Written by Debbie Deland / Vp@flnow.org

Among the other important resolutions, the Gaza Crisis Resolution was neither presented nor debated at the National NOW Conference due to running out of time. Although some good resolutions were passed, there was no time for the very important and more controversial ones. Almost all the 2026 resolutions were sent to the Board. Even the straightforward Book Banning Resolution was sent to the Board.

Summary of Gaza Crisis Resolution
The Gaza Crisis by the numbers: 38,000 women and girls killed 47/day; 11,000 women and girls sustained lifelong disabilities; tens of thousands of women now heading households alone without income, support, or access to essential services; 2400+ documented violations of the ceasefire by the Netanyahu regime; 181 out of 203 days attacks by this regime, famine rampant 470,000 facing catastrophic hunger, over 80% of buildings damaged or destroyed. Also horrible is that 589 aid workers have been killed, including 397 UN staff (highest in UN history). In violation of International Law, Humanitarian Aid is blocked, with less than half of aid trucks and 14% of fuel trucks blocked. The situation is dire and already out of the news. Netanyahu’s regime cannot be conflated with the Israeli people or American Jewish people. Netanyahu is a cruel dictator with no conscience.

The resolution calls for:
1. Strict, verified ceasefire compliance with independent international monitoring
2. Immediate, unconditional opening of all border crossings for humanitarian aid
3. End to expulsion of humanitarian organizations
4. Independent investigation into aid obstruction and confirmed famine
5. U.S. military aid conditioned on compliance with international humanitarian law
6. Gender-responsive recovery with women-led participation
7. Accountability for all violations of international law
Lobby for Key Legislation in Congress to address the crisis. Through NOW
lobbying, press releases, and social media postings, drive support.

SEE GAZA CEASEFIRE, HUMANITARIAN AID OBSTRUCTION, PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN RESOLUTION

Other Resolutions that Were Not debated go to the National NOW Board for review and approval (Membership must ratify these at next conference). Some may not be approved by the Board and will then wait until the next conference. See other pending resolutions submitted by FL NOW members:

CONDEMNING THE BANNING OF BOOKS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES

ACCESS AND INFORM ON 2 MODELS FOR PROSTITUTION REFORM

COMMUNICATE OUR KEY POSITIONS AND MOVE TO A MORE TRANSFORMATIVE FEMINISM

ALLOCATION OF REBATES TO QUALIFYING CHAPTERS

Written by Kaitlyn Kirk / Communications@flnow.org

This past week, the Florida NOW board and members attended the 2026 NOW conference in D.C. Here are some of the business day highlights.

We had 24 total resolutions on the floor on Sunday. We got through 15. Access them all through the membership side of the national website. The collective threw out one resolution from the 2026 consent agenda, which is the leftover resolutions from last year. 

The consent agenda resolutions that passed were (#3 thrown out): 

1. RECOGNIZING THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT IN CONGRESS
2. FIGHT AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY 
3. LONG-TERM FAMILY CAREGIVING

5. NOW Stands for All Members of the LGBTQIA+

6. An Intersectional Feminist Response to the Big Brutal Bill (Big Beautiful Bill)

7. Resolution in Opposition to War and Its Disproportionate Impact on Women, Children, and Other Marginalized People

8. Resolution to Demand Action to Support Survivors of Epstein Trafficking List and Other Predators

The resolution that was thrown out was one in support of identity verification to access adult content online. I spoke and motioned to throw out the bill, stating that I appreciate and empathize with the intention, but have greater concerns about the consequences and the implementation of obtaining such sensitive data. I also brought up that Republicans are calling just about everything porn right now. Books are being banned left and right. Republicans are coming for abortion pills accessed by the internt too. It would be devastating if Florida ID blocked Plancpills.org. We need more accessible information, not Republican-controlled internet censorship and security risks. I briefly mentioned my childhood as a queer kid in rural Idaho with unsupportive parents, and the importance of internet access to kids in difficult homes. Many other people got up to speak. I was glad to see the collective understanding and engaging with the nuance of this topic and others. The surveillance state is no joke!

The collective also voted in an amendment to update some of the language on resolution 8, making it stronger and more accurate.

Then we discussed and voted on bylaw changes. There was one change that passed. Unfortunately the one we wanted did not pass. Florida proposed a bylaw change on the requirement around district candidates. We have had two empty seats on the national board for years because we don’t allow two people from the same state. I spoke for this change because of the need for southern representation on our national board, regardless if they are all from Florida, saying “you can’t beat fascism without the south”. The other 2 southern chapters have not produced a candidate and are very very small as it is. Florida is massive and has a diversity in people and thought. This was voted down and some people (from blue states nonetheless) got to the microphone to call us “lazy” and to say we needed to “work harder” to find more people outside of our state. That was completely insensitive and uncalled for. That is that blue state elitelist I cannot stand. We work our asses off down here and feel the brunt of everything. We are happy to support any candidates. We want southern representation on our national board.

Then we went to our new resolutions. 17 new resolutions were up this year. We only got through 7 of them.

