New York, NY – Over 300 people gathered in the heart of the Flatiron District to stand up for trans rights. The call to action was made by several different organizations that belong to the Rapid Feminist Response network, which responded to the Trump administration memo that was uncovered by the New York Times. The memo, put out last spring by the Department of Human Health and Services, was adamantly proposing that all governmental agencies narrowly define gender by the biological sex organ a person was born with.

The protest began at 5:30 p.m. right in front of the Flatiron building. There were speeches that ranged from speakers offering words of love and support to trans and gender non-conforming people, to militant speeches demanding at end to capitalism.

A mother of two gender non-conforming children gave a rousing and emotional speech about what it takes to defend her children. She said, “I keep hearing how brave I am for supporting my children. Well I’m here to tell you, it takes zero courage to love my own children! The courage is for those who stand up what’s right! Those who resist!”

The crowd began marching uptown with rousing chants, such as “Not only for the cis and the white, health care is a human right!”, and “We have power! We have rights! LGBT fight! Fight! Fight!”

The Strategic Response Group, the New York Police Department’s violently repressive crowd-control unit, followed the protesters the whole route, with a van ready to arrest anyone they deemed “troublesome.”

The rally ended in Grand Central Station as the hundreds of voices echoed throughout the hall. Several more speakers urged the attendees to continue protesting and not to give up the fight.

#NewYork #NY #LGBTQ #TransRights #DepartmentOfHumanHealthAndServices #RapidFeministResponseNetwork