‘Be Trans Throw Hands’: Militant trans activist groups to provide after school ‘self-defense’ programs to kids in Portland public schools

The "QT Strong" pilot class will be held at Roosevelt High School as well as an additional location that has not been determined, and is open to all middle and high school students in Portland Public Schools.

Putting on the classes are the militant trans activist groups Trans Fighters and the Traction Project. The groups are partnering with Portland Public Schools to hold the after-school defense classes.

"We will be adapting our successful adult curriculum for middle and high school students, taught by a new cohort of Traction Project teachers and Steel Butterfly," an advertisement posted to Instagram stated. "If it goes well we will absolutely repeat this in the Fall."

On Instagram, Trans Fighter's tagline in their bio is "Be Trans Throw Hands." The group hosts weekly self-defense and jiu-jitsu classes aimed at LGBTQ people. Among the fighters highlighted by the group is David "Rosa" Villalpando Perez. Perez was arrested in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter-Antifa riots that rocked Portland for months.

The Traction Project was founded in 2019 in San Francisco and hosts a variety of programs across the country, including LGBTQIA+ self-defense and martial arts classes and motorcycle repair programs. The group also sponsors a Seattle martial arts tournament that is touted as the "The only active tournament in the world that is by-and-for trans martial artists."

An investigation was launched into Portland Public Schools by the Trump administration in March over alleged Title IX violations. The investigation came after a trans-identified male student dominated female competitors in a high school track meet.

"We will not allow the Portland Public Schools District or any other educational entity that receives federal funds to trample on the antidiscrimination protections that women and girls are guaranteed under law," Craig Trainor, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said.