Passed 1. RESOLUTION ON REMOVAL OF TRUMP FROM OFFICE

Passed 2. EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT RESOLUTION: CONGRESS MUST ACT IN THE FIRST 100 DAYS

Passed 3. CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTERS RESOLUTION

Passed 4. RESOLUTION FOR WORKER ECONOMIC EQUITY AND OPPOSING THE DE-PROFESSIONALIZATION OF WOMEN’S OCCUPATIONS

Passed 5. RESOLUTION CONDEMNING THE BANNING OF BOOKS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES

 Passed 6. RESOLUTION DEMANDING UNITED STATES RATIFICATION OF THE EQUAL REMUNERATION CONVENTION

Passed 7. RESOLUTION: THE NEW GENERATION OF NOW

8. RESOLUTION FOR LESBIAN ONLY SPACES

9. RESOLUTION: SINGLE SEX PRISONS

10. Resolution: Gaza: Ceasefire, Humanitarian Aid Obstruction, Protection of Women & Children

11. CONDEMNING DEHUMANIZING LANGUAGE TOWARD WOMEN

12. ALLOCATION OF REBATES TO QUALIFYING CHAPTERS

13. National Organization for Women to Incorporate the Slogan “BELIEVE HER”

14. Resolution: Assess and Inform on 2 Models for Prostitution Reform

15. Resolution: Communicate Our Key Positions and Move to a More Transformative Feminism

16. RESOLUTION “YOU GUYS” AND OTHER GENDERED TERMINOLOGY WHEN ADDRESSING GROUPS

17. Transgender Women in Sports

The highlighted resolutions will be referred to the national board and brought back next year to be debated and voted on.

I was disturbed to see what I believe were three transphobic resolutions brought forward. We only started on the first one’s discussion when we ran out of time. I felt a bit better seeing the pushback and discussion for what I would call the most undercover of the transphobic resolutions. I was absolutely appalled by the “single sex prisons” resolution…. Let’s make sure these don’t pass next year. 

Debbie, Alex, myself, and others helped put together 5 of the resolutions:

Passed 5. RESOLUTION CONDEMNING THE BANNING OF BOOKS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES

10. Resolution: Gaza: Ceasefire, Humanitarian Aid Obstruction, Protection of Women & Children

14. Resolution: Assess and Inform on 2 Models for Prostitution Reform

15. Resolution: Communicate Our Key Positions and Move to a More Transformative Feminism

17. Transgender Women in Sports

The youth resolution, created by Bell Pastore and other young feminists, was at first tabled. This was obviously upsetting and sent a message to the young feminists in the room. Thankfully, someone had a change of heart and asked to change their vote. The vote was redone and enough people changed their vote to pass the resolution supporting young feminists.

We started discussion on #8 but ran out of time to vote on the resolution.

In 2026, politicians, corporations, and institutions across the United States will celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. We will be told to honor the founding colonizers, wave flags, and participate in a carefully curated story of freedom, democracy, and progress.

But for many people, there is another story.

The United States was not born on empty land. It emerged from centuries of settler colonialism, Indigenous displacement, genocide, slavery, land theft, and racial capitalism. The same founding generation that spoke eloquently about liberty also built a society that denied freedom to Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, women, poor people, and anyone who fell outside their narrow vision of political belonging.

The mythology surrounding the nation’s founding often obscures how the founders themselves viewed the Indigenous nations whose lands they sought to control. The Declaration of Independence itself contains one of the most famous examples, accusing King George III of unleashing “the merciless Indian Savages” against the colonies.

These words were not simply rhetoric. They helped justify policies of expansion and conquest. By portraying Indigenous peoples as inherently violent or uncivilized, colonial leaders created a moral framework for seizing land, breaking treaties, and waging war against Native nations.

The contradiction runs through the nation’s founding documents. While proclaiming that “all men are created equal,” many of the signers enslaved human beings. While demanding self-determination from Britain, colonial settlers denied the sovereignty of Indigenous nations. While championing liberty, they built an economy dependent upon slavery, trafficking, and territorial expansion.

Every advance in justice has come not from the generosity of those in power, but from generations of people who organized, rebelled, resisted, and imagined a different world.

Indigenous nations survived campaigns of removal, warfare, boarding schools, and cultural erasure. They defended their lands, preserved their languages, maintained their traditions, and continue to fight for sovereignty and self-determination today.

Enslaved Africans resisted at every stage of slavery. They escaped, revolted, sabotaged plantations, built maroon communities, preserved cultural traditions, and struggled for liberation.

Workers organized unions in factories, mines, farms, and fields. Women fought for political participation, reproductive autonomy, labor rights, and freedom from patriarchal violence. Immigrants built communities while confronting exclusion, detention, and xenophobia. Disabled people demanded dignity. LGBTQ+ people challenged criminalization and social exclusion. Civil rights organizers confronted segregation, voter suppression, and white supremacy.

The history of the United States is therefore not simply the history of presidents, generals, and founders. It is the history of ordinary people refusing to accept the system as it was.

These struggles produced cultures of resistance that continue today. At 250 years, the question is not whether the United States deserves celebration. The more important question is what, exactly, is being celebrated.

If we celebrate only the colonial founding, we celebrate a morally wrong and sanitized history. If we celebrate only military victories and national expansion, we erase the people who paid the price for that expansion.

But if we honor the generations who resisted conquest, slavery, exploitation, and exclusion, we tell a different story.

The United States at 250 is not merely a nation founded in revolution. It is also a nation shaped by centuries of struggle against the inequalities embedded in its founding.

The future will not be determined by the myths we inherit. It will be determined by what we choose to build next.

As we mark 250 years of this colonial project, we should remember not only the architects of power, but the generations who challenged it, and the generations who continue to.

The most meaningful way to honor the past is not through celebration alone. It is through continuing the unfinished work of justice everywhere.

See Amy Goodman’s interview with Rebecca Nagle for more.