Trans Storm
Now in control of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) and a black Sharpie, Donald Trump can alter the weather, which might explain why a torrential downpour erupted just as those marching in today’s Trans Day of Visibility procession arrived at the plaza immediately across the Chicago River from Trump Tower. Rather than stopping for chants and Instagram photos, the drenched marchers just kept going, eventually heading south on Michigan Avenue.
The 1,000+ marchers had come from Federal Plaza, where they rallied for transgender rights. Over the course of an hour, the demonstrators had listened to 10 or so speakers address issues relevant to the trans community. The speakers included Zahara Basset, CEO of Life is Work, who argued that trans visibility is not sufficient. Rally goers must vote to assure that trans people “[have] housing, health care, jobs that pay living wages and safety in our homes, schools, workplaces and streets.”
Also taking the podium was Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board member Precious Brady-Davis, who claimed to be the first Black trans woman to hold elected office in Cook County. She warned President Donald Trump that the trans community would remain long after he is gone.
The demonstrators also heard personal testimonies. Dr. Corey Lascano, a Chicago Public School music teacher who is transgender, recalled her father scolding her when she wore a dress at a young age. She came out at age 30 as a trans female. Referencing the Trump anti-trans agenda, Lascano said that the trans community “will not go back.” She wants to assure that schools are safe places for trans students.
Aviva Levine, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, also offered personal testimony. Describing herself as a “proud trans woman,” Levine recalled the sensations that she felt as the pill containing her first dose of estrogen dissolved under her then-20-year-old tongue.
For me, the highlight came when four teenagers—Marc in the 11th grade; Noella in the 8th grade; Oliver in the 12th grade, and Chip in the 12th grade—read a memorial/prayer for “those in the transgender and gender non-conforming community we have lost or are missing.” Marc said,
We stand here today to honor those we’ve lost. We remember their lives, their stories, their dreams. Their journey through this life was cut too short.
Oliver added,
These lives are not just statistics or headlines. . . . They were real people, with real hearts.
I have little doubt that at one or more times, each of these teenagers was subjected to bullying or abuse because of who they are. Yet, all four were poised, unhesitant, and confident. They did the trans community proud.
Rallies and marches serve a number of purposes. While organizers hope to change minds and public policy through their efforts, a rally’s most important achievement may simply be showing community members that they are not alone. Clearly, that was one of the purposes behind today’s rally. Those in attendance were in a safe space where they saw others with similar fears, concerns, and aspirations.
I also saw many older people who most likely were parents and grandparents supporting their trans children and grandchildren.
I was not the rally’s target audience, so I and the millions who exist largely outside the trans community probably were not on the minds of the organizers when they drew up the list of speakers. Unfortunately, the organizers missed an opportunity to educate the public at large. I am by no means an expert on transgender issues, but I, like many others, do have questions, which largely went unanswered.
In the future, the organizers should consider inviting a doctor who specializes in transitioning pharmaceutical and surgical treatments to explain the process and the extent to which those treatments are reversible should someone have second thoughts. The organizers might also include a sports medicine physiologist to address whether trans women have an unfair advantage when competing in women’s sports.
People outside the trans community are discussing these and other issues. Providing the public-at-large with facts could bring about wider acceptance sooner.
Regardless of whether this rally was the right place to do so, the trans community must educate the body politic, as was made clear by a 2025 Pew Research survey on how Americans view transgender people. Pew provides comparisons between a similar 2022 survey and the new one. On six metrics, the public—whether they lean Republican or Democratic—holds less favorable views toward the transgender community in 2025 than it did in 2022. In summarizing the results, Pew states,
Views on these policies and several others have shifted in recent years, with Americans becoming more supportive of restrictions for transgender people, according to the survey of 5,097 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 10-17, 2025.
When asked, for example, whether health care professionals should be legally precluded from providing minors with medical care for gender transition, 79% of Republicans (as compared to 72% in 2022), 56% of all adults (as compared to 46% in 2022), and 35% of Democrats (as compared to 26% in 2022) favor or strongly favor restrictions on such treatments. Even when it comes to protecting transgender people from discrimination, the responses from all three groups reflect less concern about such protections, which is very surprising, at least to me.
This brings me to State Representative Kelly Cassidy, who delivered strident and profanity-laden remarks at the rally. Like many activists, she is uncompromising. She brought up an oft-repeated question: Did the Democrats lose the White House last November because of their positions on transgender rights? If I recall, she advised telling someone who made that argument in the cafeteria at work that they, polite paraphrasing, ‘are wrong.’
