New Orleans, LA – On Sunday March 8 around 1 p.m., a crowd of around 40 community members rallied outside the Hale Boggs Federal Building and marched to City Hall for International Women’s Day. The action was called by the Queer and Trans Community Action Project (QTCAP).

“Donald Trump and Jeff Landry are openly organizing and openly having legislative aggression towards women. They are coming after reproductive rights. They are also coming after birth control pills,” Contessa Chenevert of QTCAP exclaimed. “They are also coming after queer people, trans people under the guise of family values. It is important to stand up for one another and to stand up for our communities internationally as our government continues to bomb women and children with our tax dollars.”

Sanaa Monterosso, a member of New Orleans Stop Helping Israel's Ports (NOSHIP) stated, “When we see women having their rights and voices reduced, we also see a girl’s school in Iran being bombed and martyred mothers of Palestine having their voices reduced and silenced. All women are under attack under capitalism.”

The crowd chanted, “How do you spell misogyny?! T-H-E G-O-P,” “International Women’s Day, immigrants built the USA!” as they marched to City Hall.

Juleea Berthelot, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said, “The inequality that women and gender oppressed people face is systemic. It violates every inch of our lives. In the workplace, we face unequal gender division of labor which means super-exploitation that enriches the capitalists that run this country. The same capitalists that create or support laws that strip us of our rights and autonomy of our bodies. We need real change; we need a revolution because they are trying to strip us of our basic democratic rights!”

“The Trump administration has been using the rhetoric of ‘defending women’ to justify many of its repressive policies,” said Molly Frayle, a member of QTCAP. She promoted QTCAP’s campaign to make New Orleans a sanctuary city for women and LGBTQ people.

Frayle stated, “We know that the city council likes to make promises and do nothing. I don’t care if they feel bad enforcing Trump’s policies. Because at the end of the day, if they choose to be the hammers that Trump uses to smash our communities, they have picked a side and it’s the wrong side. QTCAP demands that our city council make New Orleans a safe haven for all LGBTQ people, women and families.”

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