Practically 260 quilt panels lined the Nationwide Mall on Saturday, Might 17, spelling the message “Freedom To Be” as a part of a short lived set up celebrating trans pleasure and resilience. Organized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the show of six-by-six foot panels recalled the 1987 NAMES Venture AIDS memorial quilt introduced on the similar location. The art work was unveiled because the ACLU challenges a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming well being earlier than the Supreme Court docket.
Among the many panel artists is Alexander Brodie Switzer, a transgender man residing in Tucson, Arizona. On a video name earlier this month, Switzer stated he was packing up his house.
“I got an RV, so the plan is to go to one blue state, and then if I have to leave again, I don’t have to sell all my stuff,” Switzer advised Hyperallergic. “I’ll be able to hop around … in blue states, and see where feels the safest.”
Alexander Brodie Switzer stands along with his “Freedom To Be” panel.
Switzer has been distributing chest binders, a gender-affirming garment typically worn by trans-masculine individuals, to people 24 years outdated and youthful in Arizona and past since 202o. He started his distribution efforts with a $500 GoFundMe that helped kickstart the group Legitimate USA, which later expanded to associate with native well being facilities and college districts. For a while, Switzer stated, his group was partially funded by grants that the Trump administration has since terminated. However Switzer stated he hopes to proceed distributing gadgets in different states as soon as he strikes.
“We have to reassess the safety of it. It’s not the same as it was,” Switzer continued.
As Switzer prepares for an unsure future and considers the implications of LGBTQ+ advocacy in an more and more fraught panorama, he despatched a chunk of trans pleasure to Washington, DC, this previous weekend: a quilt panel depicting a self-portrait along with his canine.
The painted scene commemorates the primary time he took his shirt off on the seaside post-top surgical procedure, Switzer defined. On the backside of the sq., Switzer included a timeline of his journey, starting along with his popping out as trans and marking receipt of a passport with an “M” marker for gender, prime surgical procedure, and the adoption of his two canine.
Individuals view sections of the “Freedom to Be” quilt laid out on the grass on the Nationwide Mall on Might 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. (picture by Samuel Corum/Getty Pictures)
The creator of the “Freedom to Be” mission, Abdool Corlette, who’s the top of brand name for the ACLU, advised Hyperallergic that trans people from 35 states and DC participated within the set up over the past yr, together with throughout quilt-making occasions held on the Brooklyn Museum, in rural church basements, group facilities, and different areas.
The ACLU requested contributors to reply the query, “What does freedom mean to you?”
Switzer stated freedom to be, for him, was being a “good dog dad” and “sharing love with these creatures.”
He painted the work final spring, underneath a unique administration, and initially deliberate to attend the revealing of the momentary monument on the Nationwide Mall, however stated he was afraid his journey paperwork could be suspended.
Russ Toomey created a panel along with his associate and youngsters (picture courtesy Russ Toomey)
Russ Toomey, who’s a professor of household research and human improvement on the College of Arizona, additionally stated he wasn’t feeling as secure touring as he as soon as did.
Toomey, who sued Arizona in 2019 for not protecting gender-affirming look after state workers, additionally despatched a quilt panel to Washington, DC, on Saturday, although he couldn’t attend the occasion in particular person.
Together with his associate, Toomey and his 4 kids lay down on the quilt and traced their outlines, arms hinged upward to imitate the form of the Saguaro cactus, a very hardy desert plant.
“Saguaro [cacti], like all nature, survive because they’re tapped into each other, and they’re talking to each other through their roots and help keep each other safe,” Toomey stated.
Whereas Toomey isn’t any stranger to activism, portray the quilt panel was the primary time since his undergraduate days that he had used artwork to convey a political message.
“Our trans ancestors couldn’t come out until late adulthood, until they were elders, and so reaching back and grabbing on to some of those strengths that they had to survive is really what gives me hope,” Toomey stated.
Courn Ahn stated they felt a “strong connection with the natural blooming process” of flowers as image of transition. (picture courtesy Courn Ahn)
For Courn Ahn, a graphic designer and illustrator residing in Portland, the expertise of making a quilt was cathartic. “Freedom for trans folks is the freedom to be everywhere and anywhere as our authentic selves without limit,” Ahn stated in response to the ACLU’s immediate. On their quilt, they included flowers as a logo of transition and connection to their trans group.
Corlette, the “Freedom to Be” marketing campaign creator, stated he believes that each technology has a duty to contribute to the legacy of the NAMES Venture AIDS Memorial Quilt. Very similar to the unique memorial quilt, the current set up is an act of resistance and celebration.
“We are giving folks the opportunity to memorialize their very real lives, even as there are so many efforts across this country to erase them from all aspects of public life,” Corlette stated, including that creating pleasure is simply as essential as resisting.
As Switzer prepares for his RV transfer, he stated that he hopes those that view his quilt see him as “living proof that trans youth can become thriving trans adults.”
