New Orleans: Protesters march through downpour to oppose trans sports ban

New Orleans, LA – On July 11, 50 protesters took to the streets to fight back against Louisiana’s possible ban on transgender kids playing sports. Unexpected heavy rains drenched them soon after they started walking.

In the words of Toni Jones of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Real Name Campaign NOLA: “We’re not out here worrying about this rain, we’re out here worrying about this bill!”

Senate Bill 156 threatens to prohibit trans kids from participating in school sports from kindergarten through college. The bill’s language singles out trans girls. It opens the chance to schools’ inspecting children’s anatomies to see if they’re transgender, which is sexual assault.

The state’s legislative session is over, and the governor vetoed the bill, but far-right evangelicals want it back. Ultraconservatives demand a special legislative session just to re-vote on the issue and maybe override the veto. The Democrat Party did not come out strongly against them. In fact, most Democrat legislators either voted for the ban or abstained during the regular legislative session.

The rally’s speakers called attention to these points. Protesters chanted, “Hands off trans kids!” and “If you don’t hear us, if you don’t see us, you better believe you’re gonna fear us!”

Real Name Campaign, the group that organized this march, called a phone zap to pressure legislators to vote NO. Sign up at tiny.cc/STOPSB156