Members of the LGBTQ community and the Women’s March Group of Huntington protested against President Donald Trump and his administration as the president arrived in Huntington for a Make America Great Again rally.

The members of each organization had different ideas of what they wanted to accomplish by showing signs that displayed oppositions to President Trump.

“I’m protesting the fact that the ‘lyin’ king is here, President Trump,” Mark Connelly, an active member of the Women’s March Group, said. “This administration is pitting people against each other. We want to keep America great, not make it great. It already is great.”

Other members of the Huntington group said that while opposing Trump, they are also trying to help people understand the importance of voting. Barbara Garnett, another member of the Women’s March Group, said she wanted people to be informed when they are voting Tuesday, Nov. 6.

“I think the young people need to get more politically informed and more active,” Garnett said. “Even if you don’t agree with the Democrats, you should look at the checks and balances and see that having one group ruling all the branches of government is not a good sign.”

The protest also included members of the LGBTQ community. People held signs relating to how they believe they deserve the same rights as anyone else corresponding with the We Won’t Be Erased movement that surfaced recently.

Hannah Casto, a civilian who chose to show support for the LGBTQ community, said she understands that it may be easy to just watch events happen but that she thinks it is important to respond to events that affect even the minorities.

“It’s so easy to stay home in apathy and just watch what happens on your phones,” Casto said. “But I personally feel like we need to show more support for the attacks against the more vulnerable demographics like trans lives, LGBTQ and people of color.”

The protesters were required to stay at the base of a hill in front of the hangar where the president gave his speech. Despite not being where he had hoped to be, Connelly said the groups were there to send a message out to anyone they could reach.

“We are here to send a message,” Connelly said. “We wanted to be here to let him know that we don’t care for him, so we don’t care where they make us stand as long as someone sees us.”

Sarah Ingram can be contacted at [email protected].