When Celia Sandhya Daniels meets people who won’t accept her or even listen to her because she is transgender, she offers up a question.
“Why do you hate me without knowing me?” she asks.
Daniels and about 125 others, most who feel under attack by President Donald Trump’s administration, gathered at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks for an LGBTQ+ town hall on June 5. Participants made references to executive orders that would define people only as male and female. They cited efforts to change gender identification on passports. They talked of federal funding threats against the state of California for allowing a transgender athlete to compete in a girls’ state track meet.
Trump has also initiated a plan to remove transgender people from the military and has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
It’s been dehumanizing, said Daniels. She’s a business owner, a Thousands Oaks resident, a mother and board president for the Stonewall Democrats of Ventura County. The group advocates for the LGBTQ+ community and helped organize the “Pride and Resilience” town hall.
She said people sometimes judge others based only on gender identity.
“When the president says people like you are not recognized, it’s important,” she said. “This is my life.”
Speakers at the event talked about June’s pride month. They emphasized the need for the community and allies to come together and be seen. Amanda Beasley, who identified herself as a cisgender queer woman, said she flies a pride flag at her Simi Valley home as a sign that it is a safe place.
“I think the intolerant are very loud and they’re the most heard,” she said.
The actions and rhetoric have quieted and scared some in the gay and trans community. It’s time to speak up, Beasley said.
“If nobody talks about what’s going on, we stay in the shadows,” she said.
Allies offer support at LGBTQ+ town hall in Thousand Oaks
The “Pride and Resilience” town hall brought out support groups like PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and a national nonprofit organization, Free Mom Hugs, started by a conservative Christian from Oklahoma who was trying to come to terms with her son’s sexuality.
The event featured poems, music and a short film that looked at the rise in anti-transgender sentiment through a young girl’s eyes.
People were introduced by their names and pronouns. Some noted many of Trump’s actions are aimed at transgender people and speculated he may be trying to turn sectors of the LGBTQ+ community against each other.
“They are intentionally trying to divide us because dividing us means they can conquer us,” Beasley said.
The event brought out allies.
“This city government has your back,” said David Newman, mayor of Thousand Oaks. He emphasized the need to a turn back a “rising tide” that identifies certain communities as an opponent, as “the other.”
The most challenging time
When Doug Halter first ran for the Ventura City Council in 1997, he was believed to be the first openly gay candidate for elected office in Ventura County. He lost then and again two years later, but was elected to the City Council two decades later in 2020.
At the town hall, Halter said the Trump administration poses threats to the LGBTQ+ community and other groups. The City Council member called it the most challenging period of his life.
“Most of my life I can say the world has always been getting better,” he said. “I can’t say that for the last several years.”
Halter said the way to change minds is to be true to yourself. The thought was almost a slogan at the town hall.
“Each of us has a human right to attempt to live our most authentic life,” said Sean Baker, an advocate who is CEO of The New Beginnings Center for Somatic Mental Health in Camarillo. “That is fricking threatening to a lot of people.”
Some people talked about the need to help others understand the trans community. Daniels said she welcomes questions. She said the attempts to promote awareness usually only fail when outsiders are convinced their point of view is the only one.
“You can educate those who are ignorant,” she said. “You can’t educate people who are arrogant.”
‘Coming at us with teeth’
Parts of the event focused on visibility and coming together. Some people want more. They called for cities to commit to protecting the trans community by adopting sanctuary measures.
They cited Ventura’s proposed CARE Policy, designed to keep the city from aiding outside enforcement action that undermines the rights of transgender people, immigrants or people who want reproductive care.
The measure is needed, said Michelle Rosenblum of Ventura.
“We’re under attack,” said Rosenblum, noting she doesn’t feel safe as a transgender woman. ”They’re coming at us with teeth. We need to fight back.”
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: LGBTQ+ community in Thousand Oaks assesses life under Trump