Trans activists set ‘survival skills’ focus amid Trump’s executive orders for Trans Day of Visibility weekend

Several events for transgender people are scheduled this weekend across the country’s bluest cities in celebration of Trans Day of Visibility on Monday, including a “Skillsharing & Practical Survival” workshop in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders clamping down on progressive gender ideology.

“We wanted to materially benefit transgender people instead of just giving them an event or some performances,” Zander Moreno, one of the activists organizing the survival workshop event in San Francisco, told KQED. “Of course, that can be powerful, too. But I think with the things that are happening now, what’s most important is to have trans people feel safe in their communities and know that there are transgender groups that are truly looking to build a movement against the things that are happening in the White House.”

The workshop is included as part of a broader series of events for Trans Fest on Sunday in the Tenderloin district. 

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Trans Fest – which will open in an indigenous prayer led by activist Angel C. Fabian, who goes by he/she/they pronouns and is known “in ceremonial spaces” as Tlahuizpapalotl, or “Butterfly of Light” – will offer people legal assistance, workshops about their rights, a political education class, and a self-defense session.

“Art & Creative Resistance” is also one of the events, where people can do stencil making, printmaking and “hands-on altar making.”

Skillsharing & Practical Survival will include self defense, “DIY hormones,” and “community-led safety and de-escalation,” according to the festival’s Instagram post.

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On Sunday, in the downtown Chicago Loop at Federal Plaza, the Trans Up Front and Indivisible Chicago coalition and 30 other LGBT organizations will host a rally and march in response to the “MAGA right, the Republican led Congress, and the Trump administration” who have “targeted transgender and nonbinary people with hate filled policies, executive orders, and disinformation,” according to the event flyer.

“As a result we face increased discrimination, violence, and the erosion of our rights,” the flyer states. “From healthcare access to legal protections, our trans community needs to be seen, heard, and supported now more than ever. We call on all of the LGBTQ+ community and all of our allies to join together to demand equality, dignity and protection of our rights. This protest will amplify our collective voice and demand meaningful change.”

The Chicago Democratic Socialist of America, Gay Liberation Network, Chicago Abortion Fund and Chicago Teachers Union are among the rally’s sponsors.

In Atlanta, the LGBTQ affairs department in the mayor’s office is hosting a Trans Day of Visibility celebration at City Hall, called “Deeper than Visibility: How We Talk about Us.”

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“Communities are coming together to celebrate and show solidarity for transgender people at a critical moment in history – in blue states and red states, purple states and worldwide,” GLAAD president and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “Equal treatment is not a partisan issue, it’s a value that unites all of us. Transgender Day of Visibility is a chance to show up and speak out for everyone’s right to be themselves and be safe, and rally around values of acceptance and equality that make every community stronger, safer, and kinder.”

The events this year come on the heels of President Trump’s series of executive orders aimed at limiting gender ideology influence in federal policies and education. In February, Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” banning biological males from participating in female-designated athletic competitions. Trump also signed the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” executive order establishing a binary definition of sex as male and female, determined at conception.

Several cases dealing with gender ideology, particularly involving minors, are currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.