Almost 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 Undertaking AIDS memorial quilt introduced on the identical location. The paintings 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 dwelling in Tucson, Arizona. On a video name earlier this month, Switzer mentioned 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 instructed 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 generally worn by trans-masculine folks, to people 24 years previous 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 accomplice with native well being facilities and college districts. For a while, Switzer mentioned, his group was partially funded by grants that the Trump administration has since terminated. However Switzer mentioned he hopes to proceed distributing objects 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 canines.
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 canines.
Folks 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 Photos)
The creator of the “Freedom to Be” undertaking, Abdool Corlette, who’s the pinnacle of brand name for the ACLU, instructed Hyperallergic that trans people from 35 states and DC participated within the set up over the past 12 months, together with throughout quilt-making occasions held on the Brooklyn Museum, in rural church basements, neighborhood facilities, and different areas.
The ACLU requested individuals to reply the query, “What does freedom mean to you?”
Switzer mentioned freedom to be, for him, was being a “good dog dad” and “sharing love with these creatures.”
He painted the work final spring, beneath a distinct administration, and initially deliberate to attend the revealing of the non permanent monument on the Nationwide Mall, however mentioned he was afraid his journey paperwork could be suspended.
Russ Toomey created a panel along with his accomplice and youngsters (picture courtesy Russ Toomey)
Russ Toomey, who’s a professor of household research and human improvement on the College of Arizona, additionally mentioned he wasn’t feeling as protected touring as he as soon as did.
Toomey, who sued Arizona in 2019 for not overlaying gender-affirming take care of state staff, additionally despatched a quilt panel to Washington, DC, on Saturday, although he couldn’t attend the occasion in particular person.
Together with his accomplice, Toomey and his 4 youngsters 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 mentioned.
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 mentioned.
Courn Ahn mentioned 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 dwelling 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 mentioned in response to the ACLU’s immediate. On their quilt, they included flowers as a logo of transition and connection to their trans neighborhood.
Corlette, the “Freedom to Be” marketing campaign creator, mentioned he believes that each technology has a duty to contribute to the legacy of the NAMES Undertaking AIDS Memorial Quilt. Very like 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 mentioned, including that creating pleasure is simply as essential as resisting.
As Switzer prepares for his RV transfer, he mentioned that he hopes those that view his quilt see him as “living proof that trans youth can become thriving trans adults.”
