Appleton, WI – Over 50 outraged community members gathered outside the Outagamie County Courthouse on May 23 for a protest demanding accountability around Tim Hermes, a member of the Outagamie County Board of Supervisors. The event took aim at Hermes after recent transphobic comments he made during a board meeting became public. A look at his social media reveals a long history of bigotry and racism. The demand put forward was for Hermes's removal from office.

The action was organized by members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Appleton Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and a brand new group called Hate Free Outagamie (HFO). Others attended in support, such as faith-based organization ESTHER and Appleton Diverse and Resilient.

Chanting, “Trans rights are human rights!”, attendees proudly held signs advocating for equality and justice. The atmosphere was charged with a collective spirit, fueling the determination to create a more inclusive and welcoming Outagamie County. The rally saw impassioned speeches from activists, community leaders, and affected individuals, highlighting the urgent need for change.

Among those speaking was Jonnie Urban, an Appleton SDS member and local university student. Urban said after the rally that Hermes needed to be removed from office, stating, “He should resign because he is letting misinformation dictate his opinions and his beliefs, and that misinformation is harmful, if someone who has no respect for actual facts is in that position, they can't be trusted to make decisions that actually benefit what we here in Fox Valley need.”

The outpouring of support and passion was evident as over 30 protesters continued from the rally to pack the county board of supervisors meeting that followed to voice their demands directly to those in power. The board attempted to prevent the public from speaking on the issue on the grounds that it wasn't on the agenda, but that didn't stop organizers.

Jay Gibbs, an event organizer and FRSO member, tried to utilize the public comment time to call for Supervisor Tim Hermes' removal, but was shut down. Gibbs was overruled and subsequently escorted from the meeting by sheriff's deputies. The board chair stated that because Gibbs spoke on a non-agenda item, that speech was not permitted. However, the incident only served to galvanize the crowd further, as they refused to be silenced.

What followed was a remarkable display of grassroots activism. The protesters who remained in the room, undeterred by the expulsion, rallied together and effectively shut down the county board of supervisors meeting for nearly an hour. They voiced their demands for justice, chanted slogans and made it clear that their fight for equality would not be silenced or ignored.

In the aftermath of the meeting, the movement to remove Supervisor Tim Hermes from office gained even more momentum. Community members and activists vowed to continue the campaign until justice is served. The call for his removal is not only a response to his transphobic comments but also a larger push for the expansion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in Outagamie County and in the city of Appleton.

The collective power demonstrated at the rally and the determination exhibited during the county board meeting serves as a reminder of the strength that lies within grassroots movements. This event has sparked a renewed sense of urgency in the fight for transgender rights and inclusive policies. As the campaign gains momentum, organizers and community members are rallying together, confident that their voices will be heard and demanding accountability from those in positions of power.

The battle against discrimination and bigotry is far from over.

#AppletonWI #transgender

Denver, CO – About 150 members of the trans community and their allies gathered at the Colorado State Capitol on Sunday, April 23 to protest the legislative attacks on transgender and gender non-conforming people across the country. Groups such as Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee (DACAC), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), & Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND) co-sponsored the event.

This protest was hosted by Rise Up Trans Rights Network, a Colorado-based network aiming to connect transgender and gender non-conforming individuals and allies who are prepared to organize direct actions when confronted with attacks. This protest was their first ever event, which consisted of various speakers from the trans community and a clothing swap to provide gender-affirming clothing to trans people in need.

The organizers of the protest had a wide range of demands, including the right of all transgender and gender non-conforming people to present freely and openly in public; access to gender affirming health care regardless of age; freedom from all forms of discrimination in housing, employment, healthcare and education; access to information about transgender identity, community, and history in institutions of public education; and access to legal identification documents that align with their true gender identity.

Organizer Ryan Stitzel of DACAC made the case for trans liberation taking the form of community control of police. “You’re already intimately aware of how much more likely it is for trans folks to encounter police in general, to experience police violence, or just to have police look the other way when they’re the victims of violent crimes. Many of you know all too well exactly who will be enforcing these horrific anti-trans laws, who will be the boots on the ground for the erasure of trans people in this country.”

There have been 469 bills introduced in 2023 all around the U.S attacking LGBTQ rights. This is already more than double the 180 such bills that were introduced during all of last year. Many of these explicitly target the rights of transgender people.

While Colorado’s LGBTQ community enjoys many rights and legal protections not seen in other states, such as hate crime laws based on gender identity and expression and legal protections for seeking abortion and gender-affirming care for both Colorado and out-of-state residents, violence against trans people in the form of poverty, homelessness, police brutality and right-wing reaction are commonplace.

