Culture and Social Issues

Drag Queen Named ‘Peppermint,’ ACLU Official Helped Organize Youth ‘Trans Prom’ Near US Capitol

More than 100 transgender and nonbinary individuals gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday to hold a “trans prom” organized by a drag queen and a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), according to the left-leaning nonprofit news organization Truthout.

Holding signs reading “trans kids have always existed” and “trans youth are powerful,” youth attendees of the “trans prom” showed up outside of the U.S. Capitol to celebrate their gender identity and push back against legislation that divides school sports teams and bathrooms on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity, according to Truthout. More than 50 transgender youth and more than 50 transgender adults from 18 states attended the prom that was led by adult organizers Chase Strangio, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Transgender Justice LGBTQ & HIV Project, and Peppermint, a transgender drag queen.

“These young people are here with families and trans adults who love and care for them,” a video of the event featured on Twitter stated. “Today we are choosing to build upon the legacies of our trancestors, embracing the possibilities of our futures and refocusing our collective imagination on the freedom, beauty and joy that we represent. Our joy is ours. You may not see it. You may not think it exists. You may try to take it away. But it is ours.”

An attendee of the prom included a biological man from Mississippi whose school prohibited him from dressing in accordance with his gender identity at graduation, Truthout reported. Others included families from Texas who are getting ready to move following the state Senate passing a bill that would ban medical transitioning interventions.

Four transgender teenagers ranging from 12 to 16 years old helped plan the event which featured a drag performer and a transgender activist as DJ, according to ABC News.

School districts throughout the country are divided over how to regulate sports teams and bathrooms; a school district in Florida reversed its policy, now mandating that students use bathrooms on the basis of biological sex. In Idaho, a school board canceled its policy that allowed students to use bathrooms that best corresponded with their gender identity after pushback from the community.

“Trans Prom was meant to be a pause from the daily reality of attacks on our existence — not just for us as trans people but for everyone,” Strangio wrote in Truthout. “We don’t have to accept the conditions of the world as they are; we can dream so much bigger. And every time we feel the undertow of despair or overwhelm tugging at us amid so much anti-trans hatred, we can return to the joy-filled images and stories we brought into existence this week. Trans joy is transformational. Join our party.”

Trans Prom did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.