Thoughts on Denver, and going forward

We rarely post here in a blog format, as this site was originally created as an organizing tool for our efforts that took place in Denver. We will now be blogging here more often as the efforts of 18 Million Voices move forward. For details about our Denver efforts, please visit our one and only sister page at http://rhrdenver.blogspot.com

Going forward, the Founders of 18 Million Voices will be continuing to advocate for women's rights, but will be working mostly offline for now. The journey we all took together this past summer was an immense effort for many who were involved, and our successes exceeded all of our expectations. We again want to thank all those that got involved, supported the stated mission, and worked cooperatively and tirelessly to achieve it.

It is to our great dismay that there were some individuals involved in these efforts that clearly had less than noble intentions, and that joined us in order to change our mission to their purposes. Through the deep commitment of many core members and Organizers, those individuals' efforts failed.

It is now with great disgust that we find another individual attempting to maliciously, willfully, and knowingly exploit the 18 Million Voices name and the reputation that we have built around it, knowing full well that the name is in use, and was created by us. This individual has co-opted the name 18 Million Voices to promote her own efforts which have NOTHING whatsoever to do with the mission or purpose of 18 Million Voices, and she continues in this endeavor despite our repeated demands that she stop doing so.

The Founders of 18 Million Voices, who are the creators of this website and the 18 Million Voices name, feel this individual's behavior is a sad and pathetic commentary on humanity. It clearly would be quite simple for this person to use their own creative resources and think up a unique name for their efforts, but they choose instead to co-opt and exploit the 18 Million Voices name without our authorization or approval, despite our repeated demands that they not do so.

While some may say imitation is the best form of flattery, this individual's efforts do not constitute imitation but are simply a pathetic and sad act of blatant plagiarism and exploitation. As many of you know, we indeed changed our name at the beginning of these efforts immediately upon discovering the name we originally chose was in use by another group--which is what any decent, law abiding citizen WOULD DO. We post about this here only to share our great disappointment that any grown adult would behave in such a sad, childish, malicious, and ugly manner, and to assure all of our members and supporters that we are indeed aware of this individual's behavior and are taking the necessary steps to address it.

18 Million Voices continues in its advocacy for women's rights, and will remain candidate neutral as we move forward in our new activities. We will continue to bring the same level of professionalism and attention to detail to our efforts that we always have, and we will continue to welcome those who are committed to the cause of women's rights to join us in this journey.

Please stay tuned...we will be blogging about our activities and our thoughts more frequently in the future.