The Greater Los Angeles area erupted in protests in response to the leaked Trump administration anti-trans memo.
On Oct. 22, a group of nearly 60 people, including members of Rainbow Umbrella, Ventura County Pride, Diversity Collective of Ventura County, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation came together at the Ventura County Government Center to protest a memo from the Department of Health and Human Services released by the New York Times last Sunday that showed the intent of the Trump administration to further escalate its conservative counter-attacks on gains made by the trans rights movement. The group was diverse, with old and young attendees, trans people and their allies, trans immigrants, and plenty of positive acknowledgement from passing commuters.
Chants of “Hell no to the memo!,” “2, 4, 6, 8, separate the church and state!,” and “When trans lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” energized the crowd as attendees marched around the intersection. At the rally, speakers shared poetry as well as stories of coming out and starting gender affirmation transition in America, and trying to find motivation in the face of the ongoing cruel attacks that the trans community has faced in recent years. A common theme among all of the speakers was the suffering caused when isolated from information about transition, the limited access trans people often have to healthcare, the strength found in community, and rejection of the transphobia propagated in the DHHS memo.
Kelsey Geiger led a chant and spoke on behalf of Ventura County Party for Socialism and Liberation about the history of the LGBTQ movement, how trans rights have been won in the past — through militant struggle, protests, and uprisings (like Stonewall) — and emphasized that we will need to do more than just vote, but also organize and show up to defend the gains we have already won and to push for further, substantial rights.
Geiger mentioned how in Cuba trans healthcare is completely covered by the revolutionary government and how CENESEX (The Center for Sex Education) acts as an official institute for research and radical education about trans and gay oppression and gender and sexuality in general. She pointed out that we need similar permanent institutions for people in the U.S., based on solidarity in order to have the rights we fought for secured for years to come. Closing with another round of chants, the rally continued for some time, drawing the support of passing cars and pedestrians.
Later in the week, TransLatin@ Coalition LA, Familia Trans Queer Liberation Movement and other organizations called a hundreds-strong rally outside Los Angeles City Hall. The action demonstrated the collectivity, diversity, power, and solidarity of the community, even when under attack from a reactionary, revanchist government looking to reverse the gains the LGBTQ liberation movement has made up until this point.
Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation – Los Angeles attended with a banner demanding “Trans Liberation Now!” The sense of solidarity and mutual protection among the crowd was palpable. Speakers included Jennicet Gutiérrez – a Latina trans woman who famously disrupted an event celebrating President Obama’s work for the LGBTQ community in 2015, pointing to his support for the detention and deportation of thousands of trans and queer immigrants. She called for an end to the prison-industrial complex, and capitalism as a whole. Gutierrez said, “We’re here in pain, but we’re also sending a strong message of unity and a strong message of resistance.” There was poetry and singing, rallying cries and a variety of transgender speakers expressing in both Spanish and English that “We will not be erased, we have always been here, and we always will be.”
