Hundreds gather in Olympia for national ‘Trans Day of Visibility’
Hundreds marched towards the Washington state Capitol Campus late Friday with a message for everyone: “protect trans youth.”
The march was part of an event for Trans Day of Visibility, nationally celebrated on March 31, which began in Heritage Park on Capitol Lake in Olympia. Supporters then marched to the Capitol from the park, and ended the rally at the foot of the Legislative Building steps.
“It’s a miracle that I’m here today,” said Ryan Peters, who spoke at the rally.
Peters told the crowd he had survived trauma from a young age, and never thought he would make it to the age of 30.
“Now I’m 32 and living my truth,” Peters said. “And I’m still struggling to survive and heal in a world that rejects the very core of who I am. We are trans because we are brave enough to exist as ourselves in a society that has rigid scripts for how we should live and who we should be.”
Organizers for the rally, such as Teal Farias from the YWCA Olympia, told McClatchy that plans for the event were sketched out just last week.
Farias noted that the rally was organized in the wake of anti-trans policies that are being introduced in several states, including one of Washington’s border states, Idaho.
“Everybody deserves human rights,” Farias told McClatchy.
Other attendees at the event such as Courtney Goldenberg said they were there to support trans youth and raise awareness about the current political state of anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.
Additionally, she said she wished that people had more empathy and love for the trans community and said that “gender-affirming care is for everyone.”
The World Health Organization defines gender-affirming care as a “range of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth.”
Those interventions “help transgender people align various aspects of their lives — emotional, interpersonal, and biological — with their gender identity,” according to WHO.
State lawmakers have signaled their support for the LGBTQIA+ community as well as those seeking protection for reproductive rights this year, with a broad sweep of proposals in the Legislature to protect reproductive and gender-affirming care for not only residents, but also those from out of state who are seeking care in Washington.
Gov. Jay Inslee noted Thursday that he was in discussions with lawmakers about legislation to protect those traveling between Idaho and Washington for reproductive and gender-affirming care, but did not have details yet for how the proposed law would work with Idaho’s strict new bill to prevent minors from leaving the state for abortions.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden released a proclamation from the White House about Trans Day of Visibility.
“Today, we show millions of transgender and non-binary Americans that we see them, they belong, and they should be treated with dignity and respect,” Biden said. “Their courage has given countless others strength, but no one should have to be brave just to be themselves. Every American deserves that freedom.”
