This story has been updated to reflect the correct date for Crossover Day. It’s March 6. We regret the error.
On March 4, two days before Crossover Day in the Georgia legislature, Georgia’s LGBTQ+ community gathered at the Capitol to protest the slew of anti-trans legislation introduced this session with stories and messages highlighting the community’s persistence.
Dubbed “Pride to the Capitol” and organized by the Human Rights Campaign, the all-day advocacy effort brought hundreds of people to Downtown Atlanta for advocacy training and guided legislator lobbying, as well as a rally that began at Liberty Plaza before moving to the South Steps of the State Capitol. Queer people and allies of all ages donned rainbows and trans flags, made signs, and gathered to demand equality.
Rally speakers included Bella Bautista, the first transgender contestant in the Miss Georgia USA pageant; author and advocate Dr. Elijah Nicholas; Aubri Escalera, the LGBTQIA+ Liaison for the office of State Rep. Park Cannon; Jeff Graham, the Executive Director of Georgia Equality; and DeMarcus Beckham, the Senior Regional Organizer at HRC.
The message of the rally was clear: the LGBTQ+ community will not back down.
“They want us to believe that being our authentic selves is too much, too controversial, too political,” Bautista said. “But here’s the truth: I am not a controversy. I am not a debate. I am living proof that we belong. They may try to silence us, but look around you. They cannot silence a movement. They cannot erase a community that is standing together, louder and stronger than ever before.”
“They cannot erase transgender people,” Graham said. “They couldn’t erase people living with HIV. They couldn’t stop same-sex couples from loving or eventually finding the freedom to marry. Change happens all the time, and change will happen for the transgender community here in Georgia, as well. I promise each and every one of you, it will happen.”
Crossover Day, March 6, marks the deadline for bills to pass in at least one chamber to have a chance of becoming law. Thus, legislators try to push through as much legislation as they can in the days before. While the community rallied around transgender rights and LGBTQ+ freedoms, the Georgia Senate passed the Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act, legislation that has circulated since 2016 that would empower people to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community on the basis of religious freedom. On March 3, the Senate also passed SB 185, which prohibits the state from providing medical care to inmates seeking to change their sex.
While the impact of the current presidential administration and local legislative agenda evidently weighed on the organizers and protestors at the Capitol, the message of hope remained strong with some LGBTQ+ legislative wins: despite bills restricting transgender athletes passing in both the Georgia House and Senate, legislation aimed at banning trans women and girls from female sports teams failed to advance in the U.S. Senate, and the Georgia Senate unanimously passed a bill expanding access in Georgia to HIV prevention drugs.
“It could actually end the HIV epidemic, and I have known it for almost 45 years,” Graham said of the latter bill. “That’s a reason for hope.”
To keep up with the Human Rights Campaign, visit atlanta.hrc.org.