This Easter, the drag and transgender community rallied to protest the anti-LGBTQ legislation being passed nationwide.
According to Variety, nearly 3000 people RSVP’d for Sunday’s Drag March LA. The March was planned to go on on Easter Sunday as over 40 different faith groups joined in to show their support of the LGBTQ+ community. There, a group of speakers met the crowds with hopeful messages and encouragement for change.
Drag March LA to protest over 400 anti-LGBT legislation/bills being proposed throughout our country. #weho #westhollywood #dragmarch pic.twitter.com/w6w1BFHlR5
— Loving WeHo 💖🏳️🌈🌴 (@lovingweho) April 9, 2023
The inclusion of various religious organizations was in response to growing rhetoric supported by the Christian Nationalist movement calling LGBTQ+ people “unsafe” for families.
In a statement prior to the march, Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Joe Hollendoner said: “The Center’s Drag March is a nod to the origins of the LGBTQ+ movement when the very first demonstrations started in opposition to moral policing and anti-crossdressing laws designed to impose a singular ideal of gender and sexuality onto citizens.
“It is no mistake that today’s ‘Drag Bans’ are accompanied by a sweeping movement to ban access to gender-affirming care; we are fighting for our right to privacy, bodily autonomy, self-determination, and freedom of expression.”
“We in the LGBTQ+ community have been fighting for our lives, fighting for self-expression and freedom from the day we were born,” said Sepi Shyne, the mayor of West Hollywood said to those in attendance. “An attack across this country on drag symbolizes another attack against all of us.”
Shyne also proclaimed April 9 Drag Day in West Hollywood, which will be observed annually. Additionally, protesters were also entertained by a performance from RuPaul’s Drag Race alums Kolby Kerri and Honey Davenport.
🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵 pic.twitter.com/NgJ8QchnJk
— Kerri Elyse Colby (@kerricolby) April 10, 2023
After Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill criminalizing drag performances, other policymakers followed suit with their own anti-LGBTQ laws. These drag bans have been used as a subliminal attack from Republican lawmakers against the trans community.
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