BY CHARLI BATTERSBY | January 10 was a lousy day for a Trans rights rally at Union Square–a rainy Saturday afternoon that was just warm enough to keep the drops from freezing. Nonetheless, the small crowd for the Together We Win: NYC Rally for Trans Kids grew steadily over the course of its two hours–from less than 100 early arrivals to several hundreds at its high point. Electeds and activists gathered under a tiny tent to speak about the upcoming Supreme Court cases about transgender athletes, while dedicated allies and curious passersby listened in the rain.
Other protest groups were milling around Union Square, getting their flags mixed in with the trans activists. One gathering of Palestine supporters were there earlier in the day, but had moved to the southern side of 14th Street when the LGBTQ group began setting up. Later, a Free Palestine activist wandered through the trans crowd; the six-foot long black and red flag slicing like a shark’s dorsal fin through the pink and blue trans flags.
Another Islamic group set up their recruitment tent by the bus lane on 14th. Anti-ICE groups walked through the trans crowd, discretely handing out whistles and instruction booklets on how to use those whistles to signal other nearby, similarly inclined citizens. The fashionable red knit “Democratic Socialist” hats were hidden under rain ponchos, mingling with the other insignia.
On stage, some high-profile state and local electeds were voicing their views on the two impending U.S. Supreme Court cases: B.P.J. v. West Virginia and Little v. Hecox. To sum it up briefly, the “B.P.J.” in B.P.J. v. West Virginia stands for “Becky Pepper-Jackson.” Becky is a transgirl who wants to stay on the girls track team. In three years, this has escalated to the point that the Supreme Court is involved, and local politicians hundreds of miles away are voicing their opinions. All over one 12-year-old girl (now 15) who just wanted to play with her friends.
NY State Attorney General Letitia James was one of speakers. She congratulated the crowd for enduring the rain, then said, “Right now, across our country, we are seeing a coordinated effort to erase transgender young people from their classrooms, their sports teams, and their doctors’ offices, but New York will not be complicit. I will always fight to make sure every child in New York—every child in this country—can grow up safe, supported, and proud of who they are.”
Recently elected New York City Comptroller Mark Levine also spoke, saying, “Every child deserves an education where they are seen, supported, and safe. The Supreme Court has an opportunity to ensure those basic truths. As a former teacher, I know schools are meant to be places where every child feels like they belong, but bans on transgender youth only work to isolate and stigmatize children. We expect the rights and dignity of our trans youth to be fully protected, and we will keep fighting until they are.”
But most compelling were actual trans kids who will be directly affected by these decisions. The rally had several children who attend the “Trans formative Schools” after school program for trans kids. Some of them read surprisingly eloquent speeches for such young activists.
A fourth-grader named Eli said, “Three years ago, I had to move from Florida to New York for safety. I am speaking today because even though I have moved to a safer state where I am more supported, my rights are still being taken away. Recent policies have made it difficult and dangerous for me to travel, to play sports with my friends, and to even just use the restroom. I should not have to worry about this, I just want to be a kid.”
One student, named Bea, told the audience, “Right now, a lot of trans kids are hearing messages that say we don’t belong, that we’re a problem, or that we need to be ‘fixed.’ And it makes kids feel afraid to be honest about who they are. It’s important to protect trans kids because we are just KIDS. And all kids deserve to feel happy and safe where they live, learn, and play. Believe trans kids when we tell you who we are. Protect gender-affirming care and safe spaces like Trans formative Schools, because they save lives. Make schools places where kids are supported, not singled out.”
Offering a different perspective was Bernadette Wagenblast, who is best known as the voice over artist who announces, “Please stand away from the platform edge” on the NYC subway system. In recent years, Wagenblast has become known as a trans activist. At the rally, Wagenblast told the crowd, “I was once a trans kid. I know that’s hard to believe, I grew up in the 1960s and the 1970s. Trans wasn’t even a word back then. I thought for many years I was the only person in the world not comfortable being the gender that they were assigned at birth.”
Wagenblast spoke about how the only way she could speak to another trans person as a teenager was to look up a local teacher who had been fired for being trans. And, being in the pre-Internet days, using a phone book and a payphone to make the connection.
After the event, this reporter spoke to Wagenblast. We asked what she thought about modern trans kids knowing that they’re not the only one. “I think that’s great,” she said, without hesitation. “Because, when I was a kid, there was no Internet. There was very little in print that I had access to. And when you feel that you’re the only one, you feel that there’s something wrong with you. And when you know that there are others like you, you don’t feel that way, hopefully. You feel that you are special.”
We asked about the first time she learned about the existence of other trans people. She explained that when she about 10, she discovered a new book on a rack at a grocery store. “I found a paperback autobiography about Christine Jorgensen. And that was like this light bulb moment. ‘Oh there’s at least one other person in the world who is like me.’ I didn’t know what to think. So I tried to do some research on her and learn a little about her. I never met her, unfortunately. But that was a key moment.”
Wagenblast has some final words for trans kids: “Realize that there are people who support you,” she told us, adding, “There are those, despite how dark it may feel at times, who are there for you and will be there for you, and who aren’t going to give up on you. That’s the most important thing I want trans kids to know.”
After the trans activists were gone, another group of Palestine supporters began setting up. They had waited patiently in the rain for two hours so that they could have their turn on the photogenic stairs at the southern tip of the Union Square. This reporter noticed one final person with a transgender sign. This one read, “Transgenderism is an ideology, not based in objective reality.”
She was just as dedicated to her side of the discussion as the pro-trans speakers, arguably even more dedicated than the ones who skipped out after making their speeches. The protester (counterprotester?) agreed to a picture and a quick interview. We asked her how she’d been received by the crowd. She told us that she had kept her sign hidden at first, but people turned hostile when she unfurled it. Few people seemed willing to speak to her after that. Our reporter’s pink coat, blue scarf, and butterfly pin made it subtly clear which side of the debate we were on. But the counterprotester was polite and honest. She articulated her views with as much clarity and earnestness as anyone else at the rally. And she had stuck it out in the rain, right to the end, hoping someone would listen.
—END OF REPORT; ADDITIONAL PHOTOS FOLLOW—
—END—
CHARLI BATTERSBY | Charles (Charli) Battersby is a playwright, screenwriter, actor, model, game designer, and journalist. Battersby is known as a playwright for, among others, The Astonishing Adventures of All-American Girl & The Scarlet Skunk. Battersby is the screenwriter/co-creator of the animated web series The Storyteller: Fallout. She has written about video games, theater, and LGBT topics for media including Geek.com, Complex, and Joystiq. Battersby has moderated a series of panel discussions on Transgender themes in comic books.
ABOUT: LGBTQCommunityNews.nyc is an independent, free source of queer-centric news, arts, info, and opinion content. Our website, podcast, and quarterly newspaper are funded by advertising revenue and reader donations. To support this project, click here for the GoFundMe campaign. Questions? Comments? Click here to contact us. To join the subscriber list of our free ENewsletter, click here.
