We have to protest about our rights. We're not criminals. We want to be here because we're seeking the best future for our families.

Whatever their protest was about, what they were attempting to do to the flag - which represents a lot of rights and freedoms that we all have - was wrong for a lot of reasons. Not only does it desecrate the flag, but it also desecrates the effort and the lives that have been laid down to protect those rights and freedoms for all of us.

Are your rights to protest more important than my rights to grieve?

Whenever women protest and ask for their rights, they are silenced with the argument that the laws are justified under Islam. It is an unfounded argument. It is not Islam at fault, but rather the patriarchal culture that uses its own interpretations to justify whatever it wants.

a great advocate for social justice . . . she fights for affordable housing, civil rights and economic empowerment.

State intervention just helps to establish discrimination and stereotyping of sex workers as victims. Society should be mature enough to make these choices without the state intervening.