Going beyond transgender rights, the Progressives reflect that same uncompromising stridency on a variety of issues. Whether the losses were due just to the transgender issue is open to question, as laid out in a WTTW story appearing on its website today, as well other readily available commentary.
I am a huge fan of long-standing political commentator John Heilemann. On a recent podcast, he addressed the vast amounts of money that the Republicans spent on ads targeting voters who view the transgender movement as another example of wokeness gone too far. I’d seen the dollar amount put at $215 million, but Heilemann indicated that the amount exceeded $300 million. What particularly struck me was his next point: Republicans don’t spend money on losing causes; they spend it to win.
I understand, but fear Representative Cassidy’s stridency, as well as the stridency among Progressives over a variety of issues. At the end of the day, nothing changes if the Democrats are right, but lose because the up-for-grabs center continues to side with the MAGA crowd.
Trump has significantly undermined transgender rights through a series of executive orders, but he has also more broadly undermined the U.S. standing in the world; damaged key alliances; undermined associational rights (e.g., a litigant’s right to choose a lawyer and a university right to employ faculty members with unconventional views), as well as the Freedom of Speech; defunded vital scientific research; appointed quacks to administer vaccine programs; indiscriminately taken Elon Musk’s chainsaw to the Federal workforce; threatened the use of military force and tariffs to acquire territory; and brought corruption to the Federal government on a grand scale. And he is only ten weeks into a four-year term.
Being right will not return us to pre-Trump normalcy. Hope lies in being strategic. Until the Democrats are back in control, Trump’s executive orders affecting transgender people will remain in place unless declared unconstitutional by the courts. I am not at all certain that the courts will reach the hoped-for result.
The transgender community is asking the public to exercise empathy toward it, seeing the world through its eyes. Favorable change is much more likely to come about if the transgender community reciprocates when it comes to seeing the other viewpoint. Only through education will that viewpoint evolve and change for the better.
[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]
Seated, But Taking It All In
All Smiles
Paying Close Attention to the Speakers
Today's MC
"Hands Off Trans Youth"
Standing Off to the Side
Plenty of Anti-Trump Signs to Go Around
Noella McMaher Who is Not Shy About Speaking Out on Behalf of Transgender Youth
Speaking from the Makeshift Stage
Three Television Video Crews Turned Out
Referencing a Third Gender Present in Some Native American Cultures
Water Reclamation District Commissioner Precious Brady-Davis Tells Donald Trump that the Transgender Community Will Be Here Long After He is Gone
Stating Their Agenda
Defining Chicago
"Don't Tread on Me"
Two Members of the Revolutionary Communists of America (Not to be Confused with the RevComs) Holding The Communist
One of the Rally's Organizers with Clipboard
Zahara Bassett, CEO of Life Is Work, Arguing that Transgender Individuals Need Housing, Health Care, Good Jobs, and Safety
Paying Attention
Listening
Holding Their Remarks
Reading Rather Than Speaking
Wearing the Transgender Color Scheme
An Apparent Doctor Stating His Position
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy Delivering Strident Remarks
"Support Trans Futures"
Between the Signs
Sister Lil Ida Myne, a Member of the Second City Sisters--Abbey of the Irreverent Bean
Letting Passing Drivers on Dearborn Know What the Rally is All About
Oliver Passing the Mic to Marc
Here On Behalf of Her Trans Students
Cheering the Speakers On
CPD Keeping Everyone Safe
Parade Marshals on Bicycles Leading the Way
Chanting as While Carrying the Lead Banners
Waiting to Greet the Marchers
Riding in the Radio Flyer
"No Feminism Without TransWomen"
"None of US are Free Until All of Us are Free"
The Rain Begins as the Demonstrators March Along Dearborn
Hormone Replacement Therapy Saves Lives
Passing Under the 'L' Tracks
The Day Belongs to the Transgender Community, But Someone Still Remembered Mahmoud Khalil
Rounding the Corner Onto Upper Wacker Drive
"Trans Rights = Human Rights"
Closing Off General Access to Trump Tower
And Then the Skies Opened Up as the Marchers Approached Trump Tower
"Protect Trans Futures"
The Rain Lets Up
Blue and Pink Passing Trump Tower
Found Cover on Upper Wacker
Soggy
Copyright 2025, Jack B. Siegel (except the first two images in the post, which are copyrighted 2024). All Rights Reserved. Do Not Alter, Copy, Display, Distribute, Download, Duplicate, or Reproduce Without the Prior Written Consent of the Copyright Holder.
