A lively energy took hold at the 2025 Santa Barbara International Women’s Day March, organized at De la Guerra Plaza to protest the divisions ignited by the Trump administration and to bring people together instead.
“This is an issue of separation, and we can’t afford to stand against anyone. We are together,” said Michal Lynch, who has spearheaded Santa Barbara’s Women’s March since 2017. About 6,000 people gathered and marched that year, while about 400 turned out for this one, held on the first sunny afternoon all week that had no wind or rain.
“I was here at the first one and it was amazing,” recalled Andrea Vicars, a Santa Barbaran and former business owner.
Lynch advocated for participants to grab and mail a “pink slip” to the White House to flood the president with their resistance on March 15. Saying that the organizers had not invited any politicians to speak this time around, Lynch then encouraged the crowd to come up and speak. The community did not fall short in giving voice and support.
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“Even if we are a small crowd, we can be big,” said Adelaide Ortega, who spoke with Eyeshine, a support group for the visually impaired. She described her experience with oppression as a Mexican-American woman and a member of the Chumash Tribe.
UC Santa Barbara students with CALPIRG (California Public Interest Research Group) reminded the crowd how women historically have tended to have less decision-making power when it comes to social justice and environmental advocacy.
Jennifer Griffin, a single mom of a child with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) and director of Family Support for the LGS Foundation, presented the importance of uplifting individuals with disabilities, with the month of March being Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.
The speeches then gave way to dancing, led by Heather Williams and the the pink-adorned women of World Dance for Humanity. “Why dance? Because dancing gives us a common language to show that we will get through this together,” Williams said. “Today, we will dance for the one billion women who will statistically be assaulted in their lives.” The group first moved to “Break the Chain” by One Billion Rising, then grooved with the rest of the rally members to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”
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As the dancing crowd formed into a march up the State Street Promenade, Lynch asked them to be cautious for potential onlookers who might cast insults or fear. The marchers and dancers surging up to Anapamu Street and back again held up their many posters and danced to music from a loudspeaker, encountering cheers, applause, stares, and people filming on their phones. Overflowing the promenade, marchers nonetheless yielded to traffic lights, then quickly regrouped on the other side of intersections.
Residents came with their entire families to march, such as Luke Storey, who came with his wife, daughter, and son. “We’re here as a family to support what should be the norm when it’s not. But also, I want to make sure that I’m raising a son who has empathy for these issues, while supporting my wife and daughter.”
Similarly, Amalea T. was excited to participate, having attended their first ever rally last Saturday, March 3, for transgender rights, also held at De la Guerra Plaza. “I want to do my part in a peaceful way to support rights that should already be here,” said Amalea. “This is the only way some people have.”
“It’s so easy to underestimate the crowd,” said Lynch. “Every single person I’ve met at these rallies was an interesting, caring, and overall nice person.”
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