stand up and be counted

present singular third person stands up and is counted · participle present standing up and being counted · past stood up and was counted · participle past stood up and been counted · alternative stand and be counted

1. idiomaticTo publicly make known one's views, contributions, or vote, especially in a contentious situation where fortitude is required.

   Only four years ago many a small nation felt required to stand up and be counted, either for or against the U.S.

   1960 October 24, “Foreign News: A New Look at Neutralism”, in Time, retrieved 05 Nov 2016

   3 more examples

   "We're here because we're willing to stand up and be counted and we're willing to do something about the problems of this community."

   1981 Nov. 25, UPI, "‘Miami's for Me’ Slogan Aims at a Better Image," New York Times (retrieved 5 Nov 2016)

   [A]s an LGBT community we need to stand up and be counted, and force people into action by holding our ground on the importance of inclusion in the church.

   2016 January 12, Lucy Gorman, “Voices: Queer Christians like me deserve to pray without prejudice”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 05 Nov 2016

   In recent weeks they appeared to ramp up this ethno-nationalist project, with disturbing footage emerging online of masked, heavily armed Ice and DHS agents abducting Latino people from schools and courthouses, or kidnapping them off the streets, often separating them from their children. [Derek] Guy felt compelled to stand up and be counted.

   2025 June 14, Christopher Mathias, “JD Vance threatened to deport him. The ‘menswear guy’ is posting through it”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

2. idiomaticoftenhobbiesTo take significant individual action to help a group effort.

   "It was a really tough game [against Montenegro] last time and this one will be the same. We've all got to stand up and be counted."

   2013 February 4, Daniel Taylor, “Steven Gerrard fears England may slip into World Cup play-offs”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 05 Nov 2016

   1 more example

   "You definitely want to stand up and be counted," said Dempsey. "You're a player the team looks to to get goals and you want to try to help the team win."

   2009 September 6, Jonah Freedman, “Best player U.S. has ever produced comes through when it counts”, in Sports Illustrated, retrieved 05 Nov 2016