By staff

San José, CA – On MLK Day, upwards of 600 San José residents came out to protest Trump's inauguration and fight back against his anti-immigrant agenda.

The protest mobilized a broad array of progressive organizations in the South Bay, all united against Trump. The Silicon Valley Immigration Committee and Papeles Para Todos coordinated the rally and march.

The rally began at 4 p.m. at the intersection of Stevens Creek and Winchester Boulevard, a commercial center where many gather to shop. Before the protest started, a mass of people had already gathered on the sidewalks with Mexican flags, pickets featuring the Virgin Mary, and Huelga flags. Together the crowd chanted, “¡El Pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” meaning “The people united, will never be defeated!”

Sebastian Salinas, a community organizer with the Silicon Valley Immigration Committee, kicked off the protest with a series of chants shoulder to shoulder with SEIU 2015 union members. Together they chanted, “Who’s got the power? We got the power! What kind of power? Union power!”, alternating the final phrase with chants of “people power” as well.

The program began with the Raging Grannies Action League’s anti-Trump song reaffirming civil rights in the United States. Shortly after, José Rubén from the Comité de Solidaridad con la Lucha de los Inmigrantes Detenidos shared his experience of participating in a labor and hunger strike while being detained in a for-profit prison.

“On the 18th day of the hunger strike, we had a visit from ICE and GEO dressed in military gear, in riot gear, with deadly weapons,” Rubén recalled. Rubén asked to speak to his lawyers,but ICE officials responded by dragging Rubén and throwing him on to the ground. In 2023, Rubén gained his freedom. “It was possible because of the support of the community that I was able to be liberated,” he stated.

The program included moments that reflected on what MLK Day is about and Martin Luther King Jr.’s radical legacy. Allie Yixuan from San José Against War spoke about MLK Jr.’s opposition to the Vietnam War. Yixuan stated, “It is clear that if Dr. King were around today, he would agree that spending enormous amounts of our tax dollars on military aid to bomb civilians and children in occupied Palestine is unacceptable!”

A community organizer with Papeles Para Todos, Verónica Avendano Ibáñez, soon followed, stating, “I have spent 25 years here and have spent more than a decade organizing my community here.” Ibáñez continued, “I learned that it is important that our community is united and that we fight for our solidarity to achieve our goals,” adding, “Everyone has a right to visit their countries of origin and return to their home in the United States of America, because we have grown roots in this community.”

Uriel Magdaleno of the Silicon Valley Immigration stated, “As President Trump is sworn in, many sanctuary cities are wavering on their support for their immigrant communities and pledge to work with ICE, which is why it is important for San José to reaffirm as a sanctuary city, and it will not cooperate with ICE.”

Magdaleno closed by reading an excerpt of the Legalization for All Network’s statement, “It is through the peoples’ struggle and the peoples’ movements that we will resist Trump and the racist institutions that he will try to use to attack us. Our rights and our place in these lands were not given to us, but won through protracted and sharp struggle. Whether we were born here or if we came here as immigrants, we have every right to exist here.”

After the speeches, Sebastian Salinas prepared the crowd to march into the streets. The attendees followed, with SEIU union members leading with their banner and chants. As the march started, cars passing by honked in support. The crowd chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!” After a block, the march headed directly into the center of Santana Row, one of San José’s busiest shopping centers. The crowd continued to chant, “What do we want? Justice! How are we gonna get it? People power! If we don't get it? Shut it down!”

The march included a number of different contingents including a Filipino contingent made up of Malaya South Bay, PAWIS South Bay and the League of Filipino Students at San José State University.

After the march, Misrayn Mendoza with Amigos de Guadalupe continued the program, stating, “As you have seen during the last couple of weeks, months and years, we have been under attack by the presidency administration that will be entering today.” Mendoza continued, “Beyond the fear that they want us to feel, there's an unbreakable resiliency, courage and valor to continue in community with one another without fear we'll walk together and change the fear for love and justice.”

Tarentz Charite, of the San José State University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, told the crowd, “Dare to struggle, dare to win!” Charite described their experience as a student activist on campus “constantly in battle of reactionary ideology on campus.” They condemned the university's tolerance of the reactionary group Turning Point USA on campus.

After Charite, Héctor Rincón from La Voz de los Trabajadoresbegan by saying, “Long live the working class struggle, long live the women's rights struggle, long live the trans rights struggle and long live the struggle of all oppressed peoples!”

John Duroyan from the San José district of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization ended the program, saying, “Today marks a moment of vital importance, for many reasons. Firstly, on this day, we honor the memory of a titan, and a hero in this nation’s long legacy of activism.” Duroyan continued, “What better representation of those evils exists than the wretched reactionary Donald Trump, and his gang of bigots and greedy businessmen! Today, Trump was sworn in, an insult to the legacy of Dr. King! Let every organization here, no matter their personal mission, stand united in declaring that the far right’s hatred and greed is not welcome here! And that so long as we have anything to say about it, Trump’s administration will not lay so much as a hand on the people without us fighting back with all our rage and fury!”

