About 20 people gathered on the steps of Key West City Hall Thursday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump's declaration that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve in the military.
Mark Ebenhoch organized the protest. He spent 23 years in the Marines and he said local elected officials should take a public stand.
"You need to speak out and say, 'It's wrong.' Whether or not you voted for Trump makes no difference," Ebenhoch said. "It is wrong, period, and you need to say so. Because silence basically is condonement."
City Commissioner Clayton Lopez was the only elected official to attend the protest.
"I don't know, at least legislatively, how much more we can do," Lopez said. "But we certainly can stand in solidarity with the people that we represent."
Key West's official city motto is "One Human Family." This year, the city has passed resolutions stating that the city won't enforce immigration laws, banning conversion therapy and supporting the Paris climate accords after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the international agreement.
