Carrie Evans, the executive director of Equality Maryland, was arrested at an immigration reform rally in Washington on Thursday afternoon, the state's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization said.
The arrest wasn't surprising, as Evans had announced earlier this week that she planned to participate in a collective act of civil disobedience in front of the White House with marchers from Casa de Maryland and other social justice organizations.
The event Thursday, which began in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, was dubbed the #FightforFamilies march. The marchers want better protections for undocumented workers in the country and for the thousands of immigrant children who have entered the country recently after fleeing violence in their home countries.
In an opinion piece in the Washington Blade on Tuesday, Evans outlined her reasons -- personal and as head of Equality Maryland -- for participating.
Evans, who is a native Canadian and a naturalized U.S. citizen, said she wanted to "stand in solidarity" with her fellow immigrants, many of whom she said have less privilege than she does as a white English speaker. She also said Equality Maryland is heavily engaged in immigration reform, especially as singularly-LGBT issues like same-sex marriage make way for concerns surrounding overlapping identities.
