Roughly 250 protesters gathered in La Grande to speak out against newly elected President Donald Trump and threats to women’s rights.

Protesters marched from the Union County Clerk’s Office to Max Square in solidarity with hundreds of other international organized marches.

“I’m marching because as an American I want future generations to enjoy the same, if not better, access to public lands that we do today. I hunt and fish on public lands and, if we don’t speak up, Oregon may soon look like Texas where only the wealthy have opportunities to harvest wild game,” John Day resident Ashley Stevick wrote after the march. “I want our country to move forward rather than backwards on LGBTQIA, civil and reproductive rights. These rights along with immigrant, disability and worker’s rights are essential to our freedom. I want the compassion and kindness I’ve found within this small Eastern Oregon town to be mirrored in Washington, D.C.”

Marilyn Dudek came from Baker City with friends to stand in solidarity with the marchers and exercise her first amendment rights on issues ranging from climate change to women’s rights.

“To see all of these like minded people in one place makes us feel pretty good. It makes us feel hopeful,” she said.

“For me its a feeling of solidarity, to be with like minded people and have a sense of optimism for the future, that’s why I’m here,” protester Ann MeHaffy said.

The march coordinated with similar events in Salem and Pendleton, which both boasted crowds of hundreds, as well as a march in Washington, D.C., that organizers said was attended by 500,000 people.

Within hours of being sworn in, Trump signed an executive order to “minimize the economic burden” of the Affordable Care Act, which allows government agencies to stop enforcing certain regulations associated with the law.

Some marchers sported homemade pink-eared “pussy hats” to make a visual statement and show solidarity with marchers across the nation, according to the Pussy Hat Project. The hats were also intended to help reclaim the derogative term commonly used for female genitalia. Stevick said they were also in reference to comments Trump made in 2005 to about grabbing a woman by her genitalia.

The marchers carried signs with messages ranging from “Love always trumps hate” to “Silence = violence” and slogged through slush and hopped around puddles on their way downtown.

The protesters heard speeches from the Oregon Rural Action, the local senior center and other community organizations.

“How can women pursue happiness when they live in fear of rape and domestic violence?” speaker Dave Wahler asked the crowd in Max Square. “I may be a man, but I know all too well that any government which takes away the freedoms of our women will be coming for mine next. And that’s why I’m speaking up now, right here alongside you.”

Other speakers encouraged people at the rally to write to their state and federal representatives, have conversations with people who disagreed with them and to stay politically active.

The idea for the march was started by Hawaii resident Teresa Shook, according to the Los Angeles Times. Frustrated by the 2016 election, Shook invited a few dozen friends to a march on Washington, D.C., on Saturday. From there, things snowballed into hundreds of international marches with millions in attendance.