Dozens march for women’s rights in Sycamore days before presidential inauguration

SYCAMORE – A crowd of almost 100 area community members rallied in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse Saturday to share their message: Women’s rights are human rights.

The rally for women’s rights in Sycamore was held at the same time as the national Women’s March held in Washington D.C., which began in January 2017 in response to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential win. President-elect Trump is set to be inaugurated for a second term on Monday.

Safe Passage, a DeKalb-based organization that advocates for everyone’s right to abuse-free relationships, organized the event. The agency’s prevention and communications manager, Beth Ganion, was the lead organizer of the local march.

“This turnout is better than I ever could have imagined,” Ganion said.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 7

Safe Passage executive director Mary Ellen Schaid holds a sign after speaking to a crowd that gathered at 9 a.m. to advocate for women's rights on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, near the DeKalb County Courthouse in downtown Sycamore. The local rally was held on the same day as the national women's march organized in Washington, D.C. days before Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration. (Camden Lazenby)

Ganion reminded the crowd of the gender wage gap, which in 2023 widened for the first time in more than 20 years, according to an annual report from the U.S. Census Bureau. She also noted that domestic violence is a leading cause of death for women in the U.S.

Jennifer Yochem, community services coordinator for the city of DeKalb, also spoke Saturday. She encouraged the crowd of nearly 100 to not overwork themselves, at home or at their jobs. Yochem said she believes that increasingly antiquated societal expectations often fall to women, including tasks such as cooking for the family. A 2020 study from Gallup found that although women make up nearly half of the American workforce, they’re still doing most of the household chores.

Safe Passage Executive Director Mary Ellen Schaid reminded the crowd that violence against women happens in DeKalb County. She referenced recent local killings in DeKalb and Sycamore.

Kimberly Hurley, 56, and her husband Robert Hurley, 58, were found shot to death Nov. 22 outside their home on Maplewood Drive in Sycamore, and a gun was found on the man, police said. Kimberly had filed for divorce a week before, according to court records. Jasmine Dejournette, 31, was beaten to death at her DeKalb apartment on Jan. 7. Police arrested the man she was dating, Devonne L. Montgomery, and charged him with first-degree murder.

“No one deserves to be abused, and that is absolutely true,” Schaid said.

Once speeches concluded, the group of women and some men marched around the front sidewalks of the courthouse before settling along State Street to display their rally signs.

The signs were visible to passersby and motorists and were emblazoned with messages declaring women as “the future of the world” and proclaiming women’s rights as human rights. One sign urged for the protection of transgender children while another bore the words “cleavage is not consent.”

Over the two-hour period the group stood in subfreezing temperatures, and received dozens of honks from passing cars. Only one driver appeared to heckle the group.

Some participants expressed outrage over the coming administration.

Lynn Batalden, 57, was among those who prominently displayed signs to Sycamore travelers on Saturday.

“I am extremely angry and disappointed that we would vote for a leader that’s been convicted of sexual misconduct, and that he’s putting up leaders that also are accused of sexual misconduct,” Batalden said.

In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996. Since winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump has nominated several men who have been accused of sexual misconduct to cabinet positions.

Batalden, who brought multiple signs to the march, said she was frustrated that a woman has yet to be elected to the country’s highest office because she think’s of the U.S. as a beacon of hope for women’s rights across the world.

“The other reason I’m here is for abortion rights, for Planned Parenthood and all the things that that represents,” Batalden said.

While the march’s speakers did not mention political figures by name, top issues were discussed.

Schaid spoke directly about abortion rights, which were a major topic during campaign season at the federal and state level. Multiple states have taken up the issue after Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to an abortion, was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

“We know that women don’t have rights to their bodies in this country right now, to take care of their bodies,” Schaid said. “Even if you don’t believe that abortion is right, we have women dying because they’re miscarrying and they can’t get medical care in our hospitals throughout this country.”

Dorthy Coleman, a DeKalb resident who was holding a sign that read “Homicide is a leading cause of death for women in the United States! Protect Women!,” said she came out to the march because she wanted to support Safe Passage’s efforts to promote women’s rights.

“What woman is not interested in women’s rights?” Coleman said when asked why she attended the march.

She said she thinks she would have attended the march regardless of who was elected president.

“I know that the new administration coming in I think will make things worse for women, and things have already been made worse for women with the depravation of abortion rights and reproductive rights,” Coleman said. “I’m concerned about how much bleaker things may get.”