The following story was written and reported by Christina Rose, Native Sun News Associate Editor. All content © Native Sun News.
Sunny Clifford chats with Gloria Steinem, nationally recognized feminist leader and spokeswoman of the women’s liberation movement in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, at the Ms. Magazine Awards. Cutline: COURTESY/Ricky Cheung
Kyle activist tackles women's rights and wins
By Christina Rose
Native Sun News Associate Editor
NEW YORK—In 2006, New York City Filmmakers Rose Rosenblatt and Marian Lipshutz flew to South Dakota to try to understand what was happening with women’s rights. The state had declared abortions illegal and Cecelia Fire Thunder, the first woman tribal president in Pine Ridge, was in the midst of impeachment hearings for her determination to open an abortion clinic on the reservation.
When Rosenblatt and Lipshutz walked into the room, they were struck by the attendance of three young people, including Sunny Clifford and her twin sister Serena. For Sunny Clifford, Oglala, little did she know how much those hearings would impact her life.
“I met Rose and Marian in an open discussion that Cecilia had on her presidency. We (Sunny and Serena) stuck out like sore thumbs as being the only young people there.” The sisters followed Fire Thunder through her impeachment and protested the abortion ban. “Cecelia’s impeachment was a really trying time for women in South Dakota,” recalled Clifford, who became a featured subject in the New York filmmaker’s documentary, “Young Lakota.” The film will appear nationally on PBS in November of this year.
And so began Sunny Clifford’s foray into the arena for Women’s Rights. Fast forward to May 13, 2013, when Sunny Clifford, now 27, found herself the winner of the Marie C. Wilson Emerging Leader Award, named for the founder of Ms. Magazine. The Ms. Foundation called Clifford “a Native American reproductive rights advocate” who won “for her bold and courageous leadership in the fight to ensure that emergency contraception is included in Indian Health Service clinics.”
At the awards ceremony, Clifford found herself in the company of many famous women. “I was actually sitting next to Gloria Steinem,” Clifford said. “She told me, ‘You are the next generation.’”
“The other awardees were amazing,” Clifford gushed with humility, still in awe of the event weeks later.
Clifford’s win began with an anonymous nomination after she filed a petition on Change.org. “I started a petition under Sharon Asetoyer, from the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center, who did a study and found that Plan B was not only not available over-the-counter, but wasn’t available on the Pine Ridge Reservation,” she said.
The petition quickly became the most popular one for women’s rights on Change.org and received over 100,000 signatures. “Shelby Knox contacted me from Change.org and she helped me push the petition along,” Clifford said. Her petition reads, “In the US, women age 17 and over have the legal right to get emergency contraception -- sometimes called Plan B or “the morning after pill -- over the counter and without a prescription at their pharmacy. But not, it seems, if you're Native like me. I live on a reservation in South Dakota and when I went to get emergency contraception, the IHS workers told me I'd need to drive to a clinic over an hour away. I don't have a car and neither do many people on the rez.”
Asetoyer, Pamela Kingfischer and the ACLU filed a complaint against the federally operated Indian Health Service and the government. Because of those actions, the Plan B emergency contraception is now available over-the-counter on the reservation.
Cecilia Fire Thunder said that while Plan B is available, the problem is getting the word about it out to women. Fire Thunder said, “There needs to be more acceptance and understanding that sexual activity is rampant,” even among girls as young as 12 years old.
Looking towards the future, Clifford continues to be concerned about women’s issues on the reservation. “Sex education needs to be addressed. The doctors at IHS are often just passing through and don’t have an understanding of the cultural differences. We need to get more people on board.”
Clifford, who was the first of her siblings to graduate from college, said she hopes that the award inspires other Native American women to go after what they want. “Mom raised me to be who I am and said that I could be anything,” she said.
Clifford’s mother, Corrinne Ruff, agreed and said she always told her children, “Be anything you want to be.”
Living now in California, Clifford is happily married to Gerald Connoyer, Jr. who is serving in the Marines. However when they got married, Clifford opted not change her name or wear a ring. “I don’t have to,” she said with a laugh.
(Contact Christina Rose at christinarose.sd@gmail.com )
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