Despite the rain, several dozen people gathered on March 31st at the Winooski roundabout to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility. In the face of continued oppression and assault on transgender existence, organizers pressed for those in attendance to continue the fight, while also outwardly expressing joy in the face of rising transphobia and laws aiming to wipe trans people out of existence.
Transgender Day of Visibility began in 2009 as a way to highlight trans people living vibrant lives and is now celebrated worldwide. Holding signs and flags, the crowd received plenty of support from passing vehicles that honked and drivers gesturing support. Despite the public displays of support from motorists demonstrating a level of support for trans people locally, the fight continues as trans existence is under attack at a national level. At the state level, lawmakers have punted legislation that would have enhanced gender-affirming health care protections for trans youth.
“There’s so many harmful bills that are being pushed right now, I don’t even want to count all of them, that are harming trans people in the U.S.,” said Grey, one of the event’s organizers. “While a lot of those aren’t happening in Vermont, that doesn’t mean politicians are not also ignoring them in some capacity, so we also have to do what we can to organize together.”
Currently, 27 states have gender affirming health care bans, or transgender and non-binary athlete bans, with many more regressive bills currently in legislatures across the country. Buoyed by a Trump administration that cited Transgender Day of Visibility in the reasoning for its “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” executive order, federal and state governments have escalated their anti-trans agenda, aiming to threaten hospitals’ Medicare and Medicaid funding if they continue to provide gender-affirming care to youths. Neither Governor Scott, the Vermont Democratic Party, nor the Vermont Progressive Party acknowledged Trans Day of Visibility this year, although a handful of individual Democrats and candidates have shared support on social media.
On the same day as communities celebrated Trans Day of Visibility, the U.S. Supreme Court struck a major blow to LGBTQ+ protections when it ruled against Colorado’s conversion therapy ban. Vermont’s ban, established in 2016, is similar to Colorado’s and is at risk of court challenge.
This past January, the Vermont legislature was one of the few to push back on this rising anti-trans tide, although it took a full year into Trump’s second term for any movement. Bill H.576 was introduced in the Vermont House of Representatives to establish the Affirming Health Care Trust Fund, to be administered by the State Treasurer, and to fund direct monetary support to healthcare providers and nonprofits that offer gender-affirming care for transgender youth in Vermont. The bill also included provisions designed to protect patient information from federal or out-of-state threats, barring the health board and other state actors from disclosing identifiable patient information. A similar fund was created in Massachusetts in 2025, with its lawmakers looking to set aside more funds for gender-affirming care during the current legislative session in the face of more threats from the Trump administration.
In Vermont, however, the bill quickly died in the healthcare committee, and no effort so far has been made to revitalize it.
With a lack of public support coming from elected officials, speakers discussed how trans people are fighting to live their lives, but also how to interconnect their struggles to global issues. “Being trans is hard right now. It’s not because it’s hard to be trans, it’s because people want to make it hard for us,” said Izzy, one of the event’s speakers. Izzy also linked oppression at home to oppression overseas, saying that many police who brutalize trans people also receive training from the Israeli military that brutalizes Palestinians; the F-35s that terrorize Vermonters in their flight path also go to places like Venezuela and Iran to drop bombs and kill innocent people and children.
“None of these issues are disconnected. We’re all in this fight together,” Izzy said.
Still, as a day of visibility, organizers stressed the togetherness for all those there—trans, non-binary, and cisgender—to harness the energy to keep the fight going and out of the shadows.
“Let’s keep sticking together and please protect your joy, because they want us to be tired,” said Grey, before a call and response with the crowd: “Will we let them? They want us to be isolated, will we let them? So let’s keep fighting!”
Matt Moore is a writer from Vermont. He is on the editorial collective of The Rake Vermont.
