Folks gathered Wednesday evening in Van Eps Park in downtown Sioux Falls to rally for transgender rights across South Dakota ahead of Pride Month celebrations happening in the city on Saturday.
"I'm trying to be a visible trans adult person in the state of South Dakota because I feel like that's extremely important for young people of the state to see," Jack Fonder, a transgender man who is a community health worker at the Transformation Project, told the crowd of more than five dozen. "It's a dangerous position to be in for a lot of us that choose to be out and visible as trans people. But our youth and people in general need to see that you can live here and you can thrive."
During the rally, the crowd were led in chants of "transgender rights are human rights."
The rally comes on the heels of an announcement by the Human Rights Campaign, an organization fighting for LGBTQIA+ civil rights nationally and internationally, issuing a national state of emergency for LGBTQIA+ Americans.
HRC explained it was the first time such an emergency declaration had been made by the organization. The emergency declaration was made in the wake of a "dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year."
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Nationally, more than 525 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills were introduced in 41 states, according to HRC. More than 220 of those bills targeted transgender people. More than 76 bills were signed into law, the most of any year on record and more than double over anti-LGBTQIA+ bills signed into law in 2022.
In South Dakota, the Legislature passed HB 1080 in February, which bans gender affirming care for minors. Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed the law and it will go into effect on July 1.
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As part of the bill, any minor currently receiving gendering affirming care, such as hormone replacement therapy, will have to stop receiving their treatment by the end of the year.
Some South Dakota families have already begun to look at finding gender affirming care for their children outside of the state, according to South Dakota Searchlight, a non-profit news organization.
South Dakota also bars transgender girls from playing on sports teams.
'I'm going to fight for you'
During the rally, the crowd heard from Fonder, Thomas Lewis, Dale James, Amy Kelly, former lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate Jamie Smith, Rep. Kameron Nelson, D-Sioux Falls, D'Ell Bronkhorst, Sydney Eager and Boots Among Trees.
Lewis, a transgender activist, said it was important for people to stand up for trans rights, especially as bills continue to be brought in state houses across the country restricting those rights.
"We need to stand up for our transgender siblings, for our non-binary nibling to make sure that they are safe and protected, not only for the people who are out today but for the people who will come out tomorrow," he said.
Boots, a nonbinary queer activist, read out statistics from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, which surveyed transgender Americans and their experiences. Nearly 63% of victims of fatal violence were Black transgender women, according to the survey.
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At least 12 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been killed through violent means in 2023, according to HRC. At least 34 transgender or gender non-conforming people were violently killed in 2022, including Acey Morrison, a 30-year-old Two-Spirit person in Rapid City.
"I'm going to fight for you if you make the promise that you are going to keep fighting for yourself," Boots said. "If you don't have the energy to fight for yourself, I will still unconditionally fight for you."
Nelson vowed he would continue fighting for queer rights during the Legislative session in Pierre.
"We will demand justice. We will demand our lives. We will demand access to health care. We will demand access to love who we love, to marry who we want, to have stories be shared about us in schools and libraries," he said.
He also encouraged those gathered to celebrate Pride Month and the Pride parade in Sioux Falls on Saturday "like you've never celebrated before.
"Help us make it wonderful and magical and safe," Nelson said. "But then on Sunday, I need you to rest and recharge because Monday, we're gonna give them hell."