In November 2022, Colorado was also the site of a mass shooting in Club Q, the only gay bar in Colorado Springs. Five people were murdered and 25 were injured.

As the event drew to a close, Faye Valentine Rise Up for Trans Rights and DACAC wrapped up the rally by saying, “The last few years have shown that rights that we take for granted can be taken away in an instant. Whether it’s through the actions of the federal government or through the actions of our own state government, we need to be ready to stand united to protect both our fellow trans people and ourselves.”

#DenverCO #transgender

New Orleans, LA – On December 11, people from Texas and Louisiana came together to discuss recent attacks on reproductive freedom and transgender rights. They held an in-person forum at the New Orleans First Unitarian Universalist Church, with virtual attendance through Zoom and social media.

Participants spoke out against the Supreme Court for validating the Texas abortion ban. Some speakers discussed their experiences rallying against the 15-week ban in Mississippi, which currently threatens the limited right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade. Finally, the forum connected these attacks to the transgender sports ban that passed in Texas. A nearly identical one failed in Louisiana earlier this year, after encountering a mass LGBT movement. Both the sports bans targeted trans and gender non-conforming kids in athletics.

Speakers pushed for solidarity between people seeking abortions and transgender community members. Both deserve the freedom to control their own bodies, and both are facing attacks from billionaire-backed evangelical ultraconservatives.

Louisiana speakers included Pearl Ricks of the Reproductive Justice Action Collective, Mar Ehrlich of Real Name Campaign NOLA, and Jessica Frankel of the Louisiana Coalition for Reproductive Freedom. Desarae Lindsey, a progressive member of the Texas Libertarian Party, spoke as well. Real Name Campaign organized the event.

#NewOrleansLA #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #transgender #abortion

Student organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society, the Pride Student Union, and Planned Parenthood Gen Action were at the event. Community organizations also had a presence, including the Florida Coalition for Transgender Liberation, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, and others. Both students and community members called out the lack of action on FSU’s part in securing transgender-inclusive housing.

“We have no need for platitudes, we have no need for claims of allyship, what our coalition and initiative needs is action, plans and communication,” said Finley Talley from Gender Odyssey. Talley also pointed out the lack of diversity within FSU’s housing program among its leadership, and the low retention rate of the LGBTQ+ community and oppressed nationalities.

Others agreed that there hadn’t been much focus on FSU’s behalf concerning transgende-inclusive housing. Planned Parenthood Gen Action member Emma Moses said, “When I first heard about FSU’s treatment of trans students I was shocked and upset but honestly I wasn’t really surprised. We all know FSU has a history of ignoring marginalized students on their campus, and the problem is that this has been allowed to happen for far too long. FSU administration refuses to hear us. Students deserve better.”

In addition to creating a petition that outlines their specific demands of FSU housing, Gender Odyssey has created the @transatfloridastate Instagram account where transgender and gender nonconforming students can submit their stories and anonymously share experiences in FSU housing. Gender Odyssey says they will continue to organize for safe and inclusive campus housing until their demands are met.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #transgender #TallahasseeSDS #GenderOdyssey

New Orleans, LA – On May 4, a coalition of Louisiana’s transgender community organizers extended a solidarity grant to activist sisters and siblings in Uganda. The gesture makes clear that trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people are standing together against coronavirus all around the world.

This solidarity is the opposite of ‘charity.’ The two groups struggle arm-in-arm against the same injustice.

The coronavirus crisis hits TGNC people harder than most, both in East Africa and the U.S. Deep South. TGNC people face high rates of poverty, especially Black, Latino, and indigenous trans people. Healthcare providers and employers discriminate against any TGNC person bold enough to be themselves. Trans community members often have to rely on sex work, a dangerous profession not eligible for government relief.

Twice in the past decade, Ugandan lawmakers have contemplated a “Kill the Gays” bill. It wasn’t passed, but it could have imposed the death penalty for gay sex. The Louisiana injustice system and police routinely target, arrest and imprison Black, Latinx and indigenous trans people. Louisiana prisons have nearly 100% coronavirus infection rates, so arrests mean murder. Already on the edge of survival, many more TGNC people now face lethal circumstances.

The TGNC Peoples COVID Crisis Fund of Louisiana fights back by providing cash assistance to marginalized community members. Five organizations take part in the Fund: the LGBTQ Task Force, Trans*Visible, the Trans March of Resilience, Louisiana Trans Advocates, and the Real Name Campaign. The coalition has also negotiated with landlords and spread awareness of TGNC struggles.

