Updated 12:32 p.m. April 1.
Advocates, local leaders and other community members gathered Tuesday evening at the Allen Street Gates in State College for a Transgender Day of Visibility rally, calling for recognition and continued advocacy for transgender individuals.
The rally began at 5:30 p.m. in downtown State College, drawing a crowd that filled the area near the gates. The event, organized by Centre LGBT+, focused on visibility, community support and action amid ongoing national debates over transgender rights.
The rally was part of a broader observance of Transgender Day of Visibility, recognized annually on March 31 to celebrate transgender people and raise awareness of the challenges they face. Organizers said the event aimed to build resilience within the local community while encouraging allies to take action and support policies that protect transgender individuals.
Speakers and community leaders emphasized that the event was both a celebration and a response to growing concerns about legislation and access to care. State College Mayor Ezra Nanes, who has a transgender daughter, said the borough’s policy is “to support and protect the rights of all people, including transgender and non-binary people.”
Earlier in the month, Nanes proclaimed March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility in State College.
State Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, said the annual event continues to grow in size and significance, describing the day as a moment of reflection and recommitment.
“Today, it continues to grow. This is the biggest one we’ve seen in terms of the rally today, and there’s never been a more important time to show up to make your voice heard,” Takac said. “Today is about visibility. It’s about celebration, but as always, it’s also about reflection and remembrance and frankly, a recommitment that we will stand together and build the kind of world that we want it to be, not as it is today.”
He pointed to legislation he has introduced, House Bill 2199, which would require Pennsylvania school districts to explicitly include transgender and nonbinary students in anti-bullying policies and create support programs.
“It will require every school district in the common wealth of Pennsylvania to explicitly include transgender and non-binary students in their anti-bullying policy,” Takac said. “If we can’t agree that bullying is wrong, I don’t know where we are. Stand up for that.”
Centre LGBT+ board member Michel Lee Garrett called on attendees to hold institutions accountable and continue advocating beyond the rally.
“The institutions that exist to create community and to create service and protect people are supposed to be here for you, and we have been hurt and we have been let down,” Lee Garrett said. “We are pushing back. We are standing up. We are demanding that our public servants live up to their jobs.”
Lee Garrett urged continued action and civic engagement.
“We’re going to keep doing what we have always done. We’re gonna stand up, we’re gonna act up, we’re gonna speak out, we’re gonna fight back,” Lee Garrett said. “Voting by itself is not enough, but voting is harm reduction, and if it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to disenfranchise you to take it from you.”
Other speakers highlighted the impact of advocacy on younger generations. Gwynne Morris, a local transgender teenager, shared her and her mother’s journey of her transition.
“I am 19 years old, and speaking as a young person, I can say that I am the product of what all of you older people, for the most part, are doing,” Morris said. “It would not be possible without your actions and your protection that people such as myself are allowed for me to exist, essentially.”
As the event concluded, speakers emphasized the importance of continued engagement beyond a single day, urging attendees to remain active in their communities and in the political process.
“I want you to feel your power and know that everything we are facing, fascism, queer eliminationism, trans-genocide, are all things that we have faced before, and we have won. Our ancestors fought for us to be here, and now it’s our time to fight for those who are coming after us.”