#SanJoseCA #Trump #Inauguration #FRSO #MLK #MLKday #TransRights #WomensRights #SDS #SJSU #TurningPointUSA #TurningPOint #SJSUSDS #MALAYA #ImmigrantRights #Legalization4All #SEIU #UnionPower #SiliconValleyImmigrationCommittee #PapelesParaTodos

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 #

Orlando, FL – Activists left a rainbow of messages against HB 1639 on the front door of Florida Representative Doug Bankson’s office in Apopka on Friday afternoon, January 26. It was part of an action called by Orlando for Gender Equality to fight back against the wave of anti-LGBTQ bills being proposed by Florida’s right-wing legislature.

Rep. Bankson’s HB 1639 is the worst of the bunch. It tries to erase the legal existence of trans people in Florida by requiring them to use sex assigned at birth instead of gender on their driver’s licenses and ID cards. The bill is also trying to revive the backwards and discredited practice of “conversion therapy” by requiring healthcare plans to cover it.

The ACLU of Florida recently warned that if this bill passes, trans people without access to valid driver’s licenses could be further criminalized for simply “driving while trans.”

Lead organizer with Orlando for Gender Equality Jacob Muldoon spoke at the protest and explained, “Bills like HB 1639 are trying to make queer people second class citizens in the state of Florida. They are trying to take away identification documents, they are trying to take away healthcare, they are trying to take away our flags, but we will not let them! These oppressive bills are a piece in a larger project to remove trans people from public life.”

Protesters lined the street outside the Republican politician’s office and held signs that read, “Stand for trans rights,” “Kill the bill” and “Not one step back.” Their presence was welcomed by pedestrians and motorists who stopped to join in or honked in approval. The loudest chants from the crowd were: “When trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and “We will not go back in time, being queer is not a crime!”

Madalyn Propst, from Florida High School Democrats, summed up the situation in her speech. “When I came out, my bullies were in the classroom. Now, the bullies are the politicians in Tallahassee.”

Orlando for Gender Equality plans to continue the campaign against HB 1639 with a follow-up webinar on February 3, where they will discuss updates on the progress of the anti-LGBT bills through the legislature as well other ways to take action and fight back.

#OrlandoFL #HB1639 #OrlandoForGenderEquality #TransRights #LGBTQRights

Milwaukee, WI – On December 6, members and supporters of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chapter of the New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a disruption of a speaking event featuring local anti-trans personality Laura Becker.

Becker is a “detransitioner” and is trying to join the small number of right-wing grifters making a buck from speaking engagements like these which attack all aspects of trans rights and expression. Becker herself is specifically focused on attacking access to gender-affirming healthcare, something which all the research and data supports as life-saving for trans youth in particular but all trans people in general.

The SDS action saw members and supporters sit in on the start of the event. Their group made up half or more of the people in attendance. While sitting in the front row, some members unfurled a large banner that read “Stop trans genocide” well in Becker's view and also ruining any pictures of the event as it was reflected in the glass behind her.

Signs all throughout the venue space and on every seat detailed proper attendance etiquette, and campus police were present to make sure everyone in the room stayed in line.

After a brief talk that railed against trans healthcare and talked of the “growing number of detransitioners” who are unhappy with having undergone treatment, a question-and-answer portion was offered. One SDS member asked about the much larger number of trans people who receive gender-affirming healthcare procedures and are happier because of it. Baker danced around the question.

Once she was finished answering, the SDS contingent stood up and started chanting “Gender-affirming health care saves trans lives!” Before the cops in the room could really get aggressive, though they did put hands on and push one of the women, the group slowly marched out as they chanted. They took the protest outside to the front of the building where they chanted a little longer. 

“SDS is committed to showing up at all events like this and making both the speaker and the attendees actually there to listen to them as uncomfortable as possible,” said Patricia Fish of SDS. “Anti-trans bigotry and other hateful ideas have no place being given a platform on campuses.”

#MilwaukeeWI #SDS #UWM #TransRights

Madison, WI – On Saturday, September 23, activists and allies from the Trans Resistance Action Committee (TRAC) demonstrated outside the Capitol building in Madison to demand that Dane County drop the Dean Health insurance plan.

Dean Health is an affiliate of SSM Health, a Catholic, not-for-profit health system. SSM Health stopped providing gender-affirming surgeries at its Aesthetics Center in Middleton, Wisconsin in July. This came after increasing pressure from the Catholic Church for Catholic health care organizations to stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender people. This move is part of a continued increase in anti-trans legislation, rhetoric and policy across the United States.

