GLM IS HERE
“Gender Liberation March” Announced for September 14th In Washington DC,
Championing Abortion & Gender Affirming Care
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2024 – Organizers of the Brooklyn Liberation March, Women’s March, and Trans Prom announced a Gender Liberation March scheduled for September 14th in Washington D.C., championing access to abortion, gender-affirming care, and for a representative democracy that fights for our collective future.
With the upcoming SCOTUS case on gender-affirming care, the continued total bans on abortion, and the looming threat of Project 2025, we are building toward a mass mobilization before the 2024 elections that centers bodily autonomy, self-determination, collectivism, and the pursuit of fulfillment. Early organizational partners for the march and rally include We Testify, Familia: TQLM, Trans Latina Coalition, Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative, Gen Z for Change, and media partners include @ Feminist & @ LGBT accounts.
“With continued threats on civil rights, bodily autonomy, and self-determination, it is beyond time for all warriors for abortion access, gender-affirming care, reproductive justice, and LGBTQ+ rights to join forces. As a collective, and through this mass mobilization, we say no more. We believe in a version of this country and world where we can all make decisions for our bodies, our health, and our futures,” Activist and author Raquel Willis says. “The dawn of a new political era is on the horizon, and we are marching toward it. Let it be one we can be proud of and that gets us closer to a collective vision of liberation.”
The Gender Liberation Movement (GLM) is an emergent and innovative grassroots and volunteer-run national collective that builds direct action, media, and policy interventions centering bodily autonomy, self-determination, the pursuit of fulfillment, and collectivism in the face of gender-based sociopolitical threats. At the Gender Liberation March, we’re building a coalition of organizers and artists as a response to fascist, anti-freedom Project 2025 which presents a future for all free from gender expectations that harm and with a vision that includes housing, healthcare, education, an equitable economy, climate action, and all things needed for every person to live a long and fulfilling life.
Link can be found here to sign up to march or organize a bus.
To donate and support the mobilization and movement.
General inquiries can be sent to genderlib4all@gmail.com
Organizers are available for interviews.
BACKGROUND:
Founded in the spring of 2023, GLM was birthed by organizers from the successful Brooklyn Liberation Marches of 2020 and 2021 and the Women’s Marches that began in the wake of the 2016 elections. Our core organizers found an ineffective divide between feminist and reproductive justice organizing (primarily centering abortion access) in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, and queer and trans organizing (primarily defending the community against the years-long ramp-up restrictions for trans students playing sports, access to gender-affirming care, and LGBTQ+ curricula and book bans).
CORE ORGANIZERS
RAQUEL WILLIS (she/her) is an award-winning author, activist, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation. She has held groundbreaking posts, including director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out Magazine, and national organizer for Transgender Law Center. She co-founded Transgender Week of Visibility and Action and is currently an executive producer for iHeartMedia's Outspoken, and the president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative's executive board. She has been named to the Root 100 twice, is a Stonewall Community Foundation Visionary honoree, an ADCOLOR honoree, and served as a 2024 NYC Pride Grand Marshall. She is also the author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation.
SARAH-SOPHIE FLICKER (she/her) is a culture organizer, creative director & artist. She has over 25 years of experience working at the intersections of culture and politics with an emphasis on abortion rights and gender justice. She is also an aerialist and mom to three. She is a founder of the Women's March On Washington, The Resistance Revival Chorus, The Citizens Band, The Meteor, Joy To The Polls, and Firebrand. She is a co-author of the Women's March official book, Together We Rise, which was released in January 2018 and was a New York Times bestseller. She is a Pop Culture Collaborative Becoming America Fellow and a Gender Justice Fellow. She was named Glamour's Woman of the Year in 2017.
ELIEL CRUZ (he/they) is an award-winning, history-making organizer and advocacy communications expert. He is a co-organizer for the Brooklyn Liberation March: An Action for Black Trans Lives, which drew an estimated 20,000 people in June 2020 and again in 2021, an action for trans youth that brought out thousands. He was recognized in Out Magazine's #Out100 list for both his work as the former Director of Communication at the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), and for his pivotal activism in pursuing justice for Layleen Polanco, a 27-year-old Afro-Latinx trans woman who died in solitary confinement on Rikers Island in June 2019. He's spoken at universities and conferences nationwide and has written for numerous publications. He is represented by Ayesha Pande Literary.
FRAN TIRADO (she/they) is a writer, podcaster, and filmmaker in Brooklyn. After leading editorial strategy for magazines like Out and HelloMr., and ad agencies like Chandelier Creative, most recently, Fran was at Netflix managing LGBTO+ audience engagement strategy and creating shows like "I Like to Watch." She's also created and hosted four queer podcasts, currently Like a Virgin with Rose Dommu. Fran has been working in queer media for almost thirteen years. As an organizer, Fran's work has won her the Stonewall Vision Award, Brooklyn's 30 Under 30, and MTV's inaugural Logo Legends honor. She's spoken at institutions like Yale, Juilliard, Harvard, Northwestern, and NYU and has worked with brands like Google, HBO, Instagram, and Nike. The New York Times called Fran a "Queer Champion."
DEVIN-NORELLE (ze/zim/zis) is a professional model, award-winning trans advocate, media figure, and opinion writer, with published work in GQ, Teen Vogue, Allure, Them., and Out Magazine, among others. From gracing the NYFW runway for shows like Chromat and the Bella + Canvas Summer campaign to hosting PBS's show Brave Spaces, there's no limit to what ze can achieve. As a former member of NYC Pride's Community Council, ze has helped guide Heritage of Pride towards reducing police presence for future Pride marches and events and currently sits on the board of the Stonewall Community Foundation. Devin-Norelle currently facilitates D&I Gender Expansive training across multiple platforms, educating others about the history of trans individuals in various pre-colonial countries.
