ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Kade Vonderheide wears a transgender pride flag like a cape around his shoulders.
The trans man joins nearly 100 others on Sunday afternoon for the “Transgender Day of Visibility.” Fellow members of the LGBTQ+ community, allies and more assemble outside Meta Beauty Collective for a rally.
“We’re still gonna fight for rights,” contends Vonderheide. The trans man is one of the many attendees speaking out against what they call recent attacks against from President Donald Trump.
TDOV – typically on March 31 – started in 2010 by trans advocate Rachel Crandall. GLAAD described it as a celebration of the “lives and contributions of trans people” – especially those unable to be visible.
“This is for them,” asserts Vonderheide – defending those without “supportive families”. “This is so they can have rights for the future, and so people can see our cause.”
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, more than 450 anti-LGBTQ bills sit in state legislatures across the country.
“There are so many attacks on trans people, so many people who are scared of trans people,” mentions Eden Brown – an organizer for Rockford’s visibility rally. “We’re visible. We’re here.”
“No LGB without the T!” chants Stephen Ramberg – also known for by their drag stage name “Auntie Heroine.” They appear out of drag at the event hoping to show who they “constantly live as.”
Nearly 100 gather in defense of trans rights.(Nathaniel Langley)
Roughly 10 speakers, including Ramberg, comment on the trans and nonbinary experience: they detail the crippling depression and loneliness before discovering their “authentic selves;” the joy they find in the LGBTQ+ community; the need to push back against attacks on their personhood.
“They’re seeing themselves not be able to do the things that they normally would with their own freedoms in America,” says Brown – who also serves as a program coordinator with The LIAM Foundation, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit.
State Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) believes recent policy changes – like an executive order recognizing two sexes (female and male) – reflects the wishes of most Americans.
The lawmaker points to polling, such as two-thirds of U.S. adults supporting transgender athletes to compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth.
“We constantly have things reaching the floor that are for a super-ultra minority of people,” says Cabello – referencing what he calls Illinois Democrats wasting taxpayer dollars.
The Republican expects the state’s trans policies to head to court with lawsuits advocating for Illinois to align with new federal standards.
“If that means not allowing a male into a female bathroom, not allowing a male into female sports, then that’s what we got to do,” declares Cabello.
Attempts against trans rights don’t dissuade Vonderheide.
“I’d like to see them really try besides,” he chuckles. “Just blatant fear mongering. Really.”
Away from Illinois, the Trump administration targets Maine with probes and funding cuts since its governor defended the state’s protections for transgender people.
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