Logan Bitz, a founding member of TRAC and co-organizer of the rally, said, “I’m trans and I had gender-affirming surgery at the Aesthetics Center before they discontinued treatments. The obscene medical hurdles I’ve faced have always left me irate for everyone else who needs access to this kind of care. It’s always been my hope that things will only continue to get easier for others than it was for me, but the SSM decision is a perfect example that that’s not where things are heading.”

The chants, speeches and signs of TRAC activists got the attention of hundreds of people who were walking around Capitol square for the weekly Dane County Farmers Market.

TRAC is a grassroots organization that was founded to advocate for trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people’s rights in the Madison area. Cae Dallman, an organizer with and founder of TRAC, spoke about the demand for Dane County to drop SSM: “This summer, Dane County became a transgender sanctuary. Dumping SSM Health as a result of their bigoted decision to stop providing gender-affirming care would demonstrate that this resolution wasn’t just words on paper.”

#MadisonWI #SSMHealth #TransRights #GenderAffirmingCare

Kenosha, WI – Just in time for the new semester, Students for a Democratic Society at UW Parkside came out victorious in their gender neutral bathrooms campaign from the previous semester. Four bathrooms were converted on campus to support the trans and gender non-conforming community, a demand which some students have been proposing for several years.

Before, there were only two gender neutral bathrooms on campus located on the opposite ends of campus. This was an obstacle for transgender students taking classes in the central area of the university, as the only gender neutral bathrooms were inconveniently far. Many trans students had spoken up about this issue in the past, but to no avail.

The first step of concrete action began last October, during SDS’s protest of Brett Kavanaugh’s inauguration and a call for transgender rights. Members of SDS, with Rainbow Alliance, an LGBTQ+ organization on campus, marched to the administrative offices to put real pressure on administrators, who had been avoiding the bathroom proposal.

SDS put the fight for gender neutral bathrooms at the forefront and it became their campaign for the spring of 2019. After tabling events, petitions, and with a constant back and forth with the administration, they finally agreed to order new signs for the bathrooms. However, the school delayed the process.

Ariana Holmes, an associate member of the chapter, had her doubts about the administration’s promise to take action.

“At first, administration seemed keen on working with us. However, with it being March and them saying the signs would be up in 12 weeks at the latest seemed really sketchy, as that would fall at the end of the semester. Our concerns seemed to prove true.”

What should have taken a few weeks became several months. The signs were finally put up on August 21, after SDS threatened action against the administration for not following through on its promises.

This semester, SDS activists at Parkside are working towards getting a food pantry on campus to address the growing food insecurity of students, many of whom are from poor and working-class backgrounds.

#KenoshaWI #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #TransRights #KenoshaSDS #GenderNeutralBathrooms

Oshkosh, WI – 20 people rallied outside of Polk Library on the UW-Oshkosh (UWO) campus, on the evening of October 29, to stand in solidarity with transgender and gender non-conforming people as they face attacks from the reactionary Trump administration.

The event was co-hosted by UWO Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the community group United Action Oshkosh (UAO). Taking place in a main plaza on campus, the demonstration featured militant chants, such as “We exist, we resist! We are here, we are queer!” and demanding trans rights now. Others held signs with phrases like “Trans liberation now!” and “How do you spell 'transphobe?’ T-R-U-M-P.”

Speakers from the community gave encouraging speeches, and some passionate participants were brave enough to share a little about their own struggles on the spot.

Alex Schnier Hansen, a leader with UAO, spoke about the dangerous atmosphere being created by proposals such as Trump’s that seek to legislate transgender people out of existence.

“The people in this community are suffering. We're afraid. That fear is fueled now on an almost weekly basis by people at the very top of national leadership in the United States and in many countries abroad,” Schnier Hansen said.

They continued, pointing to actions like this one as a way to begin not only a fightback, but a healing process as well: “These assaults need to end now. The epidemic of murder and suicide in the trans community must stop, and the road to solving it starts with local support like this.”

With the elections around the corner, event emcee and UWO SDS member Ryan Hamann made it clear that while voting is important, organizing and mobilizing the masses is what is most important. It is the people who hold the power. Only when we have wielded this power through direct action and pressure from below have we ever seen popular gains.

#OshkoshWI #InJusticeSystem #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #TransRights

New York, NY – Over 300 people gathered in the heart of the Flatiron District to stand up for trans rights. The call to action was made by several different organizations that belong to the Rapid Feminist Response network, which responded to the Trump administration memo that was uncovered by the New York Times. The memo, put out last spring by the Department of Human Health and Services, was adamantly proposing that all governmental agencies narrowly define gender by the biological sex organ a person was born with.

