The ACLU asked trans people across the US to help create the quilt. (Getty)
A 9,000 square-foot set of quilts highlighting the plight and resistance of transgender Americans was unveiled in Washington, DC this weekend.
An art installation showcasing over 250 handmade panels created by US trans citizens was stretched across the National Mall in Washington DC on Saturday (17 May).
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) first announced the “Freedom to Be” project in March after asking trans people across the US to design a mural on a quilt which represents their response to the question: “Who would you be if you had the freedom to live into the fullness of who you are?”
Several of the quilts, which were laid across the park and garends outside of the US Capitol building over the weekend, featured artwork representing each person’s idea of happiness, while others were adorned with messages of resistance, such as “trans rights are human rights” or calling for “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” for trans people across the US and beyond.
The project takes inspiration from the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt – an art installation first created in 1987 to honour those who have died due to HIV-related complications. Weighing an estimated 54 tons, the quilt is the largest piece of community folk art and is estimated to be at least 1,300,000 square feet.
The ACLU chose to create a similar piece of art following the rising tide of transphobia in the US and across the globe, especially following the inauguration of US president Donald Trump, whose administration continues to implement legislative and policy attacks on the community.
Since at least 2020, US state legislatures have continued to introduce a huge number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills, particularly those targeting trans people, with a shocking 575 anti-LGBTQ+ bills tracked by the ACLU since the beginning of 2025 alone.
Trans quilt a ‘living’ celebration of trans lives
One panel from the Kansas chapter of the ACLU responded to the project with an image of a stick-figure family with a plaque that reads: “We want the freedom to live here,” according to the Washington Post.
During the opening ceremony, ACLU trans justice artist ambassador and former Drag Race contestant, Peppermint, publicly deplored Donald Trump’s continued attack on trans Americans, saying the administration had made its goals clear: “To push transgender people out of public life by denying the freedoms to be ourselves.”
“It’s easy to get lost in the rhetoric of those frightened by our freedom – talk of bathrooms or sports or lies about our healthcare,” she added. “But here’s the thing – what terrifies them the most is our joy.
“That’s what it is, and that’s what this is. These quilts, this art, all of us here: this is a testament to our joy. Today is a protest, but in true queer fashion, it is also a party, darling.”
Peppermint also honoured the original AIDS quilt in her speech, taking a moment to ask crowds to “remember that we are not the first to stitch resistance into fabric.”
Cleve Jones, the LGBTQ+ artist who first coined the idea of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, said via video call during the demonstration that the newly created quilt was the original’s hopeful alternative because it is a “living quilt celebrating the lives of trans people today who are alive and kicking and fighting and building the bridges and creating the movements and leading.”
How did this story make you feel?
