Trans Day of Visibility, started in 2010 by Transgender Michigan leader Rachel Crandall, is commemorated every year around the world on or around March 31. 

This year’s actions took place in the context of an onslaught of bigoted attacks. President Donald Trump began his systematic attempt to erase the transgender community on the day he took office. Right now, there are over 450 anti-LGBTQIA2S+ bills in state legislatures.

Here are a few reports.

Hundreds marched and rallied in “solidarity, resilience, resistance and allyship for our Trans and Non-binary community” in Media, Pennsylvania, on March 30. After speakers explained why marches for trans lives are so necessary at a time of government attacks, over 200 people marched through the suburban Philadelphia town, drawing cheers and applause from pedestrians on the sidewalks. A popular chant was, “We don’t need your permission, Who we are is our decision.”

After getting back to the starting point in front of the Delaware County Courthouse, community members spoke first, followed by political office holders and then an open mic. The family-friendly rally ended with the raising of the Transgender Pride Flag on the official courthouse flagpole for the first time ever.

Protesters gathered on March 30 in Bidwell Park on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, New York, to protest the Trump regime’s war on trans people, as well as his continued support for the genocide of Palestinians which is often justified by pinkwashing. 

The protest was organized by a coalition made up of the Communist Student League, Workers World Party, Young Democratic Socialists of America-University at Buffalo, State University of New York Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and American Party of Labor.

‘A tool of empire’

A crowd of activists and many passersby showed support for trans rights on March 30 in Portland, Oregon, spurred by the return of the rapist-in-chief Trump and his onslaught against his political enemies. Put on by Transexual Menaces of Portland, the rally included speakers and chants to show the city that trans people will not stay silent and will continue to resist the violence and attempts at erasure of their lives.

One speaker, an Ojibwe Two Spirit Person, directly tied their identity to the fight against imperialism and settler colonialism, rightly calling out the United States’ “systemic erasure of cultures” and “transphobia … a tool of empire.” An educator who fled Utah due to its anti-trans attacks inspired the crowd by reminding trans people that “your survival is existence.”

The organizers then allowed community members to take the mic and speak their minds. A person who was using a wheelchair and was one of several people who spoke about the connections between the attacks on disability rights and trans rights by fascist forces concluded their speech with their take on a chant: “We sit down and fight back!”