Good story! Makes Marc happy. The pro-lifers there still kind of piss me off, though - along with their quotes.

Although - what's everyone think about the pink, and obviously very gendered, "This Center is Now Open" sign? I've got thoughts on it ...but I'd like to hear yours.

This is seriously the best birthday present I could have gotten today.

Truth be told, Marc, I LOVE the color pink :) Especially that bright happy pink used on the sign. I just don't like the use of the color pink when I feel like I'm being marketed "down" to, and I don't get that feeling from this sign.

What are your thoughts?

Lovely weather today huh? YAY for Aurora!!

personally, i think the pink worked REALLY well to create one cohesive color for everything- yard signs, tshirts, etc. I suppose you could have gotten the same out of a blue or green, but the pink was really quite striking.

Dark -

My thought is this: sometimes we kind of get carried away as feminists (please forgive me if I sound like a patriarchy asshole with male privilege), and we live our lives so much for feminism that we forget to be real and enjoy ourselves as people.

We can't walk around tearing down and fighting everything that is patriarchal and sexist, include color schemes. It, after all, is just a color.

I think the political battle for PP to have a clinic there and our victory thereof are much more important than color schemes or anything of the other minute things we feminists get up and arms about sometimes.

I only brought this up because a friend of mine pointed it out. I might be a radical (and sometimes violent) feminist, so sometimes I have to take a step back, take a smoke break and look at the bigger picture. :0)

There's a difference between consciousness raising and political activism. Personal, I'd take political activism anyday.

Marc

Yay! I'm so happy to hear this. In my own town, one clinic had to close due to funding, and I now have to drive to the next town for services. It' not far, but I love to see the organization expand into new places.

I love this massive sign and I agree with lilianna. Both the color and the font of the sign helped to create a sea of pink unity among the pro-PP people at all the rallies and protests. PP has shirts that match this sign that a lot of people wore then, and most of the signs at the rallies used this same font and color scheme.

The fight isn't over yet, but today was a HUGE step for the clinic! Please stop by our blog to read our official statement and keep up to date on what is going on.

Thanks for covering this Feministing!

Marc,

This pink is the official color of Planned Parenthood's "Stand Up For Choice" campaign.

Pink, the most feminine color, can be used to reclaim associations tied to women. Just as some feminists are trying to reclaim the word "bitch" to show that they can take a negative attachment and make it their own source of power, such can be done with a color that has similarly negative connotations (pink = wussy, weak, pussy, etc).

And HOORAH for AURORA!

Whoa, Tara, that rhymed!

Neither here nor there - but we already reclaimed "bitch," in a good way - as in the Bitch Manifesto.

Haha, I was home the other to visit the family, and they were asking about my love life and why I am still not married yet, I tongue-and-cheekly said, "Because there aren't enough bitches around."

I think my mom was ...shocked.

HOORAY! Good to see one open rather than one close!!! I am much cheered by this, thank you for posting!

Nice picture, Jessica. I wonder how can I get the picture on my Lycos blog? I've had trouble including pictures on my blog.

I liked the pink color. For better or for worse, it is considered a girl color. This was an issue about women- men do use PP, but no one cares if they get tested for STIs, the issue was over women getting access to reproductive care. The color was all about reminding people about that, and it made a very strong visual statement at the protest, when the pro-choicers were a sea of a color, and the pro-lifers were all mismatched.