Members of Juneau’s LGBTQ+ community and the people who support them gathered in droves over the weekend to protest the Trump administration’s policies and language surrounding queer and trans people.
Over 200 people gathered at the Alaska State Capitol steps on Sunday to show their support for Juneau’s LGBTQ+ community with pride flags draped over shoulders and signs that said things like “Gender affirming health care is life-saving.”
Organizer Daaljíni Mary Cruise said the event was planned to show Juneau’s young people that their voices matter, that they matter.
“That’s the way we all need to be with our children,” she said. “We need to teach them it is okay to speak up against injustice.”
Cruise said living as an out queer person, teaching Lingít and raising her kids to be accepting has felt like her way to support her community. But recently that’s changed.
“That’s not enough anymore,” she said. “And it’s at this point where I feel like we have to stand up and we have to fight. We are going to have to fight hard, just like our ancestors who came before us.”
She’s talking about policies and rhetoric pushed by President Donald Trump that endanger LGBTQ+ people across the country. Within 10 days of his return to the White House, Trump banned gender-affirming health care for youth, against recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The administration’s moves have left queer and trans people in fear.
But as the demonstrators prepared to march through downtown to Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, Cruise said she wanted this event to be fun, too – to shine a light on the community.
“I just want to bring joy to some of the darkest days of our lives right now,” she said.
Sa.áax’w Margaret Katzeek, who works in mental health support, says coming together in times like this is necessary.
“We heal in community. This is where the healing comes from – showing up for each other,” Katzeek said.
Wendi Siebold marched with her partner and daughter. She said they especially wanted to show up for Juneau’s transgender community, which she says is being “directly targeted” by Trump’s policies.
“I feel like Juneau as a whole understands the importance for protections for everyone,” she said.
The march through downtown was followed by drag performances. At Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, booths full of resources and pride flags awaited the demonstrators.
Kids like Silje Haven Marr waited in line to have their faces painted with glitter.
“We’re all people and like, if we’re different, like, it’s not a big thing to be different,” Haven Marr said. “And this is an event to show people that it’s normal to be you, and it’s normal to be gay and stuff.”
Elizabeth Giudice, with the Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance or SEAGLA, was standing on the other side of the line of booths. They said that anti-trans and anti-queer policy proposals aren’t new, but the political climate feels different now.
“Now that things are sort of in the forefront, people are afraid, because it seems like things are actually actionable,” Giudice said.
But they said events like this one show that Juneau’s queer community won’t go into hiding.
“When we get together, we see just how far we’ve come, just how close we can all be, and how out and how proud we can all be, and know that we don’t have to be as afraid as we have been,” they said. “And that’s progress.”
A mostly youth dance group called Has Du Eetíx’ X’aakeidíx̱ Haa Sitee took the stage to perform songs, including one that Cruise wrote for this event.
Lingít drag performer Lituya Hart Monroe joined dancers in an ermine pelt headdress, holding a pride flag.
The song is called “Ḵusax̱án Ḵusax̱ánx̱ Sitee” – love is love.
“Through love, we will succeed,” the group sang in Lingít. “We have existed forever.”
