Nominated By: Raquel Willis, author and co-founder of the Gender Liberation Movement
Age: 18
Based In: Valencia, Spain (Tucson, AZ native)
In 2023, Daniel Trujillo helped organize the first Trans Prom, a celebration and protest at the U.S. capitol that earned him a Trailblazer Award from the Human Rights Campaign. He now leads the Youth Empowerment Circle of the Gender Liberation Movement from his adopted home in Spain.
“Daniel Trujillo has been organizing for gender liberation since he was nine years old. At 15, he was a chief architect of the first National Trans Youth Prom on the U.S. Capitol lawn, representing a generation of trans and nonbinary youth who refuse to be stripped of their power and voices. He leads the Empowered Youth Circle of Gender Liberation Movement and has been honored by numerous national organizations. Now, he continues his fight from Spain, where his family was forced into exile by the intertwined assaults on trans youth and migrant families. He reminds us that the transcestors live in us every time he plays his guitar and that to imagine ourselves into being is itself a threat to power.” —Raquel Willis
Raquel Willis: You started testifying at your state capitol when you were nine. What did you understand then about what you were doing and what do you understand now, almost a decade later, that you couldn’t have known at that age?
Daniel Trujillo: There was a lot I didn’t understand however, there was a lot I felt. I remember being eight or nine at lunch, hearing kids chant “Make America Great Again!” or the gross feeling I’d get when kids asked if I had gotten “the surgery” during winter break. I knew there was something bigger going on and my parents, both being raised by immigrants, always taught me to stand up for myself. What I know now is that these dinner table and passing period conversations are much larger than that. They are orchestrated by huge organizations and lobbyists who in 2013 discovered that they could target transgender youth for votes understanding they could misinform our communities.
Willis: You built the first National Trans Youth Prom on the Capitol lawn—with Libby Gonzalez, Grayson McFerrin, and Hobbes Chukumba—when you were 15. Why was joy the right answer and what did that day teach you about what political action can actually be?
Trujillo: There’s always been something really unique to the rhetoric queer youth are told about themselves. It’s not normal to have such an understanding of violence towards yourself. We were just four young teens who were fed up being told these horrific acts would happen to us, that we lived sad lives which was not true to our lived experience, and so, focusing on joy at its core felt necessary and came from a place of feeling empowered in spite of because we wanted to show the world that we were real kids living happy lives.
Willis: What’s a piece of art that’s giving you life and keeping you clear-eyed right now?
Trujillo: All of LCD Soundsystem’s discography. Truly, the second place I wish I could be other than home is in New York City watching them perform. My favorite tracks are “Home” (stole a lyric for my senior quote), “Oh Baby,” “All I Want,” and, of course, “American Dream.”
Willis: Your family made the decision to leave the United States. What do you want people still inside the country to understand about that choice and how are you holding safety, exile, and the fight for collective liberation right now?
Trujillo: Our choice to move was a very difficult decision to come to. In fact, it was the last thing we wanted to do. There are some moments where we all miss home, and other moments where we’ve found little pockets that help us feel more at home. What I want people still in the United States to understand is that our leaving was not giving up on the fight. My family and I are still organizing. I continue to facilitate the Youth Empowerment Circle with Gender Liberation Movement, where I get to build community with other trans and queer young people.
Since day one, I have been community building here in Spain as well. What is necessary for people to understand is that this is not only an American issue. What is happening in the U.S. is part of a much larger global strategy. The same lobbying groups that helped push us to this moment, groups like Alliance Defending Freedom, are not solely focusing on the U.S. They are building influence globally, opening offices in Belgium, Mexico, London, France, and other parts of the world, exporting the same anti-trans rhetoric, legal strategies, and culture war politics that so many families in the U.S. are already living through. This experience has shown my family and I that we need to be in lockstep with our international communities. There needs to be a balance between organizing at school boards and legislative sessions, while also holding these harmful lobbies accountable for the harms they are pushing across the world.
Willis: You quoted TC Tolbert, “Maybe our deep commitment to imagining ourselves into being and loving who we become is the biggest threat to the power.” What does imagining yourself into being look like for you right now, from Spain, and who are the transcestors closest to you in this moment?
Trujillo: My mom recently told me that it seemed I had found happiness here and I told her that it was more that I had adapted. Once I accepted this moment, I chose intention and discipline rather than to continue feeling lost. She gifted me The Artist’s Way and I started to follow it. In a scramble to rebuild and readjust, I also wrote down a list of all my goals for the next year. Everyday came with dedication. Then one day I randomly had a vision of my future self. He had a killer outfit on, a camera around his neck, guitar on his back running to rehearsal, and was filled with joy.
Now everyday comes with a lot more intention and I see myself getting closer to that person everyday. I wouldn’t be able to do that if it wasn’t for the trans elders and adults in my life. They taught me to dream, to be goal oriented, and to be kind to myself and others. People like Rev. Louis J. Mitchell, TC Tolbert, Jennicet Gutiérrez, Raquel Willis, Imara Jones and all the trans adults in my life keep me grounded in that way. They’ve taught me a lot of lessons about gratitude and working with what you have to build the life you’ve always dreamed of.
in your life?
