Hundreds marched from Union Square to Washington Square Park on Monday to advocate for transgender rights and accessibility to gender-affirming care in honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility. The demonstration was one of more than a dozen across the country criticizing the Trump administration’s executive orders against research, policies and health care supporting transgender rights.
Organized by the nonprofit NYC Youth 4 Trans Rights, protesters congregated in Union Square at around 4 p.m., raising signs reading “PROTECT TRANS YOUTH” and “GENDER AFFIRMING CARE SAVES LIVES.” After about half an hour, three teenage activists led the group in marching down University Place, carrying a banner reading “TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.”
During the march, dozens of police officers lined the street as some protesters linked arms to physically block crosswalks from traffic and others chanted “New York is a pro-trans town” and “transphobia has got to go.” Mina Row, a NYC Youth 4 Trans Rights representative who led the demonstration, said that the NYPD officers halted the march and barred organizers from using their megaphones, alleging that their permit did not allow them to use megaphones on the street.
“Even though New York is supposed to be such a safe state, we’ve been facing so much persecution,” Row said in an interview with WSN. “We wanted to come out, and we wanted to tell everyone that we’re here and we will be visible even when they don’t want us to be.”
Upon arriving in Washington Square Park, around 20 organizers climbed into the fountain — which has been turned off for months for the winter season — to address the attendees gathered around the fountain. Row spoke first about their experience as a transgender high school student activist and the fear surrounding uncertainty in accessibility to gender-affirming care under the Trump administration.
Other speakers included members of Socialist Alternative, representatives from one of the first transgender activist groups Transexual Menace and Qween Jean, the founder of the Black Trans Liberation — a New York City-based community organization that brings together trans and gender nonconforming people.
In interviews with WSN, participants also emphasized the importance of community activism for transgender rights, despite executive actions declaring the federal government legally recognizes only two genders and they align with what individuals were assigned at birth. After these orders, NYU Langone Health canceled at least two gender-affirming care appointments, sparking mass protests from community members and activists.
“Seeing physical support by gatherings of people has been really encouraging to me as a trans person,” Logan Morrison, a demonstrator at the march, told WSN. “When so many difficult things are happening in legislation and we see erasure of the trans community, it is important to know that you are not alone and that trans people are still here.”
Contact Amelia Hernandez Gioia at [email protected].
