Originally posted at Elephant Journal.

Get Ready To Be Inspired.

Why do so many people look for heroes outside themselves and outside their communities? March On! reminds us that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. March On! features the stories of individuals and families that made the conscious decision to take time off work and other “householder” responsibilities to dedicate their time, energy and resources to march for equality at the National Equality March on October 11, 2009.

Not only do their stories inspire, they serve as important reminders that we are all connected in a seamless yet diverse tapestry. Our lives and and our stories are connected as are our burdens and sorrows. The courage, bravery and the spirit of the activist resides in us all. This film and the lives it showcases serve as a wake-up call and a beacon of light for all people interested in equality, from the still unpassed Equal Rights Amendment for women to repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell etc. Our voices matter and the collective is powerful!

March On! Their Stories Are the Reasons We March premieres in Los Angeles on Friday, November 12, 2010 at 7:30PM at the Renberg Theater. If you’re in LA, join us. If not, spread the word and look out for future screenings.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igDVtlFh59Y&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Photo courtesy of March On! Their Stories Are the Reason We March film.

…and it ain’t over. The iconic Gloria Steinem reminds us why the rights we enjoy should not be taken-for-granted and the miles we have yet to tread.

(Reuters) – A message to all those confident young American women from pioneering feminist Gloria Steinem: For all the advances in women’s rights in the past 40 years, equality remains a distant hope.

As she turns 76 next week, the woman who walked the front lines of American feminism in the 1960s and 1970s — often in a miniskirt, big glasses and buttons with colorful expletives — celebrates her good health and “huge, huge leaps forward.”

But Steinem has plenty of bones to pick with government and society when it comes to women’s rights.

American women workers still earn only 70 cents to men’s $1, women are barred from combat, women’s health care premiums are higher and raising children is not counted as productive work, she says.

While abortion is legal in the United States, Steinem says the reproductive freedom she fought for is under attack, as seen in efforts to include limits on abortion in the health care reform debate now in Congress.

“I thought if we got majority support around issues, that we would succeed, and that is not necessarily the case,” Steinem told Reuters on Tuesday before being honored by the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project in Beverly Hills.

For those awaiting a woman president of the United States, Steinem throws more cold water on their hopes, claiming she will likely not see that in her lifetime.

Steinem supported Hillary Clinton in her drive to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008 and credits her with “changing the molecules in the air a little bit” by making millions more men and women imagine a woman president.

Yet, she still maintains that the United States is not ready to elect a woman president because “female authority is still associated with a domestic setting and seems inappropriate in a public setting.”

“It will take longer, but when we have someone, she will be more likely to actually represent the majority interests of women,” said Steinem, founding co-editor of Ms. magazine.