On Saturday, April 5th, Emmy-nominated actress and activist Laverne Cox headlined a powerful afternoon of resistance and joy at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Trans Liberation Now! rally, joining hundreds of supporters, community members, and partner organizations in demanding justice, safety, and liberation for transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender-expansive people.
Hosted at the Center’s Anita May Rosenstein Campus in partnership with the TransLatin@ Coalition, Advocates for Trans Equality, Equality California, and more, the event was both a local call to action and a catalyst for a growing national movement.
“Every day, the Center fights for the rights, safety, and wellness of trans people,” said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “This fight has never been more urgent because the attacks on our TGNBI+ siblings have never been more extreme.”
The center of democracy is truth. You’re not free if you’ve been lied to.
Laverne Cox
Cox, who served as the event’s keynote speaker, brought the crowd to its feet with an impassioned message about the importance of education and truth—especially in a society under the threat of fascism.
“The center of democracy is truth. You’re not free if you’ve been lied to,” said Cox, citing the author Jason Stanley and his 2018 book How Fascism Works. “If [voters] can begin to understand that they’ve been lied to, maybe they can look to their trans siblings and understand that they were lied to about them too.”
“The real enemy is not actually trans people,” she continued. “The real enemy’s not migrants or poor people or homeless people or any other scapegoat that they claim. The enemy, clearly, is the plutocrats, the oligarchs, the billionaires and corporations who create these issues to divide working class people.”
“Our fight is not about today; it’s about our future. A future where trans liberation isn’t just a rallying cry—it’s a reality.”
Joe Hollendoner, CEO, Los Angeles LGBT Center
Additional speakers included Bamby Salcedo of The TransLatin@ Coalition, Tony Hoang of Equality California, Anya Marino of Advocates for Trans Equality, and Hector Plascencia of the Los Angeles County LGBTQ+ Commission. DJ Nico Craig provided the soundtrack, and tribute artist Miss Shalae delivered a dazzling performance that celebrated Black trans excellence.
Attendees also engaged with dozens of local organizations at the rally’s TGNBI+ Resource Fair, which offered resources for health care, legal aid, housing support, and social services specifically designed to support trans and gender-diverse individuals.
Additional community partner organizations included: Los Angeles LGBT Center Policy Department, The Sidewalk Project, Trans*Lounge, Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol & Drug Abuse (L.A. CADA), APAIT, Minority AIDS Project, Kedren Community Health Center, Invisible Men, Unique Woman’s Coalition (UWC), San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ Center, LA Civil Rights Department, GJLA, and more.
“Let me remind you of what people like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson knew when they helped spark the revolution at Stonewall,” Hollendoner said in his closing. “Our fight is not about today; it’s about our future. A future where trans liberation isn’t just a rallying cry—it’s a reality.”
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