Laverne Cox joins LA rally to denounce Trump’s anti-transgender policies ...Middle East

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ community members and allies convened in West Hollywood, calling for the protection of transgender rights.

Waving signs and Transgender Pride flags in the air, they gathered to “celebrate, empower and advocate for transgender visibility and liberation,” organizers of the “Trans Liberation Now!” rally said.

The rally — just a few days after Transgender Day of Visibility — took place Saturday, April 5 at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, as ‘Hands Off!’ anti-Trump protests swept cities around the U.S., including in L.A., Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Leaders from the center — along with community partners, the Trans Latin@ Coalition, Advocates for Trans Equality and Equality California — denounced recent Trump administration executive orders and policies they said aim to eliminate trans, gender non-conforming and intersex identities. Some recent examples include federal efforts to ban trans athletes from women’s sports or change gender markers, defining sex as male or female.

Saturday’s rally was to show that any attempts to eliminate trans rights, resources and visibility will not be allowed, said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

“Given the current political climate, we want to raise visibility and create resilience for the trans and nonbinary community in particular,” Hollendoner, 44, said before the event. “We want to make sure that our trans and nonbinary siblings feel supported, but also have an opportunity to take the stage and speak to our community about the importance of allyship in this politically fraught moment.”

Hollendoner added that the nonprofit center saw increased demand for services to the LGBTQ+ community, particularly in mental health programs and gender affirming care, following the November primary.

Trans and nonbinary people are “fearful that they will soon have restricted access to the care that they so rightly deserve,” he said, calling the liberation rally a way to “reaffirm the rights and dignity of transgender individuals everywhere.”

During Saturday’s lively gathering, people wrote postcards to elected officials, demanding contingency funds, gender-affirming, sexual and reproductive healthcare rights for trans and nonbinary communities.

The event included Emmy-nominated actress and trans activist Laverne Cox as a keynote speaker, who encouraged the community to unite to protect the trans community. In 2014, Cox became the first trans person to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

“The real enemy is not actually trans people,” Cox said in her speech. “The real enemy’s not migrants, or poor people, or homeless people, or any other scapegoat that they claim. The enemy clearly is the plutocrats, the oligarchs, the billionaires and corporations who create these issues to divide working-class people.”

Other speakers included Hector Plascencia, co-chair of the L.A. County LGBTQ+ Commission.

The event also included a drag performance from Miss Shalae, a Beyoncé tribute artist, and an inclusive, trans and gender-diverse resource fair with healthcare, housing, legal aid and social services.

L.A. resident Pharose King came to the rally to be with community during what she called hard times.

“We’re not alone, we are supported and we’re all here to fight this fight together,” King, a trans woman, said. “I’m here to get my support and let my community know that we need to ban together.”

While King said she’s been feeling overwhelmed with what’s happening to trans rights, she also found comfort in working out and finding support.

“We’re all under uncertainty right now,” King said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen or how it will affect us, but we’re all stressed out together.”

Eureka Huggard, who competed on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and was featured on HBO’s “We’re Here,” attended the rally to “show up and show out” as a trans nonbinary person.

“I’m in recovery and I’m a former addict, so when things like all these executive orders happen, it’s easily a trigger for someone like me. I’m coming and taking a stance for myself, fighting my addiction more than ever,” Huggard said.  “This event allows trans individuals to come and celebrate who they are in a climate where it can become very difficult to feel as though you can celebrate yourself,” she said. “We get to show our local community, our local government that we are here and we’re not going anywhere.”

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L.A. resident Emily Reyes came to the rally with her four-year-old son, devastated that a close friend, who is trans, sought asylum in Canada following the election. Reyes said she was impelled by her friend’s experience.

“As a granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, seeing that happen to my friend is horrifying,” Reyes, 40, said. “I also want to set an example for my son that we stand up for our friends in our community, and we don’t allow this to go unchallenged.”

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