This weekend approximately two hundred people gathered at Acacia Park in Colorado Springs for the “Protect Trans Siblings” rally and march. The event coincided with marches across the country in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender people’s access to health care and ability to serve in the military.
“On day one of his presidency, Donald Trump rolled back the rights of transgender people to live authentically in this country,” said Joseph Shelton, an LGBTQ activist and candidate for Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education. “The same country whose preamble begins with ‘We the People.’ And yet for Donald Trump and his concerted allies, ‘We the People’ needs to only include white, straight, cisgender, male, Christian folk. Anyone else is left standing on the sidelines, excluded from their vision of America. Today is about my trans siblings, my trans friends, and everyone in this community who now lives with the knowledge that their president does not care for them.”
Shelton noted the difficulties faced by transgender youth who were targeted by Trump’s executive order meant to end medical care for transgender people under 19 nationwide. Since the order, Denver Health and UCHealth have paused gender affirming health care for minors.
“The 2024 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis revealed that transgender and gender questioning youth experience school bullying at nearly double the rate of their cisgender peers,” said Shelton. “Approximately 40 % of transgender and gender questioning students reported being bullied, compared to 20 % of cisgender girls and 15 % of cisgender boys. The Trevor Project’s 2024 survey found that nearly half, 49 % of LGBTQ plus young people aged 13 to 17 experienced bullying in the past, leading to higher rates of suicide attempts among those who were bullied.”
Event organizer Tiara Latrice read a statement from Colorado Rep. Lorena Garcia (D-Denver). “I am so terribly sad to miss being in community with all of you,” read the statement. “I am extremely proud and humbled to be able to support you all in fighting back against the fascist regime. We are seeing more attacks on our communities every day, with the intention to tire us out and divide our focus. But our focus must be protecting our communities and blocking the efforts rooted in ignorance and hate. I am not going to pretend that we are not all afraid of what will continue to rain down on our vibrant and diverse communities, but I can tell you that we are doing everything in our power to push back against these attacks. I may not be there in person, but I want each of you, each and every one of you, to know that I see you for who you are, and no executive order can take or erase your existence. I honor who you are, and no executive order can take away your power. I respect you and who you are, and no executive order can claim to respect science while blatantly ignoring scientific facts. You are valued, you are necessary for your communities to thrive. We are in dark times, but we will prevail.”
Mason, an active duty soldier and transgender man, discussed the impact of Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military. “I [joined the military] in 2019 when the orange man was still president,” he said. “At that point, I could not transition. I was working on an exception to policy, which was about a year and a half long, that never got through, until Joe Biden took presidency, signed a memorandum, and allowed myself and many other transgender military members to serve openly. The day he signed that, I was able to call my doctor and get into a position to start receiving hormone replacement. I got my first hormone shot May 25th, 2021, and am still actively on testosterone to this day … Right now there are over 25,000 military members who are transgender, and have now faced the wrath of the orange man. I am currently fighting to see whether or not I stay in until my end of service date, which is in December, and with that, I might lose all the benefits and rights that I have earned while serving in the military.”
Rally-goers marched through downtown Colorado Springs, chanting and holding signs. Jordan Baldwin, a reporter for The Peak News, which recently hosting a fundraiser for their “journalistic ethics” program, was confronted by members of Parasol Patrol, the group providing security and serving as marshals for the march. At one point, Baldwin brandished a can of mace. The Gazette reported that members of the Colorado Springs Police Department told him “back off” and that “the marchers had the right to free speech.” Colorado Springs members of Parasol Patrol have encountered Baldwin at all-ages drag events in the past.
After the march, attendees heard from former Colorado Rep. Stephanie Vigil and newly elected Rep. Amy Paschal (D-Colorado Springs).
“All this crap that’s going on with people trying to take away your rights, trying to cram people back in the closet, trying to make you be somebody you aren’t, it has nothing to do with you,” said Vigil. “It is a problem that they have. Because authoritarians are lazy. They don’t want to do the work of governing, they don’t want to lead, they just need somebody to scapegoat so that they don’t have to address real problems. And so they’re picking on transgender folks and they’re picking on immigrant people more than anyone else.”
Paschal vowed to support the LGBTQ community in Colorado. “I will do everything in my power, as will all the rest of the democratic caucus, work to protect you folks in any way we can,” she said. “So please reach out, know that we care about you, know that we want to protect you, especially as a mama bear, and parent of a trans child, I want to keep everybody safe.”
