Large crowds of hundreds of demonstrators marched near Chicago’s Federal Plaza Friday night in support of people who are transgender—including a transgender woman fatally shot on the South Side last month.
"Our community is large and beautiful! Let's show our government that we will not be silenced!" organizers wrote on Facebook. "We will not tolerate transphobia, transmisogyny or misogyny, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, classism, ableism or anti-Semitism!"
The protest was scheduled to go from 6 to 9 p.m. near East Wacker Drive and North Wabash Avenue, organizers said.
More than 1,800 people said they planned to attend on Facebook.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel responded last month night to the Trump administration’s rolling back of transgender students federal protections that allowed them to use school bathrooms and locker rooms that match the gender they identify as.
"While tonight federal protections for transgender students have been rolled back, I want to be clear that the City of Chicago's and Chicago Public Schools policies providing equal rights to transgender residents and students will remain unchanged,” the mayor said in a statement. “Chicago will stay steadfast in our commitment to fight for equality and against discrimination in all its forms."
The administration came down on the side of states' rights, lifting Obama-era federal guidelines that had been characterized by Republicans as an example of overreach, the Associated Press reported.
