Transgender Utahns and supporters march through Capitol to show lawmakers ‘we’re not going anywhere’

Demonstrators rally in support of transgender Utahns at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Will Ruzanski/Utah News Dispatch)

Chanting echoed through the Capitol’s marble halls as transgender Utahns and their allies marched from the front steps to the rotunda on Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to halt a set of bills targeting transgender people. More than 60 people participated in the protest. 

“We’re here because trans people are continuously being attacked in Utah and across the country. Frankly, we’ve had enough,” said Veronika DaVil, a drag artist who organized the protest.

This marks the fifth consecutive year with multiple bills targeting transgender people from Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature. One bill in particular — HB183, which seeks to implement sweeping changes to gender and sex designations, eliminating protections for transgender Utahns — has been described as the “most harmful and outrageous” bill LGBTQ+ advocates have seen. 

“I’m anticipating a big fight,” said Rep. Sahara Hayes, D-Millcreek, Utah’s only openly queer legislator who has publicly said she’s the partner of a transgender woman. While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, she described the bill as “possibly the most egregious anti-trans bill that I’ve seen being run by the state at all.”

DaVil told Utah News Dispatch transgender people are a “marginalized community that keeps being attacked over and over again to distract from larger issues,” emphasizing that “people need to stand up for the trans community because they can’t do it by themselves.”

“This is such a small community,” she said. “Attacking trans people won’t make rent cheaper. Attacking trans people won’t make our groceries more affordable. It is a smoke screen.”

Rep. Jen Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, expressed her concerns with HB183 during House Democrats’ media availability, saying it “could not be more mean spirited, misguided.”

Kree Arias, a transgender man and member of the grassroots activist group Utah March, described LGBTQ+ groups as being “under attack.” He told Utah News Dispatch that protesters chose to come to the Capitol during the Legislature’s first week back in session to increase visibility for the community.

“We are here to take a stand and make sure that people are aware that we are here, and we’re not going anywhere,” he said.

Arias worries Republicans in Utah’s Legislature won’t listen to queer input, saying, “I feel like saying things is just going to be repetitive.”

“I would like to just sit down with them and be like, ‘hey, you know, this is who we are,’” he said. “I don’t want to talk about our transness or our gayness, or any of that. I want to talk about who we are as people. We’re brothers, we’re sisters, we’re uncles.”

He said the transgender community in Utah is here to stay. “We’re people, and this is what we’re about, being ourselves, being beautiful and proud,” he said. 

Contributing: Katie McKellar

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