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Sarah Silverman, Holly Miranda and other stars play V to Shining V this weekend

Lizz Winstead is best known to Americans for co-creating The Daily Show, but her new project is especially close to our hearts-and vaginas. Lizz’s Lady Parts Justice “is a national movement using humor and outrage to remove bodily autonomy-hating local politicians in 2014 and beyond,” and expertly employes comics and other performers (including Lizz herself) to educate people (especially women) on the legislation going on in their regions that directly affects their nether regions.

Lizz WinsteadOver the summer, LJP launched 50 videos-one for every state in the U.S.-detailing the scary situations at stake this coming election year. The funny feminist take on each serious topic is a new approach to alerting voters what’s happening where they live, like the removal of abortion clinics, restricted access to birth control, or pregnancy tests in bar bathrooms in Alaska. (It’s a real thing.)

This Saturday, September 27th, Lady Parts Justice is hosting a nationwide party called V to Shining V, and several familiar faces are lending themselves to the cause. Sarah Silverman is returning to her home state New Hampshire to host a party at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord while Lizz will be going back to Minnesota for the event at The Amsterdam in St. Paul. Out comic Sapna Kumar will perform at Wisconsin’s show, and both Lianna Carrera and Holly Miranda will be playing in Detroit at the Park Bar.

Holly MirandaHolly Miranda said she first became involved with LPJ when Lizz needed music for Clear Hearts, Full Hearts, Can’t Choose benefitting the women in Texas.

“Lizz Winstead and [musician] Ambrosia Parsley are old friends and last November they were in need of someone to coordinate the musicians for the telethon that Lizz and Sarah Silverman hosted,” she said. “So Ambrosia brought me in to help with that and I also played a song with her. I was really blown away by what they were doing.”

Out comic and AfterEllen contributor Lianna Carrera became involved with Lady Parts Justice over the summer when brought in to write about her home state, Virginia, which she says has “similar hurdles to allowing safe access to abortion” like Michigan, where she’s hosting. And it’s not just all about abortion rights, she says.

“Part of being a good feminist is making sure we prioritize the different needs of all people, not just our own. It feels a little bit like carrying around an extra burden of shame simply because we are women. It takes two people to get pregnant, yet women are left with the brunt of responsibility. And that includes me,” Lianna said. “Isn’t it time we stop the shaming and start talking about this for what it is; a medical procedure that needs to be safe and legal because it’s necessary. And so is family planning. Prevention is best. No one is pro-abortion. We’re pro-common sense, pro-facts, pro-kindness, pro-women. Pro-choice. Pro-a voice.”

“I think everyone should care about reproductive rights,” Holly said. “This isn’t an issue that is regulated to one walk of life, its a human issue. Everyone should have the right to affordable health care and everyone woman should have the right to choose what they want to do with their body. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight! Get involved!”

An interactive map on the Lady Parts Justice website makes it easy to find a VTSV event happening near you. But if there isn’t one in your area, it’s not too late to throw a party yourself. You can get creative like Holly is.

“I’ll also be making uterus cookies the day before,” she said, “with all the incredible people volunteering to make this event happen.”

Visit LadyPartsJustice.com for more on the project and V to Shining V this Saturday. If you’re in Michigan, I’ll also be reading at the Detroit event so come out and say hello.

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