Trans Positives Uganda and Lady Mermaid’s Bureau have partnered to support trans sex workers in Uganda. In their words:

“We, the campaign team, are fundraising to secure the critical basics for Ugandan sex workers who are vulnerable and struggling during these strange and disorienting circumstances imposed on the world by COVID-19. Basics include: Food, medicines, rent support and sanitation. We are especially focused on supporting the low income female and trans sex workers in streets, brothels, bars and slums in the Kampala Capital area.”

From Louisiana to Uganda, leadership comes from the community and fights for the community.

In solidarity with both coalitions, please share and donate if you can:

TGNC People’s COVID Fund of Louisiana: https://www.gofundme.com/f/tgncLA

Trans Positives Uganda and Lady Mermaid’s Bureau: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kampalaswrelief

#NewOrleansLA #PeoplesStruggles #transgender #Uganda

This is undoubtedly a big win for transgender and non-binary people across the state and a huge rebuke to traditional thinking when it comes to transgender and non-binary individuals seeking surgery to help with gender dysphoria. Gender Dysphoria is a newer term defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ (DSM) fifth edition (2013) as the distress a person feels due to a mismatch between their gender identity and their assigned sex at birth.

However, the movement for transgender and non-binary rights in Wisconsin and across the country can’t rest on this victory alone. Insurance companies are still a major gatekeeper for transgender and non-binary people. The struggle to take back and grow comfortable with our bodies sometimes but not always requires surgery.

The definition of what is medically necessary has been changing at a rapid pace since the 1960s. The earliest research in modern medicine has created a system of understanding that we are still rolling back today. The advent of the Kinsey model ranking the “level” a person is transgender and the misclassification of transgender people in the 1980s DSM-III have created lasting damage. The DSM-IV (2000) and DSM-V (2013) have made progress toward undoing the wrongs of the earlier flawed research.

There has been a push nationally for healthcare providers and health insurance companies to follow the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care (SOC) for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People. According to WPATH’s SOC the overarching treatment goal is “lasting personal comfort with the gendered self to maximize overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfillment.”

WPATH is a big proponent of the informed consent model. Medical providers are coming around to the idea of informed consent, which removes or diminishes the role of gatekeeping mental health professionals when considering hormone replacement therapy (HRT). It must be noted that it’s still important to discuss hormones and transition with a mental health provider before going on HRT. However, transgender people sometimes feel HRT is important for their gender congruence.

Despite this victory in Wisconsin, the issues of access to healthcare still remain. While we remove barriers to receive gender-confirming surgery, financial stability is a serious obstacle for those seeking surgery. Income inequality is a common reality for transgender and non-binary people. According to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) survey, transgender people are four times more likely to have a household of less than $10,000 per year compared to the general cisgender population. The APA also reports that 47% of transgender individuals have reported workplace discrimination in regards to hiring, firing and promotion. Another 25% have reported they had lost a job due to discrimination on the basis of their gender identity – two things which could easily be solved with raising the minimum wage and strengthening a worker’s right to organize a union.

Those who are lucky enough to have healthcare may still be subjected to a for-profit plan, which are prone to denying surgery. The private insurance market is still woefully behind on transgender and non-binary issues. Private for-profit insurances have been allowed to drag their feet on progress, relegating these surgeries to being fee-for-service. The laws mandating that insurance companies pay for these surgeries are subject to incredibly weak interpretation.

The movement in Wisconsin has taken a big step forward in creating a future for transgender and non-binary individuals to reclaim their bodies. Transgender and non-binary people are subject to much shame and humility on a daily basis. Victories that allow the reclaiming of our bodies are a fundamental step in our long term happiness. There still needs to be a major push to remove the for-profit healthcare model so we all can achieve adequate and necessary medical care.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #transgender #Medicaid

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

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

Signs present included, “You tried to bury us, you didn't know we were seeds,” and “Protect trans lives!” Chants that include “It’s our history don’t deny it, Stonewall was a trans riot” and “When trans people are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

Nell Gaither of Trans Pride Initiative highlighted the need for justice for trans people in various fields. “We’ve been active in calling for accountability in Dallas for seven years now,” she said, “But we need to do more, and that takes bodies being involved. We need to do more to call for accountability in homeless services that still deny trans persons access to shelter. We need to do more to call for accountability in healthcare services, where providers still deny trans persons access to basic care and the public provider sends us to a 'separate' clinic to cover up their continued systemic discrimination.”

Sydney Loving of North Texas Action Committee, an anti-police brutality group, discussed the problem of police violence against trans people and in particular against trans people of color.

The march headed out of the park east down Main Street, before looping back west on Elm and then heading up into the West End. It passed a large number of sidewalk cafes as well as the Rosa Parks Plaza bus stops and the West End train station.

#Dallas #LGBTQ #transgender #Trump #antitransgender

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 tr