Twitter has removed thousands of posts ahead of the so-called ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’ protests which were due to take place at the US Capitol Hill building on Saturday.
Organisers said the event was an effort to ”end violence, end the erasure, end the genocide” against trans identified people with the event slogan of “we need more visibility”.
https://twitter.com/OurRightsDC/status/1627746078211641372
Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, wrote that over 5,000 posts including adverts for the protests were taken down, saying, “We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them.”
‘Vengeance’ does not imply peaceful protest.” she said, adding, “Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok”.
A trans identified male by the name of Kayla Denker posed with a firearm with what appears to be a threat against “transphobes” in the caption.
The protest at Capitol Hill has since been called off by trans activist group Our Rights DC, who blamed “credible threat to life and safety” as the reason for the cancellation saying that ‘individuals who had nothing to do with’ the recent Tennessee shooting had been ‘subjected to highly serious threats’ after the incident.
Breaking, @OurRightsDC, the #Antifa group co-organizing the "Trans Day of Vengeance" in the U.S. capital, has announced it is canceling the controversial direct action planned for Saturday. They blame trans genocide & threats against them following the #trans mass shooting in… pic.twitter.com/SoNmCBdZef
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) March 31, 2023
Last Monday Audrey Hale, a transgender identified woman, entered a Christian school in Nashville where she shot and killed three adults and three nine year old children, Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney and Evelyn Dieckhaus.
Elsewhere demonstrations have taken place in Kentucky in response to changes made to laws which would ban minors from accessing gender reassignment treatments or so called ‘gender affirming care’.
Trans protesters scream and chant after storming Kentucky Capitol pic.twitter.com/4jY3Cnxfrn
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 30, 2023
On Wednesday, hundreds of protestors gathered in the Kentucky capitol building demanding the reversal of Senate Bill 150 which prohibits the administration of cross sex hormones and gender reassignment surgeries to anyone under the age of 18.
A group of insurrectionists occupied the Kentucky State Capitol today to protest kids not being able to get sex change surgeries anymore pic.twitter.com/fEqZaXANP1
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 30, 2023
The bill was passed by the Republican Party dominated legislature last month but has since been vetoed by Democratic Governor Andy Beshear who said the bill was an attack on transgender people.
BREAKING: Police in the Kentucky State House Chamber are forcefully removing people who are protesting SB 150, which they consider to be an extreme anti-trans bill. @LEX18News pic.twitter.com/urqwPa9Ij0
— Ricky Sayer (@RickyReports) March 29, 2023
Protestors occupied the capitol building screaming slogans including “trans rights are human rights”.
Journalist Ricky Sayer reported that capitol building staff said the “insurrection” was “worse than January 6th” when Trump supporters entered the United States Capitol building in large numbers.
A group of people who support SB 150 turned to us as they were leaving the gallery as chants against the bill erupted in the Kentucky house chamber.
"This is what, worse than January 6th," one person said.
"This is an insurrection," another said.@LEX18News pic.twitter.com/nDfLlOcqL3
— Ricky Sayer (@RickyReports) March 29, 2023