"These policies are crafted to make us feel small, to push us out of public life, to tell us we do not belong in our own country," said Kentucky rally leader Marissa Ireland of Lexington. "And it is not just meant to harm us: it is meant to make us to give up.
But we are here."
In his first week in office, President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders targeting trans people, including an order declaring birth sex immutably male or female, a ban on trans people serving openly in the miliatry, and restrictions to gender affirming care for young people - including young adults.
Jeri Hahn is the mother of an adult transgender daughter and a co-founder of Trans Parent Lex, an organization which grew from three families to 700 members.
"I never thought that this was going to happen," said Hahn. "Every year we got bigger and bigger and I just thought, 'Oh this is wonderful! We're never going to have any problems! We're going to fight for our kids. We're going to get health care for our kids.'"
Hahn's daughter, now 25, began her transition at 11. Hahn says supporting her was a simple decision, informed by her work as a nurse in a neonatal ICU.
"There all all kinds of different babies being born every day. There's intersex children. I know we're not all boy, girl," said Hahn. "When I met my stepchild and she came to me and voiced that there's something wrong with [her], as a nurse and as a scientist I knew that she was not mentally ill and that I was going to help her."
All major U.S. medical associations support gender affirming care as safe, effective, and medically necessary. However, this legislative session has seen the introduction of House Bill 154, which aims to block access to gender-affirming care (including therapy) under publicly-funded insurance plans. Other anti-trans legislation introduced earlier this month include House Bill 64, which aims to reverse the governor's ban on conversion therapy, and House Bill 163, which limits the number of gender neutral bathrooms in public schools.
"If your state says that your body is not yours to control, that you have no say in your future, take hold of the reins and know that no political office can determine what you know to be true in every fiber of your being," said Ireland. "It's in your heart. It's in your soul."
The Kentucky Legislative Session resumes Tuesday, February 4th. Federal Executive Orders are not legislation, cannot repeal or change existing laws passed by congress, and may be challenged in court.