Activists march in the Transgender Unity Rally on March 1, 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Several hundred people took to the streets of D.C. on March 1 to protest the Trump-Vance administration’s policy proposals and executive orders targeting the transgender community.
The Transgender Unity Rally, organized by the Transgender Unity Coalition, began outside of the U.S. Capitol with speeches and continued with a march to the White House.
Speakers at the rally included activists and organizers as well as Georgetown University professor Chloe Schwenke. Schwenke served as a political appointee in the Obama administration working for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“USAID has been destroyed,” Schwenke stated. “And with it, the aid that goes out to LGBTQIA people around the world. Some of that aid is literally there to keep them alive. The women, the children, the men who have AIDS: They will not get their medication. They will die. And this administration is okay with that policy. “
“They are now deciding how to deny visas to people who want to come to World Pride here in Washington, D.C.,” Schwenke continued. “They do not want transgender people coming to Washington. And they do not want transgender people coming to Los Angeles as athletes or even as spectators for the Olympics in 2028. They are working on that now. How to keep trans people out of America, even as visitors.”
Other speakers at the event included Hope Giselle-Godsey.
“Too many of us have come here today in an effort to protest for things that we should not have to beg for,” Giselle-Godsey said. “Our civil rights, our children, our medical care, access and resources and the ability to fight for a country that doesn’t give a damn about us.”
“We have been here, we will always be here,” Giselle-Godsey continued. “And there is no legislation, there is no piece of paper, document or thing that ‘that Orange’ can sign that is going to make us disappear.”
D.C. resident Emmett Livingstone spoke about the need for resistance and non-compliance.
“As individuals in our various communities and workplaces, I encourage you all to be as irritating and hard to remove as a pebble in their shoe, a grain of sand in their eye, or even better . . . be glitter,” Livingstone said.
“Everyone,” Livingstone continued. “let’s race to support each other and grind their efforts to deny us to a halt. Do not go quietly. Correct misinformation when you hear it. Even a simple, ‘Hey man, that’s not okay.’”
“Trump is not a king, Elon is not our president,” Livingstone declared. “I call on all of you to resist in any way you can, big or small. Be the glitter they cannot get rid of and never let anyone dull your shine.”
“President Trump is set on fulfilling all of the promises of Project 2025, but I have a promise for him and his cronies. I promise that we are not going away. I promise that we will not be silent. Today we show the world that we are Americans too and we will not be denied. We’re here, we’re queer. They will get used to it.” Livingstone concluded to applause.
Following the speakers, participants began marching down Constitution Avenue chanting, “out of the closets and into the streets.”
The group of several hundred protesters peacefully marched on Constitution Avenue holding handmade signs and carrying trans and rainbow flags. The march ended on the Ellipse on the south side of the White House.
A video of the speeches was posted to YouTube by the Transgender Unity Coalition and can be viewed here:
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