Rally for LGBTQ+ rights draws hundreds to state Capitol

Protesters oppose Schriver’s resolution to overturn marriage equality

SUNDAY, March 16 — In the 1990s, lesbian activist Cheryl VanDeKerkhove and her partner organized an effort to enact a civil rights ordinance in Lansing offering protections for LGBTQ+ people.

Decades later, she is still fighting for her civil rights.

VanDeKerkhove was one of the organizers of a protest today at the Michigan Capitol in support of LGBTQ+ rights. Despite the cold snap, more than 200 turned out to oppose a resolution from state Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality. 

The protest was organized by the Michigan Coalition for Reproductive Liberation and the Crowded Table Coalition, a Lansing-area LGBTQ+ community organization led by VanDeKerkhove and her partner.

“We’ve done this before, and we’ll do it again,” VanDeKerkhove said. “Keep coming at us, and we’ll keep pushing back.”

Schriver’s resolution holds no weight, but it follows growing opposition to LGBTQ+ civil rights in the federal government. VanDeKerkhove said the resolution felt threatening as a lesbian Michigander, since Michigan’s state Constitution still bans same-sex marriage.

Another organizer, Jaime Fitzgerald, said Schriver “attacked in line with Project 2025,” the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump presidency. Many of Trump’s executive orders so far have echoed language from Project 2025.

“Every time they try to attack queer rights, we’re here to fight back,” Fitzgerald said.

The protest also followed a slew of executive orders targeting transgender people, leading speakers to express a message of solidarity with the trans community.

“When we say all members of the LGBTQ community, we mean all,” emphasized Fitzgerald in a speech. “We mean queer people of every identity and intersection, who are disabled, disadvantaged, and incarcerated. We mean queer people of color, and we mean binary and non-binary trans people.”

One protester, Henry, who declined to provide a last name, said that solidarity was important given the relatively small size of the trans community.

“I think the reason why we’re so targeted is because we’re easy to,” Henry said. “There aren’t too many of us, and we are easy to caricature, because we are so few and it’s hard for the average trans person to stand up for themself.”

Under 1% of the population identifies as transgender, according to USAFacts, though the exact percentage has varied across studies.

One protester held a sign reading “the only trans agenda is an average life expectancy,” referencing high rates of suicide among the transgender population.

A 2022 study at Duke University found that transgender subjects were twice as likely to die during the study period, and a 2024 study from The Trevor Project showed a 72% increase in suicide attempts among trans teenagers when anti-trans laws were passed in their state.

One speaker, who did not provide a name, said the attack on marriage equality was “a clumsy and cowardly attempt to suck up to the extremist religious super PACs for that sweet ‘traditional values’ money.”

Another speaker was Misty Meaner, a drag queen from the Motor City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The national drag group satirizes religious opposition to LGBTQ+ rights.

“I had hoped that we would not need to meet over the issue of Obergefell v. Hodges,” Meaner said. “In reality, the truth becomes evident as both historical and contemporary precedent that our rights require constant vigilance to uphold.”

One protester, Trent Sutherland, said the attacks on transgender rights would precipitate a greater erosion of LGBTQ+ civil liberties.

“It feels like we’re writing this century’s version of ‘First They Came,’ Sutherland said.