What did we do in 2022? (Petitions Platform Edition)

By Nakia Stephens. Thursday, December 22 2022

This year, millions of MoveOn members took direct action, and because of your efforts and support, we’ve been able to make progressive change at every level. Signing a petition might feel underwhelming when it comes to taking action on some of our biggest issues that directly impact our lives—from abortion rights, climate and LGBTQ+ rights to fighting for racial and economic justice—but we know when we come together, we can see direct policy change and inspire movements.

Petition campaigns have been around for years, and starting a petition is one of the easiest ways to see change. They create the space for a massive amount of people—just like you!—to come together quickly, and demand our voices are heard. Petitions can grab the attention of your mayor,  city council, or local newspapers and even get so big that they’re recognized and seen by Congresspeople, Senators or POTUS!

Check out this list of some of our petition platform highlights below—and then start your own petition on any issue—big or small—that’s important to you! You’ll notice that some of these campaigns are still ongoing, sometimes petitions result in immediate wins and sometimes they’re just the beginning; the seeds we sow and nurture with years of organizing. These are just a few of our favorite petitions this year (there have been countless). Stay tuned to see the impact you made in 2022 using our petitions platform.

Top Highlights of 2022:

• Impeach Clarence Thomas:  More than 1.2 MILLION MoveOn members demanded accountability of Justice Thomas at a moment in the country where the credibility of SCOTUS was questioned after extremist decisions. We must continue our demands around expanding the Supreme Court and Thomas’ impeachment. Thomas has a long history of conflicts of interest in the service of a right-wing agenda and mixing his powerful role with his interpersonal relationships, showing his inability to be an impartial justice. We organized a petition delivery at the Supreme Court with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, and MoveOn Executive Director Rahna Epting.
• On the heels of the SCOTUS decision surrounding Roe v. Wade, came Clarence Thomas’ remarks that made it clear that LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage were next on the chopping block. We created a petition demanding Congress to pass the Respect for Marriage Act as soon as possible. We won, but acknowledge how much was taken away from the queer community this year. We rallied to protect queer people with a petition to Stop Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill that ended up passing, created petitions targeting state governments in Texas and Virginia to demand trans lives be protected, only for cruel, devastating legislation to move forward. We have to keep demanding justice in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and bodily autonomy.
• Last year, we worked with the Student Debt Crisis Center to center grassroots narratives to push the Biden administration to use whatever tools were necessary to cancel student debt. While student debt relief was announced, it is now being challenged in the courts, and we created a petition to save student debt cancellation and extend the pause on loan payments (which the Biden administration has already done).
  
• Once the news broke about a leaked draft from the Supreme Court of the United States that would essentially overturn abortion, we sprung to action. MoveOn members made countless petitions, and we teamed up with several organizations, including The Yellowhammer Fund, to fight back. When it was clear that the draft released would be our new reality, we shifted to creating petitions sounding the alarm around abortion. We reiterated our position that abortion is healthcare, urged the Biden administration to hire federal abortion providers, declare lack of access to abortion a public health emergency, and expand abortion access by whatever means necessary—especially as Republicans’ mobilized across the country to pass statewide abortion bans.
  

  Community Spotlights:

• Investigate Ticketmaster: More than 75,000+ MoveOn members came together to call for the break up of Ticketmaster. This is the beginning of a strong desire to break up Ticketmaster’s monopoly in the events industry and empower working class people by getting rid of ridiculous fees and price surges.

• Healthcare workers banded together to tell Stanford Hospital: Don’t Cut Nurse Benefits During a Strike! After just a few weeks of online and offline tactics, hospitals backed off of threats to cut benefits, and they won industry-leading contracts.

• We worked with UltraViolet Action to demand President Biden prevent known anti-abortion extremist Chad Michael—and other anti-abortion judges—from taking a spot on the federal bench. During 2022, abortion rights across the country took a huge blow when the Supreme Court essentially overturned Roe v. Wade. We knew federal judges below the Supreme Court were and are still best poised to protect reproductive rights and took action. We won!
• End the Exception: Worth Rises started a petition to get rid of the exception clause in the Thirteenth Amendment that allows slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime. More than 150 years since its passage, incarcerated people—many of whom are Black and brown—are forced to work for little to no pay. Worth Rises, MoveOn and Senator Merkley held a petition delivery in front of the Capitol in D.C. to ensure we can build and maintain momentum.
• Emmett Till’s Family started a petition to charge Carolyn Bryant Donham—whose false accusations led to his death—with murder in Emmett Till’s open murder case. We worked with family members to deliver a petition with 250,000 signatures at the Mississippi State Capitol calling for justice for his murder 66 years later.

• ParentsTogether Action started a petition to tell the National Rifle Association to cancel their convention that was just days after the tragic shooting in Uvalde that left at least 19 children and 2 adults dead. We organized tactics with grassroots organizations that led to thousands of people protesting for gun violence prevention outside of the convention for the entirety of the weekend the convention took place.
  
• Uvalde caused a new widespread resurgence for gun reform at a national level. We created multiple petitions asking for the Senate to pass gun reform legislation and an assault weapons ban. National outrage on this issue resulted in historic, bipartisan gun violence prevention laws and policy.
• We doubled down on our commitment to international efforts to end the war, promote peace and diplomacy, and support the Ukrainian people. In addition to creating a petition in solidarity, we raised over $1.1 million for direct relief efforts in Ukraine from World Central Kitchen and United Help Ukraine.
• A MoveOn member created a petition for the United States Postal Service to electrify their delivery trucks. It was announced in December 2022 that the USPS would do so by 2026, using funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. We won! 
• Confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: More than 80,000 MoveOn members signed a petition—and made almost 10,000 calls to Congress—in support of KJB’s swift confirmation to the Supreme Court!
• The United Farm Workers started a petition asking California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign the Agriculture Labor Voting Choice Act, which would allow farm workers to vote-by-mail in union elections, shielding them from potential intimidation from their bosses. After pressure, Newsom signed the bill.
• Elon Musk: We started campaigning against Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, and then came together with Accountable Tech. Musk ended up being forced to buy the site and we’re actively working with partners and coalitions to prevent Twitter’s complete demise considering its impact in regards to social and liberation movements across the globe.
  
• ParentsTogether Action made a petition calling out Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok for showing abortion disinformation advertisements to teenagers, who are the primary users of these social media apps. We worked together and landed an Op-Ed in Teen Vogue.
  Feeling inspired? So are we. After a well-deserved rest in the next couple of weeks, we’ll be back in the new year ready to make the change we deserve in the world. If you’re already feeling fired up, start a new petition! Thank you for your time and effort to build a more equitable, people-centric, and livable world. See you soon!