WASHINGTON - Lizette Trujillo watches her son Daniel at the steps of the Supreme Court, pride radiating from behind her large sunglasses.
The Trans Youth Prom's steering committee, made up of Daniel, 13-year-old Libby Gonzalez and 12-year-old Grayson McFerrin-Hogan of Texas, and 16-year-old Hobbes Chukumba of New Jersey, alongside noted trans activists, wanted a celebration that linked arms with the gay rights movement's storied past. So, for trans prom, they took some cues from the '70s.
"One of my main things I try to say, like, I tell people I'm just a kid," Daniel said. "I should be at lunch right now." "With just one really joyous, amazing event, I know that the rest of my life can be just as joyous as it was on one day." Unlike the proms held in school gyms and hotel ballrooms across the country, this event featured organizers and advocates who combined words of affirmation and praise with the language of battle. "We are still in a war," one speaker reminded the crowd.