HARTFORD, Conn. — Following the recent election results, many LGBTQ+ people are feeling frightened and uncertain about the future. A rally in support of the community is planned on Sunday at Blue Back Square in West Hartford and is expected to attract hundreds from around Connecticut and beyond.

The event starts at 11 a.m. and is planned to be 90 minutes long. It will include various speakers with the theme of unity.

The rally came together quickly through the efforts of Barry Walters, the co-chair of West Hartford Pride, Melissa Combs, founder of Out Accountability Project, and Leah Juliett, a nonbinary poet, activist, and organizer from Waterbury who advocates for LGBTQ+ equity and survivor justice worldwide.

“The focus will be on LGBTQIA+, and it’s important for us to feel some community,” said Walters. “We want to feel seen and feel heard and feel togetherness. It’s also a call to action without fear mongering. We want a constructive path forward. We want to bring the community together and not divide us. We need to stand as one and be strong.”

Combs said the rally has two main focuses: First that “we are here, and we are stronger together,” they said. “The second is a call to action. We can’t just go to the rally and then go home and be complacent. We have to remain engaged. We have to respond when an action is needed. We are trying to put our systems in place to be able to continue to engage with people who attend after the rally.”

“We have to show our young people that we will always show up for them, hold space for them, and fight to keep them alive,” Juliett added. “This rally will send an undeniable message that queer and trans youth are supported, empowered and so loved by allies across Connecticut.”

Combs, who founded the Out Accountability Project in February, said a big part of her work is creating a private network for parents and caregivers. Since last Tuesday’s election results, they said the network has grown by 70%.

“People are frightened and want to take action. They are reaching out to try to figure out what the future looks like,” Combs said. “The legal landscape is shifting right now and there are no definitive answers right now. It’s important for people to know that there are a lot of people across the country working on this. We are working on those answers about access to health care, which is frightening. Gender-affirming care is lifesaving.”

“The next four years will be an uphill battle of defending our rights, dignity, and freedom both at the national and state levels against a climate that continuously demonizes and degrades us,” Juliett added. “I am most concerned for the safety of queer and trans kids in our state over the next four years. Calls to The Trevor Project, the nation’s largest suicide-prevention lifeline for LGBTQ+ young people, have increased by 700% since the election.

Walters has heard many of the same concerns.

“There is a lot of fear out there and there is a lot of perceived fear, and we want to be able to address that fear without scaring people more,” Walters said. “There’s fear of what the next four years are going to look like. People want to know if people will be able to live their most authentic lives. They want to know if we will be able to exist without fear of some kind of harm — not necessarily physical, mental harm as well — in particular for our youth. Many youths are frightened. We have built up a space where we feel safe and secure, but we can’t guarantee that for the next four years and the youth are picking up on that.”

Walters said his organization has been inundated with inquiries over the last week, spanning from youth to elected officials.

“I’ve had elected officials call me saying they are getting calls from their constituents, and they are reaching out to us,” Walters said. “They want to know how to get resources or therapy or just a place to talk it out. The rally is a response to that. It’s kind of an open dialogue of how we approach the next four years. What should be our real fears and what are not. It’s easy to say the world is going to end but we know that’s not the case. We hope this will be the first step towards that.”

Coming together

“On Saturday morning, I stumbled across an advertisement for a rally on Facebook,” Juliett said. “It was a victory rally in support of Donald Trump in Cheshire. I was sick with grief, terrified for the LGBTQ+ kids in Connecticut who would see this rally and feel unsafe.

“I thought ‘If they’re going to celebrate a president-elect who wants to legislatively and socially erase our community from existence, we must come together and celebrate our community in spite of a president-elect who wants to see us erased,” they added.

Juliett then reached out to Combs.

“Leah texted me at 5:30 Saturday morning and asked to talk to me,” Combs said. “They usually doesn’t contact me that early. By 6 a.m., we were on the phone, and they said to me that we really need to do a rally,” Combs said. “I had already considered a rally because there was so much going on and we wanted to be a resource for people.”

“This came together so quickly because, after this realization, I jumped from grief to action and called everyone I knew to make it happen immediately as a rapid response action for our community,” Juliett said. “I knew it had to happen, I just needed help.”

The next step was where to have it.

“We thought Blue Back Square was the spot and got a text thread going with Barry. Within a couple of hours, we had the area reserved with the proper parking and public safety measures in place,” Combs said.

“Folks for whatever reason, reach out to West Hartford Pride for questions and seek our space for our voice. We also have a community that is very open, affirming and welcoming. I think that’s a big part of it as well,” Walters said.

By Saturday night, the rally was planned at the Webster Walk space of Blue Back Square.

Between 400-500 attendees are expected including more than a dozen groups from all over the state and some from New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Among those lawmakers expected to be in attendance on Sunday are Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The rally leadership said state Reps. Sarah Keitt and Jillian Gilchrest are also confirmed to speak.

There will also be music and protest chants led by social justice singer/songwriter Heather Mae.

“I am looking forward to joining Sunday’s rally in support of LGBTQIA+ lives,” Bysiewicz said. “I know that there is a lot of fear in the community right now about what’s to come, but my hope is that we will send an important message that here in Connecticut: We see you, we love you and we won’t stop fighting for you. More now than ever, it is essential that we be vocal, staunch advocates and allies.”

Walters told West Hartford Police Department earlier in the week that about 400 were expected but that number could continue to grow.

“I’ve personally been in touch with West Hartford police about safety,” Walters said. “We were told, just like the Pride events, they are committed to keeping us safe and secure. Our experiences with West Hartford police is that they are good at it. Stuff can happen and we have every confidence in them.”

Combs said the response to the rally on social media was immediate.

“It’s been fascinating to watch this explode,” Combs said. “There were no rallies planned right away because there was no bandwidth to plan a rally yet with so much going on. We have had our heads down and we’ve been working so hard, especially with the 18-25-year-old crowd. This is how they let the world know that they are human and have value.”

Juliett said the rally overall offers an opportunity for the LGBTQIA+ community to come together, share space and amplify their stories on the back of a week of fear and peril following the results of the presidential election.

“While our messages may individually be different, and we encourage folks to show up as they are with any emotions that they carry, our collective goal is to show that Connecticut’s LGBTQIA+ community and our allies are a strong force and we are not going anywhere,” Juliett said.

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