SAN ANTONIO — Sofia Sepulveda recently led more than 100 women with some chants during the International Women’s Day march in San Antonio. She addressed issues that plague all women, but also issues that affect her directly. 

“When trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back,” Sepulveda shouted through a megaphone. 

The march started in the heart of downtown San Antonio at Travis Park. 

“As someone who is trans and very proudly trans, I always knew who I was since I was little,” Sepulveda said. 

Those were the days when she would watch "Wonder Woman" on TV as a child, and now she’s been nicknamed San Antonio’s progressive Wonder Woman as the health care justice organizer at Texas Organizing Project. 

“Within the Black and Latino community, when we grow up LGBTQ, sometimes they kick us out of the house. I know I got kicked out of the house when I was 18 years old, 19 years old,” Sepuvelda said. “Then I was forced to live on the streets for a while.” 

That’s just one of the many traumas transgender or non-conforming people of color go through. 

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 84% of victims of violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people are people of color. 

Thus, for Black women like D.D. Decor, they feel like they are under attack.

“Unfortunately, that leads to a high rate of suicide and a lot of girls feel like ‘society doesn’t want me, my family doesn’t want me, I might as well take myself before I give someone the opportunity to take my life for me,’” Decor said. 

She said one of the steps to protecting transgender people of color is to create a safe space. 

“I’m blessed to be one of the very few girls to have the support of my family. They back me 100%, they stand behind me,” Decor said. 

Support systems like these can literally save the lives of women like Sepulveda and Decor. However, San Antonio’s progressive Wonder Woman also added that folks educating themselves on transgender issues is another way to help save lives. 

“We are not your personal Google page. We are also not asking you to spend hours of research in the libraries. What we are asking is for you to follow our lead,” Sepulveda said.