Longtime LGBTQ+ activist Gary Chichester has been showing up to protests for more than 50 years. On March 28, he was back in the crowd at Chicago’s No Kings rally, warning that hard-fought rights are once again under threat.
“We have so many things that we’ve won, and it’s important we don’t lose them now,” Chichester told Windy City Times.
Chichester was among tens of thousands of people who filled Grant Park—and later the streets of downtown Chicago—to protest President Donald Trump and his administration’s attacks on democracy and human rights.
The protest marked the third “No Kings” day of action, following earlier demonstrations in June and October 2025—part of a coordinated wave of protests held across Chicago and in hundreds of locations nationwide.
LGBTQ+ people were present at every level of the rally and march—from organizing and emceeing to speaking and turning out in large numbers. Many attendees waved rainbow and trans Pride flags, carrying handmade signs calling attention to the threats facing queer and transgender communities.
Speakers pointed to a range of issues driving the protests, including immigration enforcement and ICE raids, attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, economic concerns, and opposition to U.S. military actions abroad.
Protesters, including Chichester, framed those issues as interconnected struggles affecting communities across the country.
“Because if they come for one group, they’ll come for everyone—and they just start peeling us apart,” Chichester said. “That’s why we have to join together.”
LGBTQ+ voices front and center at No Kings rally
The rally opened with two LGBTQ+ community leaders—Jin-Soo Huh and Starr De Los Santos—who energized the crowd and underscored the scale of the coalition behind the event, which included dozens of partner organizations helping bring the demonstration together.
“You are one of millions of people who are standing united against the tyrannical actions of this authoritarian administration,” Huh told the sea of people in Grant Park.
De Los Santos echoed that message, emphasizing the importance of continued organizing beyond a single day of action.
Throughout the program, speakers connected a wide range of issues driving the protest, framing them as part of a broader, shared struggle.
Immigration enforcement and ICE raids were a central focus for Indivisible Chicago leaders and speakers from PASO, a west suburban social justice group, while labor speakers warned of rising authoritarianism and attacks on workers’ rights. Other speakers pointed to economic instability, access to health care and U.S. military actions abroad as part of the broader concerns driving people into the streets.
“Our fights are intersectional,” Huh said. “Immigrant rights and worker rights are also LGBTQ+ rights, and LGBTQ+ rights are immigrant and worker rights.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also addressed the crowd, emphasizing collective action as a counterweight to concentrated power.
“The power of the people is stronger than the people in power,” Johnson said.
LGBTQ+ issues—particularly attacks on transgender people—were woven throughout the program, with speakers calling for solidarity and visibility. The rally also uplifted Trans Day of Visibility, with organizers encouraging attendees to continue mobilizing at an April 4 Rally for Trans Visibility in Chicago.
Among those speakers was Iggy Ladden, a nonbinary trans organizer and founder of the Chicago Therapy Collective, who emphasized both the urgency and resilience of the trans community.
“Trans people are a direct threat to fascism, because fascism depends on control—on telling people who they are allowed to be—and trans people refuse that from our very core,” Ladden said.
Protesters, organizers reflect on urgency behind turnout
For many in the crowd, the stakes of the protest were both deeply personal and broadly political.
Lily Sherman, a 17-year-old from the south suburbs carrying a rainbow Pride flag, said she felt compelled to attend because of how national policies are affecting her friends and her own future.
“I’m angry that I live under an administration that doesn’t think I should be able to get married, and I want to do something about it,” Sherman said.
Sherman also pointed to fears among her peers around immigration enforcement, saying some of her friends worry about being deported.
“I have several friends that have been deported before … and it breaks my heart to think that they have to worry about something like that at 16 years old,” Sherman said.
Jenny King, who attended the protest with her wife and a friend, said she sees the current political moment as a threat to decades of progress.
“I just feel like we’re one of the groups of people that they’ll go for,” King said. “They went for trans people first … and I think eventually they’re going to come for everyone.”
King, who has been with her partner for more than 30 years, said she worries that rights like marriage equality could be rolled back.
“It seems like they keep on overturning things—all the steps forward that we’ve made,” King said. “I feel like this guy is going to take away our right to marry in the blink of an eye.”
That sense of urgency was echoed by some of the rally’s queer organizers, who said the scale and frequency of the No Kings protests reflect growing opposition to policies affecting multiple communities.
Denise Poloyac, a co-organizer with Indivisible Chicago, said the goal of the action was to demonstrate that a broad coalition of people disagree with the escalating attacks on rights and democratic institutions.
“There is a growing and sizable majority of this country who oppose all the awful things that the Trump administration is doing,” Poloyac told Windy City Times, pointing to issues ranging from voting rights to immigration enforcement and access to health care.
Mony Ruiz-Velasco, Poloyac’s wife and an organizer who helped coordinate the rally’s program and speakers, said the event was intentionally designed to highlight voices from communities directly impacted by those policies.
“We want to make sure we’re lifting up the voices of folks who are impacted, who are doing the work on the ground,” Ruiz-Velasco said.
Ruiz-Velasco also emphasized the role of LGBTQ+ people within that broader coalition.
“Every issue is an LGBTQ issue, because we are in every community,” Ruiz-Velasco said.
Photos below by Vern Hester
