Youth Organizers Hold Trans Prom Outside U.S. Capitol

For many transgender people, the fact that we never got to go to our high school proms as our real selves turn what was supposed to be a joyous event in any young person’s life into a painful memory to look back on. Well, some trans youth decided to do something about that while also striking a blow for trans rights and shoving that joy down the throats of hateful lawmakers. According to Them, young trans organizers Libby Gonzales (13), Daniel Trujillo (15), Grayson McFerrin (12), and Hobbes Chukumba (16) organized a trans prom that was held in front of the U.S. Capitol last month. The prom served as both a protest of the recent tidal wave of anti-trans legislation being introduced in legislatures around the country and a celebration of trans joy.

The event was attended by approximately 200 people and had drag performer Stormie Daie as the prom’s emcee. Families and organizers gave inspirational speeches, and crowds stood outside to create a “tunnel of love” for attendees of the event as they held signs of encouragement like “Trans kids have always existed.” “We want to be clear that no one made us trans or nonbinary,” Gonzales says in her speech at the prom. “Not our parents, not our schools, not the internet, not our friends. We don’t want to make other people like us, but we do want to find community and grow and learn from other kids that are like us.”

According to The Hill, the young people who organized the prom did get some adult assistance from Chase Strangio, the ACLU’s deputy director for transgender justice. “We’re done,” Strangio recalls the organizers saying when they came to him with their idea. “We’re done going and saying the same thing to legislators over and over and spending our childhoods just begging to be seen even in the most minimally human way.” Strangio explains, “They wanted to plan something bigger, plan something that was more centered in the youth experiences themselves and not as a counterpoint to what every sort of… legislature was planning.”