One year in, the Gender Liberation Movement is upping its fight for trans rights

From arrests during sit-ins at Capitol Hill bathrooms to injecting hormones on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Gender Liberation Movement’s freshman year has been defined by defiance.

January marks the first anniversary of the launch of GLM, a grassroots and volunteer-run national collective seeking to unite LGBTQ+ people and women with their neighbors in the fight for bodily autonomy. You might have heard of the group already — GLM spearheaded several demonstrations in 2025 that resulted in the arrests of dozens of activists, adding to the great American tradition of causing good trouble.

Participants of the Gender Liberation March in Washington, D.C., on September 14, 2024Cole Witter for GLM

“In our first year, Gender Liberation Movement championed transgender people, bodily autonomy, and the affirming families and communities who refuse to abandon us,” says cofounder Raquel Willis. “From actions outside the Heritage Foundation to the Supreme Court to the Texas capitol, we’ve built movement infrastructure, supported grassroots leaders, shifted narratives, and hosted culture-defining gatherings.”

Even before Donald Trump’s election, the activists who would become GLM were fighting back against Project 2025. The streets of Washington, D.C., were flooded with protesters on September 14, 2024, when the group led the Gender Liberation March, speaking out against laws restricting abortion and gender-affirming care.

GLM cofounder Raquel Willis at the 2024 Gender Liberation MarchAlexa Wilkinson

The group made waves again before its official launch with a U.S. Capitol bathroom sit-in in December 2024. Willis and trans whistleblower Chelsea Manning were among 15 activists arrested protesting Republicans’ transgender bathroom ban and treatment of the first out trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware.

GLM followed its launch with the Rise Up for Trans Youth rally on February 8, which took over New York City’s Union Square. The protest made a strong statement against Trump’s first round of executive orders, which denied the existence of trans people, attempted to ban gender-affirming care for those under 19, barred trans athletes from women’s sports, and revoked civil rights protections dating from the 1960s.

Participants of the Gender Liberation March in Washington, D.C., on September 14, 2024Rena Schild/Shutterstock

Willis, who is transgender, was again arrested along with eight other activists June 20 while protesting the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing states to ban gender-affirming care for youth, U.S. v. Skrmetti. In a powerful display, nearly a dozen trans people took their hormone replacement therapy in front of the court.

“We met authoritarianism not with fear, but with power and joy,” Willis says. “Year one proved what happens when the most targeted become the most organized. We’re already building a future where gender liberation isn’t negotiable and where every attempt to erase us only grows our power.”

This article is part of The Advocate’s Jan-Feb 2026 issue, which hits newsstands January 27. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader.