Portland celebrates and rallies for equal rights on Transgender Day of Visibility

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Ever year, International Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated on March 31. It's intended as a time for celebrating trans people and recognizing the discrimination they still face worldwide.

Sunday in Portland's Shemanski Park, the Democratic Socialists of America hosted a celebration and rally.

Spencer Mann, who works with the DSA on transgender issues year round said the Day of Visibility is a call to action as much as it is a celebration.

"That's everything from rallies like this to sit-ins in legislatures to community events, like clothing swaps and other social events like that," she added.

Mann also emphasized how proposed anti-transgender legislation is threatening to change hundreds of thousands of lives across the country. Right now, there are over 400 bills nationwide that are negatively targeting the community.

It's days like this, Mann noted, that remind communities the fight for equal rights is ongoing.