Famous drag icons and local queens lip-synced, vogued and marched through Hillcrest on Sunday afternoon to stand up for the transgender community as it faces a record-breaking rollback of protections under the Trump administration.
San Diego’s resident “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Chad Michaels joined the city’s drag queens to parade glittery garments, bejeweled boots and vividly colored veils down the city’s “gayborhood.” The colorful march attracting hundreds served as a raucous finale to a weekend of peaceful protests against the Trump administration in San Diego.
Following on the heels of Saturday’s massive No Kings Day protest downtown, the annual San Diego Drag March for Trans Rights brought drag queens and San Diegans together to rally support for the city’s transgender community for the third year in a row.
San Diego drag queen Sister Amanda Reckinwith, left, rallied marchers to champion “visibility” for transgender people as the march kicked off. “We are here for each other,” Reckinwith told the crowd to applause. “That is the message.” (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San DiegoThis time, organizers say the colorful moment of celebration was a much-needed bright spot in a dark year for the city’s transgender community.
“Our world is so full of people who are trying to erase us, people who are trying to say that we don’t count, people who are trying to say that we are not worthy, that all we can do is fall back on the joy and happiness that we create,” said Sister Amanda Reckinwith, a local drag queen who hosted the march. “We create this through the rainbow of our diversity.”
Through chants of “Protect the dolls,” and “Trans rights are human rights,” this year’s march championed support and safety for transgender people amid an ongoing surge in anti-transgender legislation — from athletics to health care.
March stands out for centering transgender pride
Every year since San Diego’s drag queens started holding the city’s Drag March during Pride Month 2023, Trevor Herbert has made it a point to show up and fly the pink, blue and white flag representing transgender people like him — with the words “Protect trans kids,” written in bold black paint.
“If you have a voice, it’s really important that you speak out,” Herbert said. “And so, I’m speaking out on behalf of myself and others who can’t speak out right now.”
Trevor Herbert, right, has flown the transgender flag at San Diego’s Drag March every year to speak up for transgender people like him. (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San DiegoSunday’s march stood out among the many Pride celebrations that will kick off throughout San Diego this month because it centers transgender people, like Herbert.
Rally organizer Benny Cartwright said local drag queens started the Drag March so the city’s transgender community could enjoy its own dedicated celebration during Pride Month — free from the prejudice that transgender people have faced both within and outside of the LGBTQ umbrella.
“For the LGBTQ community, the trans and nonbinary part of that acronym is a very important, vital part of our community,” Cartwright said. “And for decades, not only within our community but outside the community, they’ve been erased, not as visible, not given the same access as the LGB counterparts.”
As a part of the rally’s drag performances, San Diego drag queen Lady Blanca danced to “Hair” by Lady Gaga. (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San DiegoA marcher’s headpiece at the San Diego Drag March for Trans Rights celebrated “the lives of Trans Latino activists.” (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San DiegoSan Diego “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Chad Michaels, whose drag career started at venerated local gay bar the Brass Rail, urged fellow members of the LGBTQ community to support their “transgender siblings.” (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San DiegoWhile transgender people have long faced prejudice and discrimination, organizers say this year’s Drag March felt even more essential as the transgender community reels from an explosion of recently passed restrictions. Hundreds more anti-transgender bills are moving through legislatures nationwide.
The flood of rollbacks began with President Donald Trump’s first day in office in January, when he signed a slew of executive orders all signaling his administration’s view that transgender and nonbinary people don’t exist.
“As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” Trump said in his inauguration speech.
Demonstrators made and decorated posters in support of the transgender community for hours before the march at Hillcrest gay bar Urban MO’s. (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San DiegoThrough hours of poster-making at gay bar Urban MO’s, chanting and outdoor drag performances at Rich’s San Diego, Reckinwith said the march gave transgender people the “superpower” of visibility in the face of erasure.
“We have to one by one, by just our existence, we have to show that we exist,” Reckinwith said. “We deserve to be educated. We deserve to have our health care.”
“We deserve to just be identified and respected.”
Marchers slam transgender military ban
While the tens of thousands of transgender people who call San Diego County home live in a state with one of the lowest levels of anti-transgender legislation, they’re still affected by the Trump administration’s far-reaching wave of restrictions.
The federal rollbacks were front and center at the Drag March, but they didn’t dampen the mood. The crowd enthusiastically cheered for young transgender speakers and loudly booed recently implemented anti-transgender restrictions, like the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people in the military.
Paulo Batista, left, opened the rally to slam the Trump administration’s new ban on transgender people in the military and the challenges it’s caused him as a transgender intelligence analyst in the Navy. (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San Diego“The more authentic I’ve been, the better I’ve been able to serve my country, and I will not let them hide that or put me down or shun me for it,” Paulo Batista, a transgender member of the Navy who’s stationed in San Diego, told the crowd to cheers.
Since Trump entered office, conservative lawmakers across the nation have targeted the transgender community with nearly 1,000 pieces of legislation this year so far, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker.
Over 100 of them have become law — barring transgender people in some states from changing their gender on ID cards, using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity in certain places and receiving gender-affirming medical care if they’re under 18.
A marcher dressed as Uncle Sam hoists an LGBTQ Pride flag at the San Diego Drag March for Trans Rights. (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego) Credit: Madeline Nguyen / Times of San DiegoHerbert said he felt “fortunate” to live in California, where transgender people like him were less “vulnerable.” But even in California, transgender people aren’t immune to the flood of restrictions.
Five bills targeting transgender rights in education, child welfare and the prison system are currently moving through the California Legislature. Earlier this year, state lawmakers did strike down two bills that would ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.
Amid the proposed rollbacks, Reckinwith said the march empowered the transgender community to do what the art of drag has always done — use humor, entertainment and joy as tools of resistance.
“We as drag artists, we know how to do this,” Reckinwith said.
“We value joy and happiness, and the only route to that is recognizing that everybody’s rights are equal.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘Can’t erase us’: Drag queens march in Hillcrest for trans rights, capping protest weekend )
Also on site :