Driving past Main Street Garden Park, the chant: “When trans rights are under attack, what do we do, Stand up, fight back,” can be heard echoing from nearby Downtown Dallas streets as protesters honored Trans Day of Visibility Sunday afternoon, March 30.
Around two hundred people were in attendance organized by the Trans Empowerment Collective (TEC) along with local chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
“We wanted them to come out here and have the space for community members to connect with people so they can see there is a community here especially for trans people,” PSL DFW organizer Emilia Tarcia says. “We don’t need to flee. We have a community here and we can fight back.”
Tarcia also highlighted how right wing attacks against the trans community have always had roots in Texas and why the struggle for trans liberation must start here.
Since the last day to file bills for the 89th Texas legislative session on March 14, the Transgender Education Network of Texas has reported the filing of over 150 anti-LGBTQ+ bills. This includes HB 3817 that would make it illegal to identify as trans on official documents as “gender identity fraud” and SB 1696 that would require a person to record their biological sex on birth certificates. Over 85 bills have been filed by Texas legislators to defend and protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Texas as well.
When asked about the significance of this cultural moment, DSA North Texas organizer and woman of trans experience Saya says, “I think we’re living at a moment in history that people will look back on and study. I think we’re at the precipice of a new world that could potentially be built and the trans struggle is at the center of that.”
Stacey Monroe, a co-lead of the Trans Empowerment Collective and one of the lead organizers of the rally, recently shared her experience of being harassed in a QuikTrip restroom while driving Uber and Lyft this past year in a Teen Vogue op-ed titled, Gender Policing in Bathrooms Makes Us All Less Safe. My Experience is Proof.
“Our stories deserve to be told in our own words, on our own terms, and I hope my piece encourages more conversations about what true trans liberation looks like.”
Based on data gathered by the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute, approximately 92,900 people identify as trans in Texas. In a brief published in February, Safety and Privacy in Public Restrooms and Other Gender Facilities, the UCLA underlines three key takeaways: (1) no evidence has shown accessibility to a bathroom by a trans person of their preferred gender decreases safety, (2) research has found trans people experience negative encounters such as harassment when using a bathroom, and (3) trans people are at higher risk when forced to use a bathroom based on their sex assigned at birth.
The Trans Day of Visibility is one of two events planned this week by the organizers including a drag brunch on Saturday, April 5, at the Dallas Liberation Center.
“Visibility is just the beginning,” Co-Founder and Co-Director of House of Rebirth Robyn “Pocahontas” Crowe says. “Our healing, joy, and power are the revolution.”
This article is part of a series following the local impacts of anti-LGBTQIA+ regulations, policies, and laws.
