Thousands Rally Across The Country To Support Trans Youth

Thousands of people have turned out across the country today to show their support for trans youth for the National Day Of Action.

The Protect Trans Youth National Day Of Action rallies were held in twenty locations including major and regional cities on February 8.

Speakers passionately spoke out about the need for gender affirming care for our youth and shared personal stories of many affected by the recent attacks on the trans community both in Australia and overseas.

Protect Trans Youth Rallies nationwide

The Protect Trans Youth rallies this weekend were organised by the Trans Justice Project who put a call to arms for supporters to come together on February 8 across Australia.

Rallies were organised in response to the Queensland Governments decision to put a ban on HRT treatments for new patients under eighteen pending a review.

In response twenty rallies were organised and registered on their website where 150 businesses and organisations also signed up to endorse the day of action.

“This cruel ban is the first of its kind in Australia, and it must be reversed immediately. No one wants to see the hateful US-style scapegoating of communities happening here” said Jackie Turner, Director of the Trans Justice Project.

“Governments cannot be allowed to ban vital, evidence-based healthcare solely on the basis of their political beliefs.”

“Communities nationwide, from Busselton and Wagga Wagga to Shepparton and Broome, are rallying today to show trans young people in Queensland that they are not alone.”

“The Minister’s decision will halt evidence-based healthcare for 491 young people and their families – many who have been on the waiting list for months, and even years.”

Crowds Gather Across The Country

In Sydney a passionate crowd of over 2,500 turned out to listen as speakers told their personal stories in support of our trans youth.

Cars honked their horns in support as they passed while crowds gathered outside the Pride Centre in Newtown, while some rallied, other families and children gathered in the park around the corner.

Speakers included Jackie Turner, Director of the Trans Justice Project, Emma, a parent of a trans teen, Sunny a trans teen and their mother both spoke to the crowd as well as several others.

Emma told of her daughters personal struggles as a five year old “She told me she didn’t want to be alive, she told me I had to hide the knives because she wanted to cut off body parts.”

“She was five years old, and we’ve changed that by allowing her to be her authentic self” she said,

“I’m terrified, I’m absolutely terrified that we will go back to how she felt when she could have been herself.”

“Politicians… don’t know my child and don’t know me. They do not love my child more than me. They don’t know my child more than me. They don’t know her more than all of her whole team of medical support staff did, and they’re making decisions for her.”

Sunny spoke of her struggles to access gender affirming support, having to see 13 medical professionals before being diagnosed with gender dysphoria and expressed her concern at the mental health and safety of our trans youth.

“The anti trans movement has seen a resurgence throughout the last few years, even in Australia, with the growing terror presence, we need to stop these alt right ideologies from taking over our lives” she said. 

“Did you think they’ll stop our trans people? You’re wrong.”

“We’ve been seeing this. We’ve been seeing this takeover with the normalisation of fascist ideologies in the US, and we’ve been seeing how they have begun to expand their parade of hate towards the greater LGBTQIA, plus community and other marginalised groups, and now we see the rising tide of anti queer rhetoric. Well, fuck that.”

Over five thousand rally in Melbourne

In Melbourne organisers announced that over 5,000 people were present outside the State Library as speakers took to the stage to a large and passionate crowd.

Speakers on the day included Victorian LGBTIQA+ Communities Commissioner Joe Ball, transgender doctor Danielle Stefanski, as well as trans youth and their parents.

“I grew up in Queensland, and last year they changed birth certificate reform, which meant for the first time in my life I could change my birth certificate to be a man” said Joe Ball.

“And prior to that, I could not have changed my birth certificate in Queensland without having a sterilisation surgery, a forced hysterectomy. Now, I’m so grateful for that change that came into effect last year. And it feels like, with that change, this feels like even so devastating to have this, what feels like a bash back against trans people, a step backwards.”

“And that is what it is. And I am going to fight this all the way. And I’m going to do that because every loving parent in this world, all they want for their child is for their child to be safe, healthy and happy” he said. 

“And every loving parent of a transgender child wants exactly the same. That’s why parents like Patrice, Maren Wake, who’s in Geelong today, and Rebecca Robinson listened when their children spoke, and they did what good parents do, and they supported them. They helped their kids access some of the world’s best experts in trans healthcare at the Royal Children’s Hospital right here in Melbourne.”

“But today, 491 children and their families in Queensland can’t do what they need to do to keep their children safe, happy and healthy, simply because their government won’t let them. Simply because they live in Queensland. 491 children and counting have been denied medical care in Queensland.”

“Their government has turned its back on expert medical advice, ignoring multidisciplinary teams of doctors, and instead taking guidance from Donald Trump and Elon Musk. 491 children so far have had their healthcare banned because politicians in Queensland believe they know better than their own parents. I grew up in Queensland and I remember what it was like to live in a state where abortion was illegal, where politicians meddled in our healthcare and politicised control over our bodies.”

“People had to cross the border to New South Wales just to access healthcare. Now, just like back then, it is the most vulnerable who suffer the most. Working class families, families who can’t afford to relocate or pay for accommodation hundreds of kilometres away while their child attends regular medical appointments in another state.”

Dr. Danielle Stefanski spoke of her personal experiences as a trans person “God help anyone who tries to tell me that gender-affirming care isn’t life-saving” she said.

“There is nothing about this political ban that is good medicine.”

Following the speakers the event unexpectedly turned from a rally into a protest, which had not been planned by organisers,  as the crowd marched down Swanston St.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by All the heterosexual nonsense (@nonsense.newsletter)

Brisbane turns out to support trans youth

In Brisbane huge crowds, estimated in the thousands, amassed outside of state Parliament in Brisbane to have their voices heard on the changes affecting their children directly in Queensland.

Again speakers from across the community took to the stage to have their voices heard, including parents speaking passionately about the effectives of the government decision on their children.

Brisbane mother Hannah spoke of the situation her daughter Vee now found herself in.

“Vee was mere days away from her final assessment for a [hormone replacement therapy] prescription,” she said.

“The dedicated professionals at the gender clinic delivered the heart-wrenching news that Vee would be unable to progress from puberty blockers to HRT.”

“These politicians have awakened something fierce within me, the protective instincts of a mama bear defending her cubs,” she said, everyone needs to understand the importance of gender-affirming care for our young people.”

Following the rally representatives from the Trans Justice Project did a “flag drop” of the Trans flag off the Victoria Bridge in the city.