Courtesy of Trans Equality Rally Planning Committee
OUTMemphis will hold a rally in support of transgender rights and protections tomorrow at the Overton Park Greensward from 5:00p.m. to 7:00p.m. in response to the Trump administration’s revocation of federal protections for transgender students in public schools.
Last week, officials with the federal departments of education and justice notified the U.S. Supreme court that the administration will order that public schools disregard Obama’s federal guidelines that say prohibiting a transgender student’s ability to use the restroom that aligns with their gender-identity is a violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
OUTMemphis’ transgender services coordinator, Kayla Gore reiterated OUTMemphis’ commitment to fight the federal revocation and all future measures out of the Trump administration that could harm LGBTQ individuals.
“The LGBTQ community, and specifically the transgender community refuses to be silent in the face of deliberate and targeted discrimination,” said Gore. 
Several Memphis organizations have signed on to attend the rally including Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region and the Tennessee Equality Project. The rally will host several speakers from these and other community organizations.
The state of Tennessee has also joined in on the federal efforts to police bathroom use by transgender individuals.
State lawmakers Rep. Mark Pody and Sen. Mae Beavers have revived the “bathroom bill” for this year’s legislative session. Last year a similar piece of legislation was introduced by Rep. Susan Lynn but was ultimately scrapped amid growing resistance and controversy.
The state of North Carolina passed their own version of the “bathroom bill” in 2016, and saw immediate backlash from national sports organizations like the NBA and the NCAA, who both pulled multi-million dollar events from North Carolina venues. Forbes estimates that the state has lost $630 million in tourism revenue as a result of the law’s backlash.
