Protesters blast federal plan targeting transgender people
WASHINGTON — LGBT leaders were quick to mount a response and protest Monday to a Trump administration proposal for a new definition of gender that activists said would strip transgender Americans of civil rights and protections.
Protesters gathered in front of the White House in a demonstration that included transgender people, parents and allies of the LGBT community furious about a Trump administration memo proposing a strict definition of gender based on the sex of a person at birth.
“All America is with us today,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “We are here. We are strong. We are resolute.”
The group gathered peacefully on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.
The demonstration was hastily put together after The New York Times reported Sunday that the Department of Health and Human Services was circulating a memo proposing a change in the definition.
Departing the White House for a Houston campaign rally, President Donald Trump said: “We’re looking at it. We have a lot of different concepts right now. They have a lot of different things happening with respect to transgender right now.”
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to protect the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people.
Asked about that pledge, Trump said Monday: “I’m protecting everybody. You know what I’m doing? I’m protecting everybody. I want to protect our country.”
The department had signaled in April that it was reviewing the definition of transgender as it applies to health care law.
But Joseph Oddo Jr., vice president of the board of directors for The Center, which serves the LGBT community of Nevada, said a change in definition would also have an impact on housing, education and protection from discrimination in employment.
Oddo said various rights groups in Las Vegas were expected to hold an event in Nevada soon.
“It’s time that we as a community stand up and say enough,” Oddo said by telephone from Las Vegas.
The Trump administration sought to bar transgender people from serving in the military earlier this year. That effort is tied up in federal courts.
“People are scared, and they are angry,” Keisling said.
Demonstrators carried placards that read, “Trans rights are human rights” and “We will not be erased.”
Diane Heaton, 34, of Maryland, said she came to the protest after she heard about the possible definition change.
She said the Trump administration does not see transgender people “as real people.”
The memo and the resulting protest come just weeks before the midterm election. American opinion on the issue falls along party lines, with eight out of 10 likely Republicans surveyed by the Pew Research Center saying gender is assigned at birth.
The 2017 poll showed that 64 percent of Democrats or people likely voting Democrat responded that a person’s gender can be different than that at birth.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.