At a Trans Day of Visibility celebration in Bethesda on Monday, the message was clear: Regardless of the political landscape, the local transgender community will not hide.
“Attacks from the federal government are coming fast and furious for us,” Lee Blinder, director of Trans Maryland, told a crowd of dozens who attended the event at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center. “They are attempting to remove us from public life, but functionally, we are here in public, having a life, and we will continue to do so.”
Blinder, who now lives in the Baltimore area, started the nonprofit organization that advocates for the trans community and helps connect trans Marylanders with resources after finding a lack of support while living in Montgomery County.
Just hours prior to Monday’s event, Blinder had called out Gov. Wes Moore (D) at a different event in Annapolis for not taking stronger actions to protect trans residents. Blinder told the crowd at the Bethesda event that it is important for elected officials to turn their words into action as well as budgetary dollars.
“You cannot flinch. We have to say we are loving our trans neighbors. We have to say that we are going to protect the trans people who are marginalized, who are living at the intersections of identities that are being targeted right now,” Blinder said. “We have to continue to commit to not leaving anyone behind, even as it’s going to get harder and harder. … It will only be more difficult tomorrow, next week, next year.”
Monday’s event was hosted by the MoCo Pride Center, an organization that promotes health, well-being and offers services and social events for the local LGBTQ+ community. The celebration included an afternoon session including vendors and community resources as well as drag story hours for children. The evening rally included drag, music and dance performances, as well as remarks from local LGBTQ+ community leaders and elected officials.
“There is nothing more radical than being fully yourself in a world built to confuse you about your worth,” Phillip Alexander Downie, CEO of the MoCo Pride Center, told the crowd. “Today, we are not asking for permission to exist. We are taking up space loudly, we are doing it lovingly and we are doing it together.”
The event was coupled by a long-awaited announcement from County Executive Marc Elrich (D) that a physical space for the MoCo Pride Center will be opening in the county.
“We’ve identified a space and we’ve working with MoCo Pride to finalize the details for an LGBTQ+ center — a safe, dedicated, affirming space for the community,” Elrich told the crowd. “Montgomery County is going to provide a single point of access to local government resources, service providers and residents and other community organizations. That’s a reason to celebrate … . We’re making progress.”
Downie was not able to publicly share specific details about the upcoming center, but said he is excited that his long-held vision is becoming reality. He expressed his gratitude to the county government for supporting the local LGBTQ+ community amid federal changes that have been more hostile toward the community.
“In a country that is constantly pulling away protections, pulling away funding from LGBTQIA+ rights and from trans and gender expensive rights, our county executive, our County Council, is committed to you,” Downie told the crowd.
President Donald Trump’s name was not mentioned during Monday’s rally, but his administration’s actions were called out by both LGBTQ+ community leaders and elected officials. Trump has issued several executive orders regarding transgender identity since his inauguration in January, including one declaring the administration would only recognize “two unchangeable sexes,” an order that aims to ban trans people from serving in the military and an order that aims to limit access to gender-affirming health care, PBS reported.
“We are not going back on our values here in Montgomery County … we’re pushing back on what I call preemptive compliance,” County Council President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) told the crowd. “When folks hear the occupant of the White House say something or take out his big pen and sign something, and then all of a sudden decide, ‘Oh, I have to stop doing something like provide gender affirming care’ … we don’t need to [stop that]. We have a [Maryland] attorney general who is fighting for us.”
Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) said he has spoken to constituents who are scared, and that it is important for the county government to take action to protect trans residents.
“I see it on your faces. I see it in the emails I get,” Glass said. “About three weeks ago, I received a phone call from a mom in the county who called me and was crying about whether or not her trans son was still going to be able to get gender-affirming care. And what can we do as a community?”
A 2024 Office of Legislative Oversight report found the county government could be doing more to support its transgender residents, recommending that officialsconsider creating a resource center and lobbying the state to require cultural competency training for medical providers. A county LGBTQ+ community survey released in October 2023 revealed that more than 41% of trans and gender expansive county residents faced difficulty finding gender-affirming care and gender-affirming mental health support.
LGBTQ+ rights and particularly trans rights have been codified through General Assembly legislation signed into law by Moore, who pledged in 2023 to make Maryland a trans sanctuary state. Many of the laws passed recently were sponsored by Montgomery County lawmakers, who have been leaders in the LGBTQ+ political arena.
The Trans Shield Act, which went into effect in October, was sponsored by House Majority Leader Del. David Moon (D-Dist. 20), who represents Silver Spring. The new law added gender-affirming care to the state’s definition of legally protected health care. It protects Maryland residents and patients who live outside of the state who receive gender-affirming care within the state, as well as their physicians, from legal action and prosecution for receiving or providing that care.
Wheaton resident Ezra Towne, who leads a support group called Maryland Trans*Unity that meets on Zoom and in-person in Rockville, told Bethesda Today on Monday the group has seen more community members seeking support since Trump’s election. They said it’s been challenging to reassure local trans community members that things will be okay amid the changing federal landscape, but that the meetings have also provided a needed supportive space to commiserate.
“We hear from a lot of sad people and a lot of afraid people, which can make a challenging environment, but we also have some great, positive voices … so that people have some more hope,” Towne said.
Toward the end of the event, Bobby Sanchez, a trans poet and musician, read from a poem she wrote about her identity and experience.
“I will not conform to Western identities. We are the descendants of indigenous peoples,” Sanchez said. “Our identities cannot be summed up by LGBTQ+ … Let this poem teach you that homophobia, transphobia — this hate cannot destroy an identity.”
Rev. Ali Bell, a pastor at the Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda and a trans man, shared a similar message.
“To be transgender is not just to survive. It is to thrive,” Bell said. “To transition, to claim the truth of our souls and shape our lives accordingly, is an act of courage, an affirmation that we are here on purpose, that our bodies, our spirits and our journeys are sacred. History proves that trans and nonbinary people, we’ve always been here making the world better.”
