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SALT LAKE CITY — Avi Soule wishes that all she had to worry about was graduating, senior trips and preparing for college next year.
"That's not a luxury I can afford to have anymore — I'm a transgender student here at East High School," said Soule, president of the East High School Queer Straight Alliance.
Hundreds of students joined Soule outside of East High School on Friday, braving the rain to hold a walkout in support of transgender students and to protest HB11. The controversial bill, which bans transgender girls from participating in female school sports, was passed into law by way of an override from the Utah Legislature on March 25, despite being previously vetoed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.
Before and in between speeches by East High School students, students chanted "Let them play," and "Trans rights are human rights," and held signs that said, "Protect trans youth."
The sponsor of HB11, Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, says the bill is "purely" about "preserving women's sports" and protecting girls from facing competitors who have an unfair physical advantage.
"Because of all of you, I know I have people I can trust and I know I have people who will fight with me for this," Soule said to the crowd of students. "I have accepted myself but I don't know who else, besides all of you, will."
Speaking about the bill, Daffodil Buchert, a senior at East High School who organized the walkout, said that the bill comes from "poorly educated figures in power" and that it "should be considered bullying."
"Transgender youth deserve to be treated as humans, with dignity and respect, and this bill does not allow for that," Buchert said.
The students were joined at the walkout by Utah state Sen. Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, who decried HB11 and spoke in support of the demonstration.
"We're talking about a small handful of girls in high school who just want to compete with their peers," Kitchen said. "If you feel like you are not represented in the Legislature, you're right."
Kitchen urged students to get involved in politics by picking candidates to support, knocking on doors, making phone calls and, when old enough, voting.
"Utah is the youngest state in the nation. ... It's time for the youth to take over this state and show the Legislature what we're made of," Kitchen said.
"I want everyone who isn't in Utah to know that this is not us. We are so much better than a set of transphobic laws put in place by people we do not agree with — we are so much more," said Mary Jane Vasey Payne, an East High School freshman. "You better believe that if you think this fight is over, you have not even seen the half of it."
