Local organizers of the Women's March have distanced themselves from the New York-based group’s leadership amid questions of finances, control and ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and his anti-Semitic views.

The Women’s March is a grassroots protest that began two years ago with a Facebook post. Millions of women participated in the Jan. 21, 2017 march in Washington D.C. and cities nationwide, one day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Four New York women who helped organize the D.C. march became co-chairs of a group called Women’s March Inc. and garnered the media spotlight as national leaders of the nascent movement.

But questions and concerns over the New York-based group's slowness to condemn Farrakhan's anti-Semitic remarks this year have prompted some allies and local and state organizers to distance themselves from WMI and its leaders.

More than one dozen local women’s organizations – including six local groups that share the "Women's March" name – have filed legal paperwork opposing the New York group's application to trademark the name. If the trademark designation is granted, it could open up lucrative merchandise sales for the New York group.

More local organizers and allies are becoming vocal about their concerns about WMI's leaders, even as the New York group and local groups prepare for another march on Jan. 19.

Teresa Shook, a retired Hawaii attorney whose 2016 Facebook post after the presidential election is credited with galvanizing the first march, demanded last month that WMI co-chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez resign. Actress and #MeToo influencer Alyssa Milano also said she was disappointed in WMI's leadership and refusal to condemn Farrakhan's remarks.

In a February 2018 speech during which he gave a shout-out to Mallory, Farrakhan said the "powerful Jews are my enemy" and said white Jews control Mexico and several European countries.

WMI issued multiple statements on the matter before this Nov. 8 statement rejecting Farrakhan's remarks while backing the group's embattled leaders: "Women’s March wouldn’t exist without the leadership of women of color, and we stand with Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory," the statement said. "We want to say emphatically that we do not support or endorse statements made by Minister Louis Farrakhan about women, Jewish and LGBTQ communities."

The Washington State chapter president said earlier this month that the group would disband over the controversy and other concerns. A local chapter in Denver has rebranded as Womxn's (the x represents inclusion) March Denver. Women's March Los Angeles this week posted a statement on its website informing the public that it's separate from WMI.

“I don’t think four women from New York represent us on a national level,” said Emiliana Guereca, executive director of Women’s March Los Angeles. “We’re all local community organizers. We receive no funding, no feedback, no structure from Women's March Inc., which is what is supposed to happen out of a national organization.”

The New York group’s nonprofit tax filing in 2017 reported that it raised $2.5 million in revenue from contributions, corporate donors and other sources. That included nearly $1.2 million in merchandise sales.

Weeks after the historic march, WMI on March 1, 2017, filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The filing said the group wanted the trademark rights for T-shirts, shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and infant onesies. The group also wanted the designation to promote public awareness to protect women's rights, racial equality, LGBTQ rights and other rights.

The Los Angeles group filed documents opposing the New York group's trademark application, stating that goods and services used by both groups are identical or closely related. If the New York group is granted the trademark, it would "substantially harm" the Los Angeles group, according to USPTO filings.

The Los Angeles group began using the Women’s March name on Nov. 9, 2016, two months before the historic march in Washington, D.C., and nearly four months before the New York group applied to trademark the name.

Several other groups oppose the New York group's trademark application, including Women’s March groups in Washington, D.C., and Colorado as well as Women's March groups in the California communities of San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz and Contra Costa County.

March On, a separate organization formed by one-time Women's March organizer Vanessa Wruble, also opposes the trademark, as do March On's affiliates in Chicago, Arkansas, Hudson Valley and Maryland. Two other groups, the Women's March Alliance and the March Forward Massachusetts Education Fund, also stand in opposition.

Karen Cosmas, executive director of March Forward Massachusetts, said the first Women's March in January 2017 was the result of work from dozens of independent groups nationwide.

"The perpetuated narrative that four women are responsible for what happened that day is false and the record should be corrected," Cosmas said.

Womxn's March Denver leaders wanted to chart their own course, so they decided to separate from the national organization, said Angela Astle, one of the Denver group's five women leaders.

"The error is the top-down approach," Astle said. "Trying to be all things to all people creates lots of challenges."

The independence allows the Denver group to focus on things important to women in their community, such as local issues discussed at the city council or regional issues like the rights of Native American women.

Now, the group spends its energy and limited resources on preparing for the Jan. 19 march, not lamenting its breakaway from the New York group.

"Hate speech is wrong, period," Astle said. "To make a bigger deal about a divided movement feels like it is giving more fuel to a place that is not warranted. The movement is the movement. It is happening because women have been disenfranchised for years."

Guereca, of the Los Angeles group, laments that the controversy could lead to a lower turnout for next month's marches.

She is urging her local members and supporters to participate in the marches, even as prominent figures said they won't march this year. In Facebook post, Shook said she plans to sit out of the Washington, D.C., rally this year.

"We should be patting ourselves on the back," Guereca said. "Instead, we are fighting this negative rhetoric."