Latest news with #TransUpFront
Axios
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
On Trans Day of Visibility, Chicago leaders push back on Trump's attacks
A coalition of elected officials and human rights activists is warning that the Trump administration's attacks won't stop with the transgender community. Driving the news: On Monday, International Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV), state, county and city politicians joined LGBTQ+ rights organizations to push back on the narratives the administration has spun about transgender people and proclaim they won't be made invisible. More than 5,000 people marched through downtown Sunday as part of a TDOV event organized by Illinois-based advocacy group Trans Up Front. The big picture: Multiple executive orders by Trump have attempted to roll back protections and civil rights for transgender people. What they're saying:"Trans people are oftentimes labeled as an invisible population," Brave Space Alliance CEO Channyn Lynne Parker said. "There is nothing invisible about us." "We are not here to be cuddled or coddled." Zoom in: Several speakers warned that the administration would not stop with the transgender community, suggesting the president will attempt to strip other groups of rights and freedoms. "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu," Caprice Carthans from Life is Work said. "We are all on the menu." Zoom out: The frustrations extend beyond the executive branch. Several speakers Monday said they think some Democrats are either scapegoating the community or treating them as victims. "Folks are suggesting that we lost because of the trans community," state Rep. Kelly Cassidy told Axios. "We heard our former mayor make jokes about locker rooms and suggest this was the cause," Cassidy said, referring to Rahm Emanuel's recent comments to Bill Maher.
Axios
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Trans Day of Visibility celebrations persist despite Trump admin attacks
Monday marks International Transgender Day of Visibility: a day of celebration and recognition for trans and nonbinary people across the globe. The big picture: As the Trump administration rolls back protections and civil rights for transgender Americans and threatens access to gender-affirming care, military careers, federal recognition, sports and more, the holiday and its mission is "more important this year than ever," said Rachel Crandall-Crocker, the day's founder. "The president ... wants us to go and hide, and he'd be happy if we all disappeared," Crandall-Crocker told Axios. "However, that is not what we're going to do." Case in point: Trans Up Front, an Illinois-base advocacy organization whose mission is to amplify and center trans voices, honored TDOV on Sunday with 5,000-plus people marching through downtown Chicago, organizers estimated. "This is our first year in many, many years that we're looking at this not as just a celebration of each other, of our community, but as a gathering of support," Executive Director Asher McMaher said. McMaher added, "In 2025 ... we really do have to come together as one community and show that no matter what is written in an executive order, no matter what misinformation is out there, we're here." In Atlanta, Game Changing Men — a group that focuses on erasing stigmas and barriers for trans men, particularly Black trans men — capped off a week of TDOV programming with its annual cookout Saturday. This year, the group stepped up security. But visibility remains critical amid attempts to erase trans stories, Executive Director Quinton Reynolds told Axios. "We just want to be our authentic selves," he said. "We pay taxes, we are homeowners, we are husbands, we are wives, we are parents." Flashback: Crandall-Crocker, the executive director of Transgender Michigan and a licensed master social worker, started TDOV in 2009. She wanted to create a day that "celebrated the living" trans people, and within a couple of years, it became truly international and recognized by communities across the globe. President Biden in 2021 issued the first presidential proclamation recognizing TDOV, urging Americans to join "in uplifting the worth and dignity of every transgender person." Friction point: But visibility can be "a double-edged sword," said Shane Diamond, GLAAD's director of communications and advocacy. "As we are more visible, and out and open ... we tend to see increased backlash and anti-LGBTQ+ policies, anti-transgender policies being introduced," he said. Zoom out: A massive spike in legislation targeting the trans community has occurred in recent years at federal and state levels. The American Civil Liberties Union was tracking 527 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the U.S. as of March 14, including legislation redefining sex, blocking trans youth from using facilities corresponding with their gender identity and rolling back DEI initiatives Trump's return to the White House has also emboldened GOP lawmakers to further restrict trans rights. But Diamond emphasizes that "there's not a lot of meat and potatoes" to Trump's executive orders targeting trans people — some of which have been blocked amid legal challenges — which he said are "intended to scare and confuse us." The bottom line: Amid the Trump administration's sweeping crackdown, Crandall-Crocker said trans people should unite and "be one community with one loud voice." On a day that seeks to celebrate trans and nonbinary accomplishments, joy and love, Crandall-Crocker said it's a "big victory just to live your honest life."
Fox News
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Trans activists set 'survival skills' focus amid Trump's executive orders for Trans Visibility Day weekend
Several events for transgender people are scheduled this weekend across the country's bluest cities in celebration of Trans Day of Visibility on Monday, including a "Skillsharing & Practical Survival" workshop in response to President Donald Trump's executive orders clamping down on progressive gender ideology. "We wanted to materially benefit transgender people instead of just giving them an event or some performances," Zander Moreno, one of the activists organizing the survival workshop event in San Francisco told KQED. "Of course, that can be powerful, too. But I think with the things that are happening now, what's most important is to have trans people feel safe in their communities and know that there are transgender groups that are truly looking to build a movement against the things that are happening in the White House." The workshop is included as part of a broader series of events for Trans Fest on Sunday in the Tenderloin district. Trans Fest – which will open in an indigenous prayer led by activist Angel C. Fabian, who goes by he/she/they pronouns and is known "in ceremonial spaces" as Tlahuizpapalotl, or "Butterfly of Light" – will offer people legal assistance, workshops about their rights, a political education class, and a self-defense session. "Art & Creative Resistance" is also one of the events, where people can do stencil making, printmaking and "hands-on altar making." Skillsharing & Practical Survival will include self defense, "DIY hormones," and "community-led safety and de-escalation," according to the festival's Instagram post. On Sunday, in the downtown Chicago Loop at Federal Plaza, the Trans Up Front and Indivisible Chicago coalition and 30 other LGBT organizations will host a rally and march in response to the "MAGA right, the Republican led Congress, and the Trump administration" who have "targeted transgender and nonbinary people with hate filled policies, executive orders, and disinformation," according to the event flyer. "As a result we face increased discrimination, violence, and the erosion of our rights," the flyer states. "From healthcare access to legal protections, our trans community needs to be seen, heard, and supported now more than ever. We call on all of the LGBTQ+ community and all of our allies to join together to demand equality, dignity and protection of our rights. This protest will amplify our collective voice and demand meaningful change." The Chicago Democratic Socialist of America, Gay Liberation Network, Chicago Abortion Fund and Chicago Teachers Union is among the rally's sponsors. In Atlanta, the LGBTQ affairs department in the mayor's office is hosting a Trans Day of Visibility celebration at City Hall, called "Deeper than Visibility: How We Talk about Us." "Communities are coming together to celebrate and show solidarity for transgender people at a critical moment in history – in blue states and red states, purple states and worldwide," GLAAD president and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. "Equal treatment is not a partisan issue, it's a value that unites all of us. Transgender Day of Visibility is a chance to show up and speak out for everyone's right to be themselves and be safe, and rally around values of acceptance and equality that make every community stronger, safer, and kinder." The events this year come on the heels of President Trump's series of executive orders aimed at limiting gender ideology influence in federal policies and education. In February, Trump signed an executive order titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," banning biological males from participating in female-designated athletic competitions. Trump also signed the "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" executive order establishing a binary definition of sex as male and female, determined at conception. Several cases dealing with gender ideology, particulalry involving minors, are currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
