THE GAUNTLET was thrown February 16, 2012.

Men in the GOP held Congressional Hearings on Contraception accepting only the testimony of other men. All were professional religious men, some who have no wife or children of their own. It was a clear declaration of war.

It is called The War against Women. What possible reason could there be? I am truly puzzled. Men say they are responsible for protecting women. Is that it, a strange lop-sided view of gender roles?

See, women too are responsible for protecting men. It is what we do. From the basics of biology to culture norms and individual choice, women use every fiber of their beings to care, nurture and protect. Why does this have to be so difficult? We are parts of the same whole –WE. Men AND Women.

There it is: The old battered glove, the swordsman’s equipment. The Gauntlet. It’s right there, in front of the podium, on the floor in the Capital Building in Washington D.C. Since last February, Congressional aids and elected public servants walk around it. The building staff vacuum around it. It can’t be ignored.

Women march, they make signs. We yell, we write, we cry, we give our money to women’s charities. Yet, we haven’t picked-up the Gauntlet. Not yet. We aren’t fighting back. We are trying to communicate.

What are the men of the GOP so afraid of? We aren’t mythical Mexican Re-conquistadors. We are US Soldiers, Doctors, & Firefighters.

We aren’t fictional black Muslim militant Malcolm-X wannabe’s. We are their sisters, their nieces, and we are their daughters.

We aren’t the unwitting and naive puppets of of some Vast Lesbian Nazi Communist Green Liberal Athiest Conspiracy. We are your Mothers. We are your Wives.

Why have you declared War on Us? We don’t want to fight you. We love you. You and I, WE are part of the same whole. We are not your surrogates, we are human beings, just like you. We, men AND woman are partners in this world, in this life.

Yet, we continue to hear jokes about body parts. We hear pseudo-science justifying violence against us. It’s not from teenage street music or the bravado drunken young sailors, this rhetoric comes from the mouths of our elected officials. We hear it from The Men of the Republican Party.

Legislation is continually introduced that would politicize our medical care . Funding is threatened that would only remove opportunity and increase poverty . Ears and minds stay closed, no matter how many ways we try to reach you. Maybe you hear, but don’t listen.

So, I am attempting one last time before Election Day, 2012

That old glove is collecting dust on the floor in the Capital Building. We haven’t even reached for it. Not yet. Not really. Men of the GOP also, have not reached to retrieve it - -to withdraw the Gauntlet.

Women truly want you to be sure of your choice. Are you consciously making us your adversaries?

We aren’t Barbarians at the Gates. We work with you. We live with you. We sleep next to you.

We are right here. We aren’t going anywhere.

So, I ask.

Do you want us to pick-up that Gauntlet?