By Hannah Crooks
Funny, feisty, and feminist. Those are the words local comedian Megan Gogerty uses to describe the upcoming annual fundraiser for Planned Parenthood Voters of Iowa’s PAC, Canaries Raise Hell and Dollars, which will take place today at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St.
The fundraiser, which Gogerty will host and also describes as “not a polite evening,” will be filled with boisterous performances from standup comedians, a saxophone player, burlesque dancers, including the Heartland Bombshells, and drag performers such as the IC Kings. The Nasty Women in Iowa will be in attendance as well, selling the remaining work from its successful art exhibition in February, which raised almost $3,000 for Planned Parenthood.
Now going on its third year, the event began in 2015, following the Hobby Lobby decision. The decision by the Supreme Court allowed closely held, profit-making corporations to deny employees affordable access to certain forms of birth control if it offended their religious beliefs. Frustrated and at a loss for what to do, Gogerty contacted Planned Parenthood, asking how she could help.
“I felt really helpless about [the Hobby Lobby decision],” Gogerty said. “Yet, this cause is very near and dear to me. I think it’s important to Iowan women, especially low income women and rural women. I thought, what can I do? Well, what I can do is raise a lot of money. So I got a bunch of colleagues together, lots of friends and people in the community, and put on this fundraiser.”
Taking over the organization of the event this year is Misty Rebik, the regional director of strategic partnerships and development at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
“I think it’s really exciting to have so many different artists and performers from all sorts of backgrounds coming together to support reproductive and sexual health,” Rebik said. “And in a way, that’s meaningful to really protect women’s rights, and all people’s rights, to the services that Planned Parenthood of the Heartland provides.”
There’s something to be said, Gogerty agrees, about the feeling of togetherness and community in joining to fight for a cause that affects so many individuals.
“[I’m most looking forward to] the sense of community when people come out. It’s so easy to feel alone, especially now,” she said. “When the state Legislature is floating really alarming anti-woman bills. It’s easy to feel alone, and we’re not alone. It’s great to come out to a room full of people and remember, oh right, other people feel this way, too. Other people are concerned, too, and want to make the state better for Iowans.”
Rachel Lopez, the public-affairs manager for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, thinks she knows what the next step in fighting for women’s reproductive rights entails.“I think we have to continue to resist at every possible turn,” she said. “We have to continue to resist the infringement and encroachment on women’s and men’s sexual- and reproductive-health rights. We have to fight back. That said, we also have to vote. 2018 is right around the corner, and we absolutely can make our voices heard, by making it to the voting polls and letting legislators know they cannot and will not control our bodies.”