Organizers announced that they will be launching an all-out campaign to force the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) to drop their anti-trans policy and to restore the ability of Floridians to change the gender markers on their IDs to reflect who they are.

More than a dozen community organizations including HOPE Community Center, Orlando for Gender Equality and Dream Defenders were united behind a banner which read, “DeSantis DMV. Drop the policy. IDs for all.” Florida Representative Anna Eskamani also attended and pledged solidarity with the growing campaign. As reporters gathered to hear the announcement outside the prominent LGBTQ health center, activists chanted “We won’t go back. Not one step back!” and “We will not go back in time, being trans is not a crime.”

Jacob Muldoon, lead organizer with Orlando for Gender Equality spoke first and outlined the context for DeSantis’ latest attack on the LGBTQ community. He explained that community groups organized and mobilized in great numbers during the past legislative session. Through actions like protests, letter-writings, die-ins, and more, activists defeated 21 out of 22 anti-LGBTQ bills attempting to move through the Florida legislature. But now, facing defeat, the GOP is pivoting to an undemocratic, administrative rule change.

Muldoon went on to say, “These political moves by DeSantis and the GOP are unconstitutional and follow a trend of Florida violating federal laws like Real ID and Title IX. DeSantis and the GOP are rogue actors, dead set on their unpopular and hate-filled agenda. We must defend Orlando from Tallahassee.”

Well-known community organizer Shea Cutliff delivered a powerful speech, stating, “As someone who transitioned very early, my ID was like a black American Express card. It was a ticket to so many things. It put a stop to being discriminated against before I even had the chance to interview for a job. It was my chance to stand up for myself in a place as simple as a grocery store by presenting my ID with the proper gender marker reflected on it.”

Joey Knoll, founder and president of SPEKTRUM Health also spoke out against DeSantis’ attempts to erase Florida’s trans population from public life. Knoll rebuked the right-wing governor, “regardless of what Ron DeSantis says, thinks or does: trans people have existed, trans people exist now, and trans people will continue to exist long into the future. Nobody is asking for his permission.”

The coalition ended the conference with a call to action, promising to mobilize and protest at DMVs around the state of Florida in the coming weeks.

#OrlandoFL #LGBTQrights #TransRights #TransLiberation #GayRights #RealID #TitleIX #Desantis #

Minneapolis, MN – Over 5000 people from all across Minnesota lined Lake Street, from South Minneapolis to Saint Paul, October 28, to show solidarity with transgender, gender nonconforming and intersex people under attack by the Trump administration.

The action comes in response to a Department of Health and Human Services memo leaked by the New York Times which reaffirmed the administration’s aim to legally define gender as “a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth.” This definition, if adopted, not only erases any legal definition of “transgender,” but by narrowing the definition of “sex discrimination” to discrimination on the basis of biology, it endangers the rights of all trans, intersex and gender nonconforming people across the United States.

In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, Hamline student and event organizer Andrew Weston outlined the core principles of the action. “You cannot erase us out of existence. You cannot intimidate us out of existence.” Weston added that they wanted to “let people know that we are here, we are seen. We will not be erased and we cannot be erased.”

All along the line, people expressed solidarity in their own ways. Some drew messages of support in chalk on the sidewalk. Unlawful Assembly, a marching band, moved up and down the sidewalk, bolstering spirits and leading chants, and a choir came out to sing songs of remembrance for those we have lost and of hope for our future.

Dozens of political, cultural, faith and health organizations officially supported the event, showed up and provided resources to aid the movement.

At a press conference held in front of the Third Precinct Police Department before the action, Cole Nicholls, of SDS-UMN and the MN Transgender Health Coalition pointed out the historical significance of the event’s location, stating, “We fought to free Cece McDonald, who, seven years ago, in the Cub parking lot across the street, was brutally assaulted by a man with a swastika on his chest. She was subsequently sentenced to 41 months in prison by our Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman.”

Nicholls continued, “They say transphobia kills. It’s true. But it kills with hunger, with homelessness, with illness, with violence from bigots and johns and police, with the same weapons used by white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism to kill people all across the world. To those who stand with us today, I ask you to stand with us not only in the struggle for our rights, but for rent control, for public housing, for free health care, for community control of police and for unionization. We are fighting not only against discrimination. We are fighting to survive and to thrive. We will not be erased. And when we unite with oppressed people across the world, we cannot be erased.”

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #WomensMovement #US #PeoplesStruggles #transgender #TransLivesMatter #DonaldTrump #TitleIX

Tampa, FL – More than 50 Tampa area students and community activists gathered at the University of South Florida’s MLK Plaza, October 24, for a rally against Trump’s attacks on transgender rights. The protest was organized by Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Earlier this week it was announced that Trump administration officials were moving to alter Title IX rules to exclude trans people from basic services and protection from discrimination. This is only the latest attack on the LGBTQ+ community from the Trump administration.

“We need to organize against Trump’s attacks on trans rights. The government needs to know that we will stand up and stand together against what they try to force on us, and we won’t take no for an answer,” said Taylor Cook, an organizer from Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society, underscoring the need for a militant response.

The protest was located in a central area of campus with hundreds of students walking by. The protesters chanted, “When trans people are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and “It’s our history don’t deny it, Stonewall was a trans riot!” drowning out heckling from bigoted students nearby.

The protest showed that the way forward for activists resisting Trump’s attacks on trans people is through mass protests and action. The event was part of Students for a Democratic Society’s national week of action in defense of trans rights.

#TampaFL #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #US #PeoplesStruggles #TampaBayStudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #TransLivesMatter #DonaldTrump #TitleIX #TransRights

Minneapolis, MN – Steff Yorek, the Political Secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, sharply condemned the Trump administration, October 22, for orchestrating attacks on the democratic rights of transgender people.

According to widespread media reports, officials in the Trump admiration are moving to alter Title IX rules to exclude transgender people for any legal protections.

“The reactionary and right-wing bigots of the Trump administration are preparing an attack on the democratic rights of transgender people. They are attempting to erase people’s existence, and roll back the framework for the scant legal protections that currently exist,” said Yorek.

This latest attack on transgender people comes in the context of a misogynist, anti-LGBTQ agenda that is being promoted by Trump and his followers.

#MinneapolisMN #WomensMovement #US #PeoplesStruggles #transgender #TransLivesMatter #DonaldTrump #TitleIX