On Thursday night, as dusk fell over Greenwich Village, a crowd of hundreds began to form in front of the Stonewall Inn. It was an unseasonably warm evening, perfect jean jacket weather, and so jean jackets abounded: some covered with pins — pink triangles; the trans pride flag; “not gay as in happy, but queer as in fuck you” — and some covered with back patches, like a set spelling out “QUEER TRANS* RESISTANCE,” embellished with lightning bolts. A girl around 6 or 7 wore pink kitten ears and held up a hand-drawn sign: “No cruelty to kids.”



An emergency rally had been announced earlier that day in response to the Trump administration’s decision on Wednesday to withdraw Obama-era guidelines protecting transgender students. The Department of Justice and Department of Education said in a joint letter to public school officials that they “have decided to withdraw and rescind the … guidance documents in order to further and more completely consider the legal issues involved.” Against a backdrop of public outcry, the White House defended the move on Thursday; press secretary Sean Spicer repeatedly referred to the concerns of trans students in bathrooms as “a states rights issue.”

In response to the rollbacks, several states — New York included — made it clear they would continue to enforce bans on trans discrimination in schools. Amy Spitalnick, a spokesperson for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday that trans students in New York will still be protected by Title IX (which prevents discrimination on the basis of sex) and other state laws, including the Dignity for All Students Act: “The Attorney General will continue to ensure that Title IX and New York’s own civil rights protections are enforced, because we know that policies that ensure equality for transgender New Yorkers promote safe and inclusive schools, workplaces, and communities — benefiting everyone.”

Long before the guidance withdrawals, many trans kids in New York and across the country have struggled to thrive. Nearly half of trans and gender-nonconforming young people have considered suicide, and 25% have made an attempt. According to one GLSEN study, an organization devoted to promoting safe schools for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities, 75% of trans young people say they feel unsafe at school. Trans youth who are bullied, misgendered, or forced to dress and act in a way that doesn’t correspond with their gender identity report that everything from their grades to their mental health are negatively impacted.