New Orleans, LA – On Saturday, March 9, over a 100 people rallied in front of the gates of Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans to mark International Women’s Day. Over eight organizations united to demand that people everywhere stand with the women of Palestine as they witness genocide and struggle against Zionist occupation.

The crowd gathered under banners reading “Stand with the women of Palestine” and “Victory to the Palestinian resistance.” They chanted forcefully at busy French Quarter traffic, in between several speeches by Palestinian women and their supporters. Chants highlighted the solidarity felt by people in New Orleans for the women of Palestine, such as, “We will honor all our martyrs, all the mothers and the daughters!”

Niki Gonzalez gave the first speech on behalf of New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP), stating, “We reject complacency, as NOSHIP rejects any U.S. aid and continued collaboration with Israel. There should be no need for a temporary seaport controlled by the U.S. in Gaza. We stand to hold our port accountable, with a clear demand to divest from Israel,” she told the demonstrators.

NOSHIP promoted their past actions, where they have disrupted business as usual for the Port of New Orleans officials. They encouraged the audience to get involved in the fight to unchain their city from the ports in Israel on the grounds that it is directly supplying war crimes.

Several women of the New Orleans Palestinian community directly denounced the genocidal actions of Israel and the United States. Their speeches detailed the horrific realities of women in Gaza facing unending bombing and a lack of basic medical supplies. The siege of Gaza is also using starvation as a weapon of war, targeting Palestinian mothers and their children.

Other co-hosts of the event included Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), New Orleans Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Starbucks Workers United New Orleans, NOLA Freedom Forum, New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police (NOCOP) and several local chapters of Students for a Democratic Society.

“Currently the single sharpest contradiction we see is the ongoing struggle to defeat Zionism and its oppression in Palestine and in the Arab world. So, on International Women’s Day 2024, we emphasize our never-ending solidarity with the women of Palestine who are fighting for peace, the right of return, and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea,” said a FRSO member, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for immigration status.

Lucas Harrell spoke on behalf of Real Name Campaign, a local LGBTQ activist organization, “Israel is not a tolerant, liberal or progressive state. It is a colonial force that deflects its war-crimes and genocide through promises of queer rights for those who are lucky enough to have been born on the right side of a war machine. Its claims of queer inclusion deserve nothing but shame. The pinkwashing is not only to defend Israel’s image, but to further dehumanize Palestinians,” he said.

After all of the speeches, the mic was opened for Palestinian and Arab women. They closed the event on a powerful cultural note, sharing poems and songs. One woman sang Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come to draw out the connection between the protest music of the Civil Rights movement and the boundless cultural expression of the Palestinian national liberation movement, anchored by Palestinian women.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #WomensMovement #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #NOCOP #FRSO #RealNameCampaign #SBWorkersUnited #NOSHIP

Lafayette, LA – On September 15, over 30 protesters from all across southern Louisiana gathered outside the state’s second governor’s debate. While the night’s debate gathered the race’s top seven candidates to discuss policy, the demonstrators came to make one thing clear: Republican frontrunner Jeff Landry and his attacks would not be tolerated.

Under threat of heavy rain, protesters marched several blocks towards the KLFY studios. They held banners reading “Don’t censor classrooms” and “Protect LGBT youth from Janky Jeff!” Once set up on the sidewalk outside of the studios, protest organizers from Real Name Campaign and Reproductive Freedom Acadiana led chants of “Jeff Landry can’t you tell? We’re about to give you hell!” and “Trans youth are here to stay! GOP go away!”

Landry had refused to appear at any of the race’s debates until this one. No doubt afraid of criticism of his multiple ethics violations on the campaign trail and his hypocrisy as attorney general, Landry’s campaign waited for an event they felt would be soft on the candidate.

Outside the studios however, protesters made it clear that Jeff Landry is existential threat to all Louisianans, especially the state’s trans community.

“Do the majority of Louisianians want to oppress their neighbors? Hell no! Does Jeff Landry want to oppress the people of this state? Absolutely,” said Quest Riggs of Real Name Campaign.

Other organizers stressed the GOP’s attacks on LGBTQ lives, healthcare and access to LGBTQ themes and experiences in schools and libraries.

“This past legislative session, the GOP tried to pass nearly a dozen anti-LGBTQ bills. Do you know how many they passed? Just one or two. That might not seem like a victory, but it is. We can’t win every single battle, but what’s important is that we keep fighting,” said Molly Frayle, representing the Real Name Campaign.

