Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
In these troubled times, Milwaukee Pride chose to stand up to what they denounce as “marginalization and bullying” of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people by the government. “We won’t be erased,” is the rallying cry Milwaukee Pride chose to unify the LGBTQ community of Wisconsin in a “Rally for Resistance” today, Thursday, Oct. 25, at Milwaukee City Hall, starting at 5 p.m. The event will focus on discussion with local LGBTQ leaders, followed by early voting for Milwaukee residents, until 7 p.m.
The rally is a reaction to the newest attack by the Trump administration on the T part of the LGBTQ community. As the New York Times revealed on Sunday, “the Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth,” which is an unprecedented attempt at decreasing the few protections transgender and non-binary people have managed to obtain through the years. If it goes through, that plan may stop transgender and non-binary citizens from benefiting from legal protections under Title IX.
It is not the first time the current administration attacked transgender rights: Donald Trump has sought to bar transgender people from serving in the military, and several agencies have withdrawn Obama-era policies that recognized gender identity in schools, prisons and homeless shelters, the New York Times reminds.
Speakers at the rally will include Ashley Altadonna of FORGE, Alex Corona of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa, trans Marine veteran Leigh Sanders, Imani Sloan of AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, Yante Turner from UW-Milwaukee’s LGBT+ Resource Center and others.
Milwaukee Pride has also partnered with Diverse & Resilient, ACLU of Wisconsin, ZAO Milwaukee Church, Courage MKE, the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Fair Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission.
