Several thousand New Yorkers marched in Manhattan on International Women’s Day Saturday to demand that the Trump administration stop attempting to limit the rights of female and transgender Americans.
The March 8 event began with a rally at Washington Square Park that preceded a march northward to Union Square. While International Women’s Day celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, it also acknowledges the ongoing fight for women to achieve equality in America in healthcare, social justice, equal pay, and gender disparities in the workplace.
At stake are reproductive rights and abortion access — with six states are considering murder charges for abortion patients — transgender rights, protection against sex discrimination, and other forms of discrimination.
With the stroke of a pen, Trump has used executive orders in efforts to ax transgender rights like gender-affirming medical care, removed references to transgender people from federal websites and databases, banned transgender people from serving in the military, and terminated diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Women and transgender rights advocates at Saturday’s rally highlighted the importance of continuing the fight for gender equality and bodily autonomy, emphasizing that with Trump in the White House, the struggle for women and LGBTQ+ rights was far from over.
Kim Russell, creative director of the Women’s March, one of the co-organizers alongside Rise and Resist and 5050.1, told rally attendees that Trump and his administration are determined to “demoralize and demobilize” the resistance, urging them to keep fighting.
“We are here to send a clear message. We are not going anywhere. In fact, we are everywhere,” said Russell, listing a slew of demonstrations that have erupted across the country in protest of Trump’s executive orders and DOGE job cuts.
“They can try all they want, but they cannot tear apart our community. They cannot silence us. They cannot erase us. They cannot break us,” Russell added.
Jay W. Walker of Gays Against Guns and Queer Liberation March told the diverse gathering that “they were all in [the fight] together.”
“The government in Washington right now is a threat to everyone who is not a straight, white, cisgender Christian billionaire,” Walker pointed out.
Yanery Cruz, director of advocacy and programs at New York Transgender Advocacy Group, said that women and transgender rights were the same, referring to issues like bodily autonomy and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act. Experts warn that the SAVE ACT would make it harder for women who have gotten married and changed their last name to vote since the act requires that their last names must match their birth certificate.
“It could disenfranchise thousands of married women who changed their surname and trans people who struggle to [authenticate] their IDs due to restrictive laws. [The SAVE Act] is voter suppression targeting women, trans individuals, and naturalized citizens who already face systemic barriers to voting,” Cruz explained. “Your struggle is my struggle, and my struggle is your struggle.”
Diana Adams, executive director of the Chosen Family Law Center, recalled that women couldn’t open their own bank account or apply for a credit card until 1974.
“As an attorney, I will tell you, our rights are new and they are fragile, and we need to fight to defend them. Because, in the words of a woman who should be our president right now, ‘We are not going back,'” Adams told the crowd.
