LGBTQ to rally after newly instated state law

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Members and advocates of the LGBTQ community are organizing a rally on Thursday in downtown Memphis.

The rally comes after the new state laws that advocates say are targeting their community.

It will begin at 4 p.m. at the Civic Center Plaza on Main Street in Downtown Memphis.

Organizers say this will be a stationary rally in downtown Memphis to provide a safe space for people of the LGBTQ community to feel heard.

Organizers say there will be speakers there specifically addressing the law that now bans gender-affirming care for minors: For example, hormone therapy, genital reconstruction, or even speech and mental therapy.

Advocates say the law, signed earlier this month is denying transgender children the right to healthcare specific to their needs.

“To have the thought that trans youth… well their parents could be criminalized, their providers could also be criminalized and lose their license for treating someone in regard to health care is kind of ludicrous,” Kayla Gore, Founder of My Sistah’s House.

“Thinking about health care and children and having it where parents or providers could be criminalized or lose their license it’s child abuse at the hands of the state,” said Gore.

The law banning gender-affirming care for minors will go into effect on July 1.

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