Members of the LGBTQ and ally community will gather Wednesday evening to celebrate the Transgender Day of Visibility.
Members of Maine’s LBTGQ community say the day is an opportunity for trans people to speak for themselves, on their own terms.
"Transgender people are your friends, and your neighbors, and your teachers, your doctors, and your grocery store clerks. We are part of every community in this state and we have been from long before all this attention was being thrown at our community," says Maine Trans Net Executive Director Quinn Gormley.
Sarah Haas of the Health Equity Alliance says it’s important to make support visible at a time when anti-trans legislation has been proposed in state legislatures across the country — including in Maine.
“It’s really essential that we are combating the hate by letting trans, nonbinary, gender queer, agender, two-spirit, gender nonconforming, gender fluid folks know that we are here for you, you are loved, you are valued, you matter, you belong,” she says.
A bill under consideration by the Maine Legislature would ban transgender students from playing girls school sports, with another bill in development.
The Health Equity Alliance, Mabel Wadsworth Center, Bangor Pride and Pride Across Maine will hold a lantern making workshop and parade in Bangor to show support for the trans community.
The event will run 5-7 p.m. in downtown Bangor.