Protesters confronted Landry and his entourage with chants of “Janky Jeff” and “We say gay!” as he fled into his vehicle after the debate. Afterwards, organizers from several organizations emphasized the importance of keeping up the struggle throughout the rest of the election cycle and beyond.

#LafayetteLA #LA #RealNameCampaign #JeffLandry

Dear trans and gender non-conforming youth in Louisiana,

On June 6, our bigoted state government hit us hard when Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards allowed the anti-trans sports ban to become law. He tried to “play both sides” by criticizing the bill, but still refusing to veto. This decision was cowardly, and it stabbed us in the back. Democrats in the legislature deserted us, with 20 of them either abstaining or voting for the ban. Like last year, Democrats even co-authored the bill – Senators Gregory Tarver, Francis Thompson, and Malinda White.

We share your pain and sadness right now. Young people like you are already often confused, frustrated, and overwhelmed trying to find yourselves in general, even without counting how to understand your gender identity. This attack can feel like the straw that might break the camel’s back. You deserve all the time you need to heal and process.

The billionaire, corporate-backed Republican Party scapegoats the trans community, its young in particular, to score political points and shore up what they call “traditional family values.” Their conservative idea of a family is a straight household, with patriarchal gender roles, that consistently reproduces the labor force. They erase any family that might be supportive of its transgender and non-binary children. They deny that trans people, young and old, create our own families. They tremble at how our families flourish despite attacks against them.

Just because we can’t rely on the ruling political parties doesn’t mean that we have no one. Remember that governors and legislators don’t make history, the people do. You’re a target of the evangelical right before you can even vote– but you’ve taken political action anyway. You’ve walked out of schools, testified in front of legislative committees, and blocked city streets to let the whole state know you won’t roll over. The legislature dealt us a loss, but we’ve made our own wins. More students, teachers, social workers, parents, and LGBTQ community members came out to defend our democratic rights than ever in recent memory. And remember: we stopped Don’t Say Gay and the Trans Youth Medical Ban in their tracks.

By organizing, we’ve steeled ourselves to keep fighting. We’re in position to stop this law from causing more harm. We’re ready to fight for accessible name and gender marker changes. We have the forces to take on future anti-LGBTQ laws. We can defend against the bigoted violence that’s claimed too many Black trans lives.

Last year, through marches, phone calls, emails, rallies, lobbying, and civil disobedience, we delayed the sports ban’s passage. The year before that, we used mass action to cut the Orleans Parish name change fee by $256, and this year established the LA Trans Name Change Fund and Peer Support program for people over 18. More victories are coming, and they’ll keep coming as long as we stay in the struggle.

Love and Solidarity,

Organizers in Real Name Campaign NOLA

#Louisiana #LA #PeoplesStruggles #RealNameCampaign

Baton Rouge, LA – On May 24 at 3 p.m., protesters held the floor of the Louisiana Capitol lobby to defend transgender youth. They demanded that Governor Edwards veto SB 44, a bill that would ban trans girls from playing sports. Republicans pushed the bill through the House and Senate with significant support from Democrats.

The action also demanded a stop to the Don’t Say Gay bill and the ban on gender-affirming medical care for youth. These two other pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation did not make it as far in the legislature because of mass marches, phone calls, lobbying and rallies.

Four participants linked arms and sat down in a circle, while one stood in the middle to lead chants and wave a Pride flag reading “Stop the sports ban.” They chanted “Hands off trans kids!” and “Democrats, pick a side, 44 is suicide!” They took inspiration from an abortion rights protest that used the same formation in 2019.

Protesters rotated who was in the middle. Speakers highlighted how the sports ban was a ploy to scapegoat trans kids. They talked about how it was part of a billionaire-funded, coordinated far-right attack on all democratic rights. They said, “If we give the far right an inch, they take a mile” and pushed for unity in defense of LGBTQ youth.

They held their ground for half an hour before security and capitol police pulled them out because “the noise disrupted the legislative process.” On May 12, evangelicals held a loud rally against abortion in the same lobby with no harassment from capitol police.

Mar Ehrlich, a protester with Real Name Campaign, commented, “The protest was really successful. Over 100 youth got to see it. We don’t keep quiet when our dignity’s under attack. The legislature and the governor have been ignoring us for months, so we made sure we were heard.”

