In the nation’s capital, and dozens of other cities across the US, supporters of LGBT rights mobilized for marches and rallies Sunday, celebrating their gains but angered over threats to those advances.
“Not every single lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender citizen is anti-Trump”, he said. The Republican has voiced support for gay rights but his administration has revoked federal guidelines that let transgender students use bathrooms of their choice.
The march will happen a day before the one-year mark of the horrific mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, planners noted in a release Thursday.
Laura Civica, who was marching on Sunday said she liked the “anti-capitalist aspect” of the parade.
Supt. Brad Doucette, who organizes the force’s participation in the Edmonton Pride Festival, said the EPS has been consulting with local organizers after Black Lives Matter activists temporarily halted Toronto’s pride parade a year ago. “I seem to be the last person alive that actually participated and worked to have the Black Cat demonstration in 1967”.
Asked whether she thought it was a good idea that the Gay Pride march had become explicitly political, she said, “It’s sad that is has to come to that”.
And finally, we resist because we’re going to take our country back in a year and a half.
Doucette added the service is trying to increase its number of LGBTQ officers and is recruiting at Edmonton pride events.
For the first time in years, the USA president did not acknowledge the month publicly, and the lack of action by President Trump did not go unnoticed by the LGBT community and their allies.
“Everything fell into place except being able to celebrate who I am”, Talbert said in a previous interview with FOX 46 Charlotte.
Gay rights activists plan to air their concerns at the “Equality March for Unity and Pride” in Washington on Sunday as well as at 50 sister marches at cities across the country this month.
“We need to show ourselves and we also need to fight for others who need to feel like they can show themselves too, to empower everyone around us”, Max Kratz, a parade participant from Germany told Reuters.
Ross, who identifies as straight, said that they have been to previous Pride events, but “wanted to go to this one because [they] knew it would be different”.
“We resist because Donald Trump has been disrespectful to the LGBTQ community”, Lieu said. If you want to get political, you can come to this march, she said. The group also shouted a list of demands that they distributed amongst the crowd and yelled more chants like “this is our history, don’t deny it, Stonewall was a trans riot”, referring to the 1969 protests at Stonewall Inn, which many people claim to have started the gay liberation movement.