Student organizes protest in support of women and trans rights

Following a wave of changes brought by the Trump Administration, a South Whidbey teen gathered a crowd of parents, grandparents and neighbors to join a small student walkout in solidarity with women and the LGBTQ+ folks from all around the country on Thursday.

The group met in front of South Whidbey High School, holding up signs as drivers honked and waved on Maxwelton Road.

“The government needs to stay out of health care for women and LGBTQ+ people,” said Wolfgang Nyland, a protester.

During his first term, Trump appointed the Supreme Court justices who, in 2022, overturned Roe v. Wade, which ruled that the U.S. Constitution protected the right to have an abortion, thus leaving the decision up to the states.

Leilani Floyd, the event organizer and a junior at the high school, said she worries for transgender people like herself.

Since he returned to office, Trump has issued a series of executive orders that would roll back protections for trans and nonbinary people by recognizing only two unchangeable sexes “assigned” to people at conception. He argued that liberals are trying to erase the concept of biological sex and replace it with “a militant transgender ideology.”

Some of these orders seek to prevent trans women from entering spaces and activities designated for women, like prisons, workplace showers, domestic abuse shelters and girls sports in schools; demand government agencies remove the word “transgender” and replace the word “gender” with “sex” on all public media and websites; block schools from teaching about gender and from using federal funds to support students who are socially transitioning; block federal funding that supports gender-affirming medical care — puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — for transgender youths who are under the age of 19.

According to research, gender-affirming medical care is associated with lower rates of depression and suicide, while opponents argue that minors are not mature enough to have a grasp on their identity and make changes to their bodies.

Floyd, however, argues that while there is a small number of people who regret transitioning, most people know themselves more than the government does.

“Across the country, trans youths are losing access to life-saving health care,” she said in her speech. “I’ve felt the sting of my identity being debated by people who don’t understand. I know what it’s like to wonder whether the health care I need will still be there tomorrow.”

Ginna Babcock, the gay grandmother of a gender-fluid youth, doesn’t want kids to go through the pain she suffered as a teenager in the 1960s, when her mother threatened to kick her out.

Nyland, a transgender man who was handing out “You are safe with me” pins to fellow protesters, recalled how the lack of medical and mental support as a trans teen in the 1980s drove him to attempt suicide.

Despite the numerous fights and victories for the LGBTQ+ community, he now sees the country moving backwards, with a lot of the progress “gone with one pen stroke.”

Protesters like Dennis Willson and Rain Bloom said they worry about intolerance and how the country is being taken over by the ultra-rich, with Trump appointing billionaire Elon Musk to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency, WWE Founder and former Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon to serve as secretary of education, and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to serve as the secretary of the treasury department, among others.

Necole King, whose child is nonbinary, said she wanted the students and community members of South Whidbey to know they are loved. She believes there is hope in uniting in solidarity for a common cause.

“Acting out of love and a little joy (and) a little connection, I think, is our only chance to stand against hatred and fear,” she said.

(Photo by Luisa Loi) At right, Leilani Floyd, a junior at the high school, speaks to the crowd that joined her protest against the Trump Administration. At left, Joy! Palmer holds a sign that says “Protect trans kids.”