The protest began at 5:30 p.m. right in front of the Flatiron building. There were speeches that ranged from speakers offering words of love and support to trans and gender non-conforming people, to militant speeches demanding at end to capitalism.

A mother of two gender non-conforming children gave a rousing and emotional speech about what it takes to defend her children. She said, “I keep hearing how brave I am for supporting my children. Well I’m here to tell you, it takes zero courage to love my own children! The courage is for those who stand up what’s right! Those who resist!”

The crowd began marching uptown with rousing chants, such as “Not only for the cis and the white, health care is a human right!”, and “We have power! We have rights! LGBT fight! Fight! Fight!”

The Strategic Response Group, the New York Police Department’s violently repressive crowd-control unit, followed the protesters the whole route, with a van ready to arrest anyone they deemed “troublesome.”

The rally ended in Grand Central Station as the hundreds of voices echoed throughout the hall. Several more speakers urged the attendees to continue protesting and not to give up the fight.

#NewYork #NY #LGBTQ #TransRights #DepartmentOfHumanHealthAndServices #RapidFeministResponseNetwork

There were two speakers from SDS, and they reminded the crowd that trans women, especially trans women of color, are targets of transphobic violence and that 22 trans women have been killed so far this year. With Trump’s blatant attack on the trans community this week, as well as his previous attacks on trans individuals serving in the military, we can only expect these violent attacks to increase. An SDS member also called out the University of Utah and all universities to pledge to protect its trans students even if Title IV no longer does.

In addition to SDS speakers, there was a speaker from Utah Against Police Brutality and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

It is important to remember that police brutality targets trans individuals. The fight for equal rights and protections in this country for trans and non-binary people is the same fight for all oppressed people. We must continue to fight Trump’s policies and to fight with our trans siblings for their right to health care, housing, and equal protection under the law.

#SaltLakeCityUT #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #US #PeoplesStruggles #transgender #DonaldTrump #TransRights #WeExistWeResist

Northampton, MA – Western Massachusetts Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally and speak out for transgender rights, October 26, in downtown Northampton’s Pulaski Park. Pulaski Park is a block from Smith College, and a short trip from Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College, and UMass Amherst.

This event was inspired by SDS actions in Tampa Bay and Tallahassee earlier this week. Joining a national SDS call for students to protest the Trump administration’s proposals to change Title IX to include an unwavering definition of gender, based on genetics and a binary idea of biological sex. These policies would roll back the small number of protections currently afforded to trans people in the United States. It will put 1.4million citizens at risk of losing their jobs; homes, medical care, and already weak ability to prosecute hate crimes.

Over 50 people, both students and community members, gathered together in the park at 11 a.m. Friday morning with signs reading, “Fire transphobes in our schools, police and government.” The rally called to, “Support the Yes on 3” campaign, a Massachusetts bill to provide legal protections to transgender people and the first of its kind for any state.

Organizers were clear in telling people that just voting wasn’t enough. “We are at a point where our identities alone are not revolutionary enough,” said Mod Behrens, an SDS organizer who gave the opening statements at the event. “Our existence is not revolutionary enough because they’ve shown us that if we don’t act, there’s a whole lot they can do to hurt us.” Donations of $50 for the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, a non-profit offering legal help for trans people, including those incarcerated, were collected at the event.

Anna Secino, an SDS member who helped organize the event, said after the rally, “Reversals on Senate Bill 2407 [Massachusetts Transgender Anti-Discrimination Legislation] and on Roe v. Wade would act in tandem to restrict individual autonomy on the most personal matters and to deny vulnerable groups equal access to public goods and services.”

Western Mass SDS invited Sky Karp, a Smith College student and member of the college’s Trans Diversity Committee who spoke about being transgender on a women’s campus. “The way we all felt when Trump’s new policy came out, is the same way I feel, on a smaller level, every day.”

Smith College, which only began accepting trans women in 2015, does not allow students to change their names on their IDs or in their student portals, and has refused to let students continue leading campus tours after they have begun transitioning. “Part of the reason Trump’s policy is so fucking scary for me is because I know I can’t count on Smith to stand by trans students,” they explained.

Other speakers included Lorelei Erisis, local activist and former Miss Trans New England, Karl Tonge with the “Yes on 3” campaign, and N Kohchi, a Trans Lifeline worker and member of PSL.

As the rally continued and people began chanting for trans rights now, even more people trickled in from the sidewalk, grabbing handmade signs and joining the crowd. “In SDS, we have a motto: ‘Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win,’” organizers told the audience through a megaphone. “Well when our rights are under attack, we say ‘Stand up, fight back!” The whole crowd shouted it back in return.

This event precedes other SDS rallies in Salt Lake City and Wisconsin, encouraging students to stand up against oppression from the Trump White House.

#NorthhamptonMA #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #TransRights

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