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For the Lobby Day on Tuesday, November 10 I was picked up at Bryn Mawr at 6:30am by my two coworkers, and then we were off to Harrisburg.  While in the car I put informational packets into the folders I had prepared the day before.  Meanwhile, my coworker in the passenger seat was quickly calling to cancel roughly half of the appointments she had made with senators’ offices: we had gotten word minutes after I got in the car that SB75 was slated for a vote that afternoon; and as such our afternoon meetings with those offices were no longer relevant.  Instead, we informed them that we would be stopping by informally earlier in the day to drop off information.  In addition to unfortunately cancelled meetings, we were unsurprised though still disappointed to learn that we would be short many of our volunteers, as the inclement weather was preventing them from joining us at the capitol.  Much like the server failures from the day before, the snow was an unfortunate reminder of how uncontrollable things in life can severely impact well-made plans.

Ultimately we got to the Capitol Building and down to room 14E.  My supervisor was already there with the bulk of the volunteers who had been able to make it – maybe twelve to eighteen total – and was beginning to brief them on how the day would work.  As it played out, the morning was spent with us coordinating small teams of volunteers to attend meetings with senators’ offices (the morning meetings were not cancelled), where they would talk to the offices and give them the folders with our informational packets, an additional packet with PA-specific human trafficking data brought by Polaris Project, and any SB75 postcards addressed to that senator (though not all senators had any).  For co-sponsors of the bill, volunteers should thank them for their support and request that they talk to their House colleagues about supporting the bill in January (pending passage).  For anyone not a co-sponsor of the bill volunteers should encourage support, identify themselves if they were from that senator’s district, and try to engage whatever staff they were talking to with information about human trafficking.  Meetings took place all morning, and volunteers were in and out of the room as they were sent to new offices.  My part during this time was to put together the folders as they were sent out; and more simply to staff the room and help out any of our staff or the volunteers who might need it.      

After the slew of morning meetings there was a press conference in the Main Rotunda hosted by three of the bill’s main co-sponsors: Senators Greenleaf, Leach, and Dinniman, who were then followed by a Salvation Army employee and a representative from Polaris Project who was joining us for the day.  My supervisor introduced each speaker and also spoke very briefly.  During this I took pictures to be used in our organization’s social media, and at request posted to my own social media about what was happening.

Following the press conference we did drop-by’s of all remaining Senate offices.  I was sent with the woman from Polaris Project to four different senators’ offices.  At each one we introduced ourselves and why we were there that day, and gave the folder to whatever staff member we were speaking with.  One office was particularly welcoming, another was empty, and two others were very brief encounters.

After that I returned to 14E, from which we were going to be led to the Senate Chamber at 12:45 to watch the beginning of the session.  We did in fact get to see the session open; but after a series of superficial announcements the senators immediately moved into party caucuses, which we had known would happen.  However, as we learned at that point from staff members, there were enough other issues being discussed that SB75 likely wouldn’t come to a vote until later in the day than we were hoping.  So, after leaving the chamber and returning to 14E we focused on cleaning up the room and preparing to potentially visit House members after the vote.  Most of our volunteers left at that point – it was getting late enough that they needed to get back home or catch the last train out. 

Ultimately, another coworker and I also had to leave before it came down to the vote.  While driving back, though, we received word from our two remaining coworkers that SB75 had passed with no objections – moving it into the House for next year.

At the end of the day I very much believe we did something important: we demonstrated support and dedication to the cause of anti-human trafficking, represented within SB75.  And while it is difficult to gauge what – if any – difference our presence on that day made to the passage of the bill, I was encouraged to see the community aspect of having facilitated the gathering of interested, engaged community members.  Many had never done anything like this, but all were enthusiastic about the cause and what they were able to do to help – something key to feminist organizing. 

On an off-hand note, I would also like to address an uncomfortable moment during the press conference. One of the senators – all of whom were male – addressed women as key players in movements like this.  Particularly, he addressed the audience of almost entirely women, and then told them to stand and hold hands with him in a circle, in representation of their collective power.  Not only do I have problems with a man telling a group of women about their role in their own liberation and activism in general; but to have the ignorance of his privilege so clearly demonstrated in the way power dynamics allowed him to casually give a group of women commands like “stand up” was incredibly frustrating to watch.