Students of all ages from different schools were in the lobby on field trips. They watched the protesters and encouraged the action. Several were noticeably quiet about supporting, possibly for fear of anti-LGBTQ sentiment in their school groups, but they gave discreet thumbs ups anyway.

#BatonRougeLA #PeoplesStruggles #RealNameCampaign

New Orleans, LA – On November 4, the New Orleans city council voted unanimously to endorse accessible name and gender marker changes on IDs. Their resolution doesn’t carry legal weight, but it pressures the Louisiana state government to make its ID change process accessible.

This means that the council endorsed eliminating the $250 name change fee. It also supports dropping all medical requirements to changing gender markers, including proof of surgery. It recommended “X” gender markers in addition to “M” or “F,” and it included the option to opt out of a gender marker.

The resolution additionally opposed all restrictions of name changes based on criminal record. Councilmember Helena Moreno promised to push the Orleans Parish district attorney to cease denying name changes based on felony convictions.

Popular pressure got this through. 50 people made public comments, all in support. One comment came from a trans non-binary legislative aide who joined speakers in agreement.

Earlier this year, Councilmembers Donna Glapion, Jay Banks and Cyndi Nguyen voted against a resolution condemning Louisiana’s transphobic bills. They were afraid that the state would retaliate. All three voted “yea” on November 4.

Moreno put forth the resolution based on the Real Name Campaign’s petition. Real Name Campaign is an organization that represents the trans and gender nonconforming people’s movement for correct IDs. The group’s representative, Serena Sojic-Borne, ran through the name change process step-by-step. She highlighted who it denies along the way: undocumented immigrants, many incarcerated people, and anyone who can’t afford the $250 fee.

Dylan Wagespack of True Colors United explained that “In 22 states and Washington DC, changing your gender marker is as simple as circling M, F, or X on a form at the DMV and then signing your name.”

Syrah Timbre, a transgender community member, said “It’s a matter of dignity that my identity is recognized at the doctor’s office. We deserve to see our names on paychecks and official documents.”

State agencies have yet to respond on how they will enact Real Name Campaign’s demands.

#NewOrleansLA #PeoplesStruggles #RealNameCampaign #genderAffirmingID

Fight Back! News Service is circulating the following statement by Real Name Campaign NOLA.

Thanks to the work of Louisiana organizers, and every Louisianian who pressured their lawmakers to vote against transphobia, the governor’s veto of the trans sports ban (Senate Bill 156) has been sustained during this unprecedented special legislative session. The evangelical right failed to push its national anti-trans culture war in Louisiana. The people’s movement made this victory happen. Many Democratic legislators wanted this bill to pass at first, but voted against it only after seeing enormous community opposition.

An organizer with the Real Name Campaign, Mar Ehrlich (they/them), reflects that “we began fighting against the four anti-trans bills back in March, alongside trans advocates around the state. After 5 months of hard, collaborative work we have seen every one of these egregious bills fail, and we have witnessed trans rights become a major topic across Louisiana. But it was very close with SB 156, and the protest yesterday and the groundswell of public support around our demand to protect trans kids was the final and very necessary dose of pressure on legislators to do the right thing – to keep the government’s hands off trans kids.”

Real Name Campaign hopes this victory assures all trans and gender nonconforming youth that we were never a problem that needed to be fixed, and that we are important, loved, and belong in every aspect of education and public life.

The Capitol still needs accountability. Yesterday, Capitol security treated members of Real Name Campaign NOLA with unnecessary, unprecedented brutality. Seconds after we began protesting against SB 156 on the balcony of the Louisiana House floor, officers cruelly and viciously assaulted not only protestors, but our police liaison and media support, without any verbal warning of arrest or otherwise, and even after we expressed our willingness to cooperate. This violence was a reflection of the violence against all trans and gender nonconforming people being carried out on the house and senate floor below.

We support the ACLU’s demand for a full investigation of Louisiana Capitol security.

As of now, House Sergeant at Arms Clarence Russ has declined to comment on the incident. His office can be reached at 225-342-1228 or russc@legis.la.gov

We further demand that legislators cease authoring or supporting any anti-trans bills, amendments, policies, and practices. We also demand that legislators consult with us and other transgender and gender non-conforming community leaders on all future bills that would impact our rights.

