Activists with Charlotte Queer and Trans People of Color shut down Trade and Tryon Streets in HB2 protest.

Protesters took the streets Wednesday, April 13, calling for the repeal of anti-LGBT House Bill 2 (HB2) and for respect for black and brown lives as well as the lives of transgender people.

Over 60 people blocked the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets for over an hour and a half, holding signs and flags and chanting slogans such as “Black lives matter,” “Trans lives matter” and “If we don’t get no justice, you don’t get no peace.”

Names of transgender people who have been killed were also read through a bullhorn, including Elisha Walker, a North Carolina trans woman murdered last year.

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Blake Brockington, who was crowned homecoming king at East Mecklenburg High School and who participated in similar actions, was also named. Brockington and some 100 others shut down the same intersection in December of 2014 with a protest that include a die-in.

Brockington told QNotes, “If we plan to change the system as a whole, we have to change the system together. We have to address all these problems at once — misogyny, patriarchy, LGBT issues, race issues. We have to address everything at once if we plan to change the system at all.”

Brockington died as a result of suicide one year to the day before HB2 was signed into law. A moment of silence was also held during the shut down for Brockington.

While three activists stood in the center of the square locked arm in arm, the remaining protesters blocked the intersections. One driver early on came close to hitting one of the activists with his car. He was stopped and an argument pursued before he was allowed to drive on.

Police eventually blocked off the streets and communicated with organizers to determine how long the protest would last and if it would be possible to end it without arrests.

The streets remained shut down for well over an hour, close to two, when the police warned protesters that they had twenty minutes, and then ten minutes, to disperse or else face arrest.

Bystanders responded with a mix of support and derision. Some said thank you to the protesters as they passed, or clapped or threw their fist up in support. Others told them to get out of the road. A homeless man told them he was going to get all the homeless people together for a rally of their own.

“I’d be right there with you in solidarity for that,” one of them responded.

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“How many of you are homeless?” he asked.

“Actually it’s a big problem in the LGBT community,” the protester replied before he eventually walked off.

The police cleared the road back to First Ward Park, where the rally had begun, and it ended without arrest or incident.

Protestors return to the park. No arrests made so far. #HB2 pic.twitter.com/TQWWCFp9lM — QNotes (@qnotescarolinas) April 14, 2016

“We knew that we definitely wanted to shut down Charlotte, because of course the ordinance (expansion to include LGBT rights) started in Charlotte. Charlotte has also gotten the most backlash from corporations. But the one thing that was missing from the conversation was the voices of queer and trans people of color,” Organizer and participant Alele “AJ” Williams said after the action ended.

Williams added that he felt their voices had been heard.

Fellow organizer and protester Ashley Williams, who gained national attention when they confronted Hillary Clinton about her “superpredators” comment dating back to the ’90s, said the purpose of the event was to make sure that there was a space for trans people and queer people of color to be seen and heard and to show that Charlotte will fight back against HB2.

The event was organized by a group called Charlotte Queer and Trans People of Color, or CharlotteQTPOC.

More video from the protest can be found here.

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Posted by Jeff Taylor / Social Media Editor Jeff Taylor is a journalist and artist. In addition to QNotes, his work has appeared in publications such The Charlotte Observer, Creative Loafing Charlotte, Inside Lacrosse, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He graduated from the State University of New York at Brockport and has lived in Charlotte since 2006.@jefftaylorhuman.