
Hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets of New York City, Washington, DC, and San Francisco on Wednesday night after President Donald Trump announced his shocking ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces, calling the cost of transgender healthcare in the military as a 'burden'.

Crowds gathered at a plaza named after the late San Francisco gay rights activist Harvey Milk to protest Trump's ban.

Demonstrators waved pink and blue flags and held signs bearing slogans: 'Trans lives are not a burden.' As they took to the streets and gathered in front of the plaza, they could be heard chanting: 'Stand up! Fight back!'

A transgender woman who identified herself only as Layla addressed the crowd and said she's tired of being told who she can or cannot be, and asked for others in the LGBTQ community to support trans people as they fight for respect.

Doug Thorogood and Nick Rondoletto, a couple from San Francisco, waved a rainbow flag and held a sign that read: 'The only reason transgenders are being banned from the military is for bigotry.'

'Haven't transgender people gone through enough? I'm over it!' Thorogood said, as they marched with the crowd from the Castro neighborhood to City Hall.

'When (Trump) goes for the people with the least rights, I just can't sit back and let that happen,' Rondoletto added.

At a smaller gathering at the Los Angeles LGBT Center in Hollywood, US Army Reserve member and transgender man Rudy Akbarian, 27, said at first he thought the news of the Trump's order was a joke. The five-year military veteran said he was 'heartbroken' to learn it was real.

'There are people who are retiring in the military, there are people who've done 18, 19 years and are about to retire and now it's all taken away from them,' he said. 'It's not fair. I know it's not over. I know we're not going to give up.'

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Hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets of New York City, Washington, DC, and San Francisco on Wednesday night after President Donald Trump announced his shocking ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces

'Trans is not a burden' read one sign that protesters held up in San Francisco's Castro District on Wednesday

Nick Rondoletto (left) and Doug Thorogood, a couple from San Francisco, waved a rainbow flag and held a sign against the proposed ban of transgender people in the military at a protest in the Castro District

A transgender woman who identified herself only as Layla addressed the crowd and said she's tired of being told who she can or cannot be, and asked for others in the LGBTQ community to support trans people as they fight for respect

Protesters against the policy Trump declared on Twitter also gathered in New York City, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. Pictured are protesters in San Francisco

Protesters against the policy Trump declared on Twitter also gathered in New York City, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.

Crowds swarmed the famed US Army Recruitment center in Times Square with 'resist' and 'rise up' signs in a show of defiance against the president's announcement.

Demonstrator Yael Leberman said transgender people 'are completely adequate to serve' and combat is 'not about physical, it's about mental' abilities. She said it's unsurprising from the Republican president to say what he said or to see the pushback from a place as diverse as New York City.

Others marched on foot outside the White House bearing signs which read 'we're here, we're queer, we hate the f****** president'.

The demonstrations were in response to an announcement Trump made earlier on Wednesday in which he described the cost of transgender healthcare in the military as a 'burden'.

'After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US Military.

'Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,' he said.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was among those present at the protest on Wednesday.

He addressed the crowd with a megaphone and used his speech to poke fun at the president who he said had skipped enlisting in the 1960s so that he could 'hang out at Studio 54'.

The president dodged the draft to serve in the Vietnam war because he had bone spurs in his heels. Four other deferments were given so that he could pursue his education.

Also at the protest was a transgender army veteran and Miss Peppermint, a famous New York City drag queen who appeared on the ninth series of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Protests erupted outside the US Armed Forces Recruitment building in Manhattan's Times Square on Wednesday after the president announced a ban on transgender people entering the military

Dozens of people gathered in the tourist hot spot with signs bearing slogans including 'resist and 'we object'

A protester cries as they chant slogans with the rest of the crowd in Times Square after the president's announcement

The same activist struggled to contain their emotion as others chanted anti-Trump slogans and preached messages of love and inclusion

She addressed the crowd, telling them: 'It's not that they're afraid of us. You know what they're afraid of? That they're just like us.'

