A few weeks ago, I faced a dilemma familiar to many new moms. I was about to go into in a long meeting at work, and I knew I was going to need to pump before it was over. So, I decided to pop in my Freemie cups, bring my pump and push through. It was a typical day for a new mom who works full time, but in my case, being a D.C. Councilmember whose meeting was a public hearing on homeless services, I made the news.

Last year, I broke up with hormonal birth control. Specifically, I stopped taking the Pill -- after nine continuous years of carrying around those little purple packets. I decided to stop taking the Pill to give my body a break, and to get to know my natural cycle without the influence of artificial hormones. I reaped those benefits soon after quitting hormonal birth control, but little did I know that the process would further strengthen and radicalize my already robust feminism.

When I think about activism, it follows a familiar script: writing letters and signing petitions, donating to causes and candidates, knocking on neighborhood doors on a cool fall day.

The DC Childcare Collective is a grassroots group that provides safe, fun childcare as a form of political solidarity with social justice organizations in the DC area. The Collective believes that the people who want and need to be involved in grassroots organizing — often women and people of color — shouldn’t be prevented from attending community meetings  because they have childcare responsibilities.

Gender exists everywhere in our lives and structures our movements, including our bowel movements. As a genderqueer person, I make daily decisions about which public restroom to use, since there isn’t often a restroom for my gender. From my experiences in both restrooms, I can tell you they each have their pros and cons. Let me walk you through it.