Signwaving, speeches honor, support Hawaiʻi’s trans, gender non-conforming community
Posted: March 31, 2023
It is important for Hawaiʻi students to know that they are safe in their classrooms, their schools, and throughout the state, said Kea’au Elementary School teacher Daphna Ehrenhalt during a rally Friday afternoon celebrating the International Transgender Day of Visibility at the state Capitol.
Ehrenhalt spoke to a group of trans people and allies gathered at the event sponsored by the Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center’s Kua ̔ana Project, Hawaiʻi’s largest transgender services program.
“Hawaiʻi has the highest population of out trans folks in the US, and there is a reason for that. Hawaiʻi has always been a safe space, and will always be a safe space,” said Ehrenhalt, an LGBTQ+ activist and advocate.
“I am lucky to be able to help educate other educators about LGBTQ+ topics through HSTA and the Human and Civil Rights Committee. We are responsible for the future, and we need to let our students know that the future looks brighter with them in it,” they said.
Daphna Ehrenhalt, a teacher at Kea’au Elementary School, waves the transgender flag at Friday afternoon’s International Transgender Day of Visibility at the state Capitol.
Ehrenhalt co-created and for the past two years facilitated Transgender 101 for Educators, training sessions to help public and private school teachers support and protect transgender children in their classrooms. They also serve as a board member of the Hawaiʻi Island LGBTQ+ Pride group, and for the past four years, helped the group connect to teachers in classrooms. Ehrenhalt has put together safe space kits and given away hundreds of books for classroom libraries.
Statistics for trans kids across the country are grim, Ehenhalt said, noting that half of our LGBTQ+ youth have suicidal thoughts or are suicidal. Some are kicked out of their homes or bullied at school, Ehrenhalt said.
“Now they have the pressure of bills being passed about them before they can even vote. These kids only want to be accepted for who they are, yet they are constantly being told they are not themselves. But on a day like today, they know who they are, they know they have a future in which they can be themselves, and they know that someone is out there, fighting for their freedom of expression,” Ehrenhalt added.
“My classroom, like the classroom of many of my colleagues, is a space where our keiki can be themselves. They don’t have to hide because they know they are safe,” Ehrenhalt said.
During the first three months of this year, more than 180 bills have been introduced in 37 states targeting LGBTQ+ youth, including book and curriculum bans and specific attacks on transgender children.
Republican lawmakers in Kentucky Wednesday overrode the governor’s veto of an anti-trans law that bans access to gender-transition care for young people. Also on Wednesday, West Virginia’s governor signed a similar bill, while the passage of other bans appears imminent in Idaho and Missouri.
Kua ̔ana Project Manager Maddalynn “Maddie” Sesepasara said, “Every day, we watch the hate and anti-trans rhetoric spreading across the country, and our hearts weep for our trans and non-binary siblings on the continent.”
“It is so important for us as a community isolated in the middle of the Pacific to stand together and say, ‘We are with you, we love you, and we support you.’ We must be unified in our message that this type of hate is not welcome here in Hawaiʻi and should not be tolerated anywhere,” said Sesepasara, a Samoan transwoman who also co-chairs the state Department of Health’s Sexual and Gender Minority Workgroup.
Friday’s signwaving and rally at the Capitol rotunda featured state and local policymakers and leaders in Hawaiʻi’s trans community from across the state, including Gov. Josh Green and Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke. Also in attendance were State Rep. Adrian Tam, co-chair of the Hawaiʻi State Equality Caucus; Honolulu City Council Member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who recently introduced Bill 25 that establishes a policy of anti-bias inclusion for the city of Honolulu; and Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, who is viewed as the leading authority on Native Hawaiian mahu culture and history.
Earlier this month, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed into law Bill 25, the city’s anti-bias and inclusion policy. It requires that all city employees receive anti-bias and inclusion training to promote diversity, sexual orientation, and gender expression are required to be included in these training sessions.
According to the Williams Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, Hawaiʻi has the highest per capita population of transgender persons in the nation. The study found that 1.6 million people 13 and older identify as transgender in the United States.
Michigan trans advocate Rachel Crandall created Transgender Day of Visibility in 2009 as a response to a majority of stories in the media focusing on anti-trans violence. Instead, she hoped that a day could celebrate the lives of transgender people and empower them to live authentically.