Actress Alyssa Milano also joined the crowds. She shared a photograph from the event on Instagram, telling her followers: 'Trans rights are human rights. I was proud to support the LGBTQ community at the #NoTransBan rally.'

Brenda Sue Falton, an army veteran who was among the first women allowed entry to it and whose wedding at Cadet Chapel in 2012 was the first same sex marriage it has hosted, was also present.

The announcement rattled the global LGBT community and those who support it and was condemned by transgender celebrities including Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner, who had been one of Trump's few celebrity supporters.

'There are 15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the US military fighting for all of us. What happened to your promise to fight for them?' Jenner asked her 3.9million followers.

Cox said: 'Marginalized folks have often found ourselves at odds with systems which seek to subjugate & erase us. Let us love each other more & fight.

'To all the trans folks currently serving in the military, thank you for your service. I am sorry your 'commander in chief' doesn't value it.'

Transgender veterans made direct appeals to the president to reconsider the controversial move. Chelsea Manning, the transgender former soldier who was convicted of Espionage after giving information to Wikileaks, labeled him a coward.

Actress Alyssa Milano was at the protest on Wednesday night. She later said she was proud to stand up for the LGBTQ community

Demonstrators carried pride flags along with their protest signs. They were restricted by police barricades after growing in numbers

The crowds chanted as they held their signs in the air. Trump's announcement was universally decried by his critics on Wednesday

Another protester wipes tears from their eyes while protesting in Times Square against President Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military

A man draped in an American flag chants as he leads the crowd in protest outside the recruitment center in Times Square

A man solemnly raises his sign in the air and listens as protesters lead one another in chants and with speeches

A man holds up a sign bearing the slogan 'rise up' as he joins protesters on Wednesday after the president's announcement

Young protesters were among those who gathered in the crowds to join the demonstration

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was among those who joined the protesters on Wednesday night

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker addressed the crowd in Times Square with a megaphone

A transgender woman appeared at the rally in Times Square alongside cisgender protesters who were united in their fury over Trump's decision

Miss Peppermint, an adored New York City drag queen who appeared on the 9th series of RuPaul's Drag Race, also took part

A man wearing a costume depicting President Trump holding Russian president Vladimir Putin on his shoulders was among the crowd

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James also addressed the crowd on Wednesday

Members of Lambda Legal, a non-profit legal firm which specializes in protecting the LGBT community, attended the protest in pink t-shirts

There was no shortage of slogans among the many signs held by protesters who had gathered in the evening heat to take a stand

There were countless more messages of outcry from celebrities and civilians alike but their outrage did nothing to shift the administration's position.

At a lunchtime press briefing, new White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stood by the president's decision.

'This was a military decision. This was about military readiness, this was about unit cohesion, this was about resources within the military, and nothing more.'

Trump gave no figures to explain the decision on Tuesday. A report by the global think tank Rand Corporation last year estimated that the cost of healthcare for transgender military servicemen and women was between $2.4million and $8.4million a year which the report said was less than a 1 percent increase.

It has not been made clear by the president whether acting transgender individuals will be thrown out of the military.

Trump's announcement on Wednesday - if it becomes enforced by the Pentagon - undoes the Obama administration's Force of the Future policy which, after decades of discrimination, finally lifted the ban on transgender people serving in the military last year.

A protester in Washington attempts to break the resolve of a Secret Service agent outside the White House. He carries a sign reading 'we're here, we're queer, we hate the f****** president'

Demonstrators held up signs calling for the president to 'give impeachment a chance' outside the White House

Rep Joe Kennedy, D-Mass, spoke in support of transgender members of the military on Capitol Hill in Washington

Other protesters marched outside the White House in Washington. They included gay veterans and civilians

Protesters outside the White House held signs which went against the president's earlier tweet in which he described the cost of the healthcare of transgender servicemen and women as a 'burden'

Atlas Winfrey, 25, protested Trump's proposed ban of transgender people serving in the US military during a rally outside the US Army Recruiting Station in Los Angeles