About Real Name Campaign NOLA: Real Name Campaign is comprised of trans and gender non-conforming residents of the Greater New Orleans community. We organize for the rights and equitable treatment of trans and gender non-conforming people in the city and state. We are actively fighting for accessible name and gender marker changes, including the abolishment of all fees and restrictions to accessing correct IDs.

#Louisiana #RealNameCampaign #HouseSergeantAtArmsClarenceRuss #transSportsBanSenateBill156

Baton Rouge, LA – On June 22, Governor John Bell Edwards vetoed Louisiana’s transgender sports ban, the state’s last anti-transgender bill. The legislation was Louisiana’s second attempted sports ban this year, on top of two failed healthcare bans.

But the courageous and relentless trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) movement beat all four of Louisiana’s anti-trans bills. TGNC Louisianans’ story reminds us of what LGBT+ Pride looks like: fighting for our dignity and winning.

How the evangelical Republicans launched their attack

TGNC people are suffering a historic crisis. States passed more anti-trans laws this year than ever.

On March 30, on the eve of Trans Day of Visibility, Republican State Senator Michael Fesi drafted his medical ban, Senate Bill 104. The bill threatened to restrict transgender children from getting gender-affirming healthcare without both parents’ consent, mental health included. On April 2, collaborators in the House followed suit with the nearly identical House Bill 575.

A medical ban would prohibit life-saving treatment and jail the healthcare providers who disobey. TGNC kids often lose their housing or take their own lives after their family rejects them. By requiring parents to speak on their kids’ genders, Fesi could have legalized parental abuse.

Two days later, Republican State Senator Beth Mizell introduced a sports ban, and House ultra-conservatives followed in lockstep. Senate Bill 156 and House Bill 542 would have banned TGNC kids from participating in sports from pre-K through college. These bills targeted trans girls specifically. Ultra-conservatives pushed the bill while knowing that the Olympics, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and other athletic authorities oppose this discrimination.

A sports ban would humiliate TGNC kids, and could out them to their parents or allow genital inspections. This would green-light sexual assault of minors.

These attacks are national and coordinated. Hate groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council collaborated to write the bans and spread them to every state. The “Promise to America’s Children” coalition has full drafts of bigoted bills on its website. This arch-transphobic network includes ‘respected’ policy groups like the Heritage Foundation and local foot soldiers like the Louisiana Family Forum.

Why did they do this? Surveys show that bills like these are extremely unpopular in the U.S., even in the rural South. Our mis-representatives authored them as a political stunt to save themselves. The Black Lives Matter uprising shook the U.S. and Trump lost his election. This came after he let hundreds of thousands die in the pandemic. Instead of acknowledging failure, evangelical Republicans want to scapegoat trans kids.

But they will lose.

The medical ban died before getting a floor vote in either the House or the Senate. The sports ban passed both chambers, but the governor vetoed it. So far in Louisiana, we’re already winning.

How the TGNC people’s movement beat the right-wing reactionaries

In the face of billionaire-backed evangelical Republicans, the TGNC people’s movement and its supporters deserve full credit for defeating these four bills.

Two days after Fesi’s medical ban and on the day of Mizell’s sports ban, 200 people marched against them in New Orleans. They chanted “Transphobes are what? Paper tigers!” and “Hands off trans kids!”

Real Name Campaign, the trans rights organization that called the march, also organized phone and email zaps of legislators’ offices. As the session went on, another group dropped a banner at a street corner in New Orleans reading “Protect trans youth!”

As the session continued, more people throughout the state joined the fight. Even though ordinary TGNC people often feel alienated and boxed out of politics, dozens traveled across the state to tell politicians to reject these bans. They learned to lobby through the community training of Louisiana Trans Advocates.

Louisiana Trans Advocates also brought people out to speak at hearings. On April 28, two hours of heartfelt TGNC testimonials hammered the nail in the medical ban’s coffin. The House version cropped back up in mid-May, but only lasted a few hours before getting removed from the schedule.

Also in May, community testimonials against the House sports ban killed that version of the bill in the Education Committee. But the committee flip-flopped to approve the Senate copy just one week after promising not to.

Later that month, Real Name Campaign held a rally and soccer game in Baton Rouge to defy the ban. Protesters kicked the ball and demanded: “Let us play!”

This popular pressure deprioritized the bill, even for the more hardline Republicans. The movement delayed the ban enough for the governor to veto it after the legislative session ended.

