“As long as we are here, we are not going to let our voices be taken away”: LGBTQ community and allies rally against proposed legislation

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Protesters rallied together marching from Memorial Park to the Rhode Island State House to oppose a version of the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill in Rhode Island.

The two pieces of legislation relate to education reform. H7539 prohibits educators from using terms such as “supremacy,” “racial guilt,” “racial fragility.” S2501 seeks to define gender and how it is presented in schools, sports competitions, and champions gender-specific sports teams.

An excerpt from the second bill reads, “This act would categorize women by their biological identity at birth rather than their gender identity for purpose of organized sports.”

The demonstration began at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and was made up of youth from all around Rhode Island.

“I never expected blatant homophobia and transphobia to go past like a few kids in my school.” Abbey Theroux, Scituate high school student, said to ABC 6. “I thought we were past that. I thought that was left in the 20th century.”

The organizer of the event, high school student Sabrina Randall, emphasized the importance of education, saying that this legislation threatens diverse and inclusive education.

“As long as we are here, we are not going to let our voices be taken away. They can sign whatever papers they want to sign, but they’re not going to be able to erase us.”