Laramie Marches for Transgender Awareness [PHOTOS]
University of Wyoming students and members of the Laramie community met in Simpson's Plaza yesterday at noon to rally and march for transgender rights.
Demonstrators gathered with hand made signs and listened as speakers addressed the crowd.
UW student Arianna Vali helped organize the event and said the march was to remind Laramie residents to contact their local school boards and make them aware of transgender issues.
"Today we are trying to get across for people to go to our local school boards to tell them, 'look, we are here, we here in support of the transgender community, we need to be able to let out transgender students use the bathroom that represents their gender identity," Vali said.
Rihanna Kelver also helped organize the march. She said her biggest concern is the direct affect of the revocation of former President Obama's guidelines on transgender bathrooms in public schools will have on trans youth. President Donald Trump's administration revoked the guidelines on Feb. 22.
"GLSEN did a national survey, the results were that 75 percent of trans youths feel unsafe in their schools," Kelver said. "Out of four trans individuals, three of them will feel unsafe. Out of those who do, most of them have a lower GPA or an unwillingness to even go to school."