Other important movement groups included Women With A Vision, Freedom Road Socialist Organization – New Orleans, House of Tulip, Southerners on New Ground, the Trans Resource Network of Louisiana, the Flaming Flaguettes, and the ACLU of Louisiana.

What the Democrats didn’t do to help

Louisiana’s Republicans were aggressive and our movement was even stronger, but Democrats were meek and divided.

Democratic Governor Edwards benefited the movement by vetoing the sports ban. But his justification called the ban a non-issue because there were no trans girls in sports. This message concedes to the right wing by saying that trans girl athletes could one day become a “problem.” Even if hundreds of trans girls started playing sports in the state, they would deserve just as much of a spot on the team.

Beyond Edwards’ response, which at least opposed the bill, Democratic legislators across the board joined the conservative attack. Four out of 12 Democrats voted for the sports ban in the Senate, and two abstained. Ten of 35 House Democrats supported the ban, and another ten refused to take a stand. Louisiana Democratic Party Vice-Chair C. Travis Johnson was among those who cheered the ban along.

A handful of reporters helped raise this issue, but the media was often silent as well. Augustina Johnson of the Real Name Campaign expressed frustration and hope: “Our state let us down, professional media let us down, When we needed not only allies but accomplices, few heard the call and fewer still responded. We are proud of those who did. At the end of the day, however, it was only through the strength of the trans, non-binary and gender diverse community were we, at great expense to our bodies, minds, and souls, able to hold off this uncalled for, gratuitous assault on our marginalized community for just one year.”

The TGNC rights movement stays strong

Overall, hundreds of people marched in the streets, crammed legislators’ phone lines, jammed their inboxes, confronted them in their halls and rallied on their front steps.

As Elliot Wade of Louisiana Trans Advocates put it, “We’ve been ready for this fight for some time,” and “I'm very pleased and ecstatic that we were all able to come together like this, and that’s what made the difference, we leaned heavily on the people doing the work.”

Some far-right voices want a special session just to override the veto. This has never happened in Louisiana’s history, which shows how desperate they are.

But the TGNC rights movement is prepared to go at it again. We know this can happen next year. We’ll push back, and we won’t stop there. The fight continues until we win full respect for the rights and dignity of TGNC people.

#BatonRougeLA #PeoplesStruggles #RealNameCampaign #TransDayOfVisibility

New Orleans, LA – Real Name Campaign will be holding a march and rally in recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility. The rally will be held on Wednesday, March 31, at 5 p.m., and will start at Washington Square Park on Elysian Fields Avenue.

Transgender Day of Visibility celebrates the authentic lives of transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people. Patriarchal gender norms only allow for there to be men and women identifying with the genders on their birth certificates. This makes trans people invisible: always there, but never acknowledged.

Trump’s attempts to purge trans people from health and housing protections added to this erasure. New Orleans’ inaccessible ID changes do too, not only by opening us to discrimination but also by denying our legal existence.

Real Name Campaign is made of activists in New Orleans fighting for accessible name and gender marker changes. We fight because equitable access to correct identification is essential in achieving the freedom to be ourselves with safety and dignity. We demand that the $250 name change fee in Orleans Parish be waived, and all other restrictions to correct ID accessibility abolished.

The protest will also resist the continuing attacks from transphobic politicians and systems around the country. There have already been more than 80 anti-transgender state laws introduced across the country in 2021. Real Name Campaign is rallying in solidarity to send a message that our identities and our movements will not be stopped.

#NewOrleansLA #PeoplesStruggles #RealNameCampaign

New Orleans, LA- LGBT activists are getting ready for the Trans March of Resilience this Wednesday, November 20. The community’s leading Black trans organizers are heading the march. Activist groups Operation Restoration, BreakOUT!, GLAAD, the Southern Equality Fund, and the Real Name Campaign are in support.

Milan Nicole Sherry, the main organizer, states “November 20 is known as the Trans Day of Remembrance, when many of the community’s trans individuals come together to remember the senseless violence faced by our community, and to celebrate our resilience as a community. We are marching to honor individuals lost this year as well as individuals whose cases are still open. We are fighting police brutality, the lack of official concern for our community, discriminatory policies within the workplace, and the general violence against us. We’re encouraging folks to come out in solidarity and honor our resilience.”

#NewOrleansLA #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #TransLivesMatter #RealNameCampaign