

  • Add your name to demand Congress shut down Guantanamo Bay and stop Trump from imprisoning our neighbors, friends, and family in a military prison. Sign here. Sponsored by: United We Dream (UWD) & The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) 

Read:  

  • Congregational Flocking with Immigrants from Liberating Lineages 
    This toolkit is chock full of tools and resources for your congregation and wider community, framed with the idea that “we can keep one another safe.”  

Learn: 

Join:  

  • Rooted in Our Power: Defending Immigrants Movement Call 
    Tuesday, March 4, 2-3:30 PT/4-5:30 CT/5-6:30 ET 
    Tuesday, April 1, 2-3:30 PT/4-5:30 CT/5-6:30 ET 
    Hosted by Detention Watch Network; Co-sponsored by The Action Lab, America's Voice, Make the Road New York, Make the Road States, and United We Dream.   

Watch/Listen:   

Climate Justice 

A just and loving world is a flourishing world. If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence.  

The Update:   

Communities across the country are reeling from the recent cuts to federal agencies.  Just last week, we saw cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), among others.  These cuts are hurting communities of all sizes in every corner of the Nation.  These cuts could have a number of catastrophic impacts; fewer EPA employees could result in significantly more pollution; fewer US Forest Service workers could result in an increased risk of wildfires.  Fewer USDA staff supporting farmers could result in increased risk of runoff which means more flash floods.  Fewer scientists studying things like bird flu means greater risk of unchecked infection and under resourced critical response.  Fewer FEMA representatives means that when climate disasters strike, as they inevitably will, our communities will be at increased risk with less resources and supports.  As these cuts to services continue, it’s more and more clear that when disaster strikes, no one is coming to save us.  The good news is that we have everything we need to cultivate communities of care and build community resilience.  Now more than ever we need to show up for each other and our communities.    

Act: 

  • Call your elected officials to oppose these cuts that put our communities at risk.  Adapt the script below to encourage preserving and expanding protections from climate disruption.   

Read:  

Learn:  

  • Identify the ways these cuts are harming your community. 

  1. Search for articles in local or regional newspapers.  For example, here’s an article that covers how cuts to wildfire crews affect multiple states: Trumps cuts to Federal Wildfire Crews Could Have Scary Consequences.  

  1. Talk to your neighbors.  When things are hard, pulling away and isolating is a common response.  Connecting with your community builds relationships, relationships build movements, movements build resilience. 

Join:  

  • Grounded, Resilient, and Responsible: Responding and Organizing in Authoritarian Times 
    Tuesday March 4, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET 
    Join us for powerful stories from the organizers who helped write the Grounded, Resilient, and Responsible toolkit.  Learn how these tips can help you meet this moment.  Now more than ever, we must show up for one another.  Join us to deepen your commitment, strengthen your skills, and stand in solidarity for a just and liberated future. 

Watch/Listen: 

2.18.25 Action Center Weekly Update