On Sept. 16-17, TLC, GSA Network and Trans Youth - Truth Project will host a two-day organizing workshop for transgender and gender nonconforming youth of color (14-21) in the East Bay Area.
Apply today: bit.ly/GetLitYouth
A look inside Detroit's black transgender community
Across the country, the transgender community has been experiencing an unprecedented level of visibility. Openly transgender celebrities like actress Laverne Cox and model Isis King are proudly gracing television screens and newsstands. Gender dysphoria – the medical term describing those whose identities differ from their birth gender – is now widely recognized in the medical community, and many major health care providers cover gender reassignment surgery for those who are diagnosed with it. Here at home, the Detroit Police Department recently hired its first transgender officer, who will be graduating from the academy in June.
Berkeley schools go beyond bathrooms to support gender non-conforming students
Berkeley High School sophomore Ellie began identifying as a girl last year. The 16-year-old’s birth certificate says male but, as she entered adolescence, it became clear to her that she was not a boy.
Ellie was homeschooled until high school. At BHS, she was thrown into a new environment where she found more opportunities to compare herself to her peers and consider how she fit in socially.
Executive Order and Health Care Bill are Attacks on Transgender People
From TLC executive director Kris Hayashi:
Last week, as the House of Representatives passed President Trump’s dangerous bill undermining the Affordable Care Act, the President signed a so-called “religious liberty” Executive Order that attempts to chip away at the Constitution’s separation of church and state and encourages government agencies to discriminate.
20 Trans People Talk About The Beauty Standards They're So Tired Of
Societal standards of beauty affect us all. From birth, we're encouraged to internalize various myths, from the good ol' "no white shoes after Labor Day" to the much more harmful "fat folks can't wear tight clothes." Transgender people face the same beauty myths, plus an extra helping of transphobia-flavored fashion rules, like "if a trans man wears makeup, it means he's not really a man" and "all trans people must have gender affirmation surgery."
Transgender and undocumented leader fights for rights in Arizona
Karyna Jaramillo lives in fear that she’ll be deported and sent back to her hometown in Morelos, Mexico where she could face persecution. “Deporting me is like sending me straight to my death,” she said in Spanish.
Jaramillo is a transgender woman, an undocumented immigrant and leader for migrants who fear persecution in their home countries and feel excluded by LGBTQ organizations in the U.S.
The Transgender Politician Fighting for LGBT Rights in the Philippines
There is an elevated stage in the basketball court-cum-community hall that Philippine Congresswoman Geraldine Roman is using to address her constituents, but she chooses not to use it.
Instead she remains on their level, cracking jokes and singing as she outlines her local government platform – emphasising her education and livelihood programmes and underlining her commitment to a national bill that will outlaw discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Shay Neary Is The First Trans Plus Size Model To Land A Major Fashion Campaign
Model and Instagram darling Shay Neary is the first trans plus size model to land a major fashion campaign, and her inclusive spring/summer 2017 collab with retailer Yours Clothing is fab AF. Neary featured in a sleek urban photoshoot for the brand. The model also created a style guide for her fellow trans folks to go along with her selections from Yours Clothing's trendiest pieces.
Study finds trans kids are hardly different from cis kids --duh.
Researchers have published a study that proves trans kids are “never significantly different” from cisgender kids. The study, put together by University of Washington researchers Anne Fast and Kristina Olson and published by the journal Child Development, examined 36 different 3-to-5 year olds who had socially transitioned and were living as their gender. Due to their age, however, none have received medical treatment.
Support TLC on Give OUT Day
Today is #GiveOUTDay. Help the Transgender Law Center continue changing law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely and authentically by donating NOW for #TransLiberation here.
Transgender: Allow Us To Be Us
A week ago, Cromwell High School allowed Andraya Yearwood, a female transgender student, to run on the girls' track team. The school was supportive of Andraya's transition and decision to run on the team, as were the schools against which she ran, according to news reports. This wonderful acceptance of Andraya as she is resonates with me — as a transgender person, I know this kind of respect is not always accorded transgender people.
Read more.
#IAmOneOfThem: Why We Need To Represent Trans People In Sexual Assault Advocacy
Every April we celebrate Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), a national campaign that aims to empower survivors and to call for action in the fight to end sexual violence. The month-long event brings people together from college campuses to advocacy organizations in a powerful display of solidarity that helps to remind survivors that they are not alone, that they have a voice, and that they deserve respect.
My Trans Identity Is Not A Fetish
Identity — gender, sexual orientation, or the connection to one’s own race or ethnicity — plays a pivotal role in all our lives. But it is especially crucial to those who have to earn the right to express it.
The right to one’s own identity is something still being fought for in many marginalized communities, and when something so precious is reduced to a thing, a thing desired solely for sexual pleasure, it hurts in a very deep way. This is what can happen when a transgender person encounters a “chaser” — someone who has a “fetish” for transgender bodies.
TRANSform Tech this Thursday in San Francisco!
#TRANSformTech is this week in San Francisco! If you're trans or gender nonconforming and interested/working in tech, this is the conference for you!
*No cost tickets (not including transportation) available for community with limited means. DM us for more info. http://bit.ly/TransformTech
I'm a Trans Woman of Color, and I've Never Been More Scared to Live in North Carolina
I used to tell everyone I wasn't going to make it past 30 because I was convinced that I wasn't. I was suicidal and pretty much a hermit—everything was wrong but I didn't know why. Then I realized it was because I wasn't living as a woman, so at 29 I decided to transition. I started to go out and meet people, and I learned that North Carolina isn't really friendly toward transgender people. People just get quiet around you, they whisper. And my family was in shock. They tried to be supportive, but I don't think they could cope with missing the son they had loved and raised—we haven't really talked much since.
Join TRANSform Tech next week!
We're thrilled to invite you to TRANSform Tech, a summit for transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people in tech! TRANSform Tech welcomes TGNC people who are currently working in these fields, those who are interested, as well as companies and businesses who want to grow more in this area. The summit will include TGNC people, advocates, and experts in a multi-format, daylong event.
*No cost tickets are available for folks in need of financial assistance. Message us for more info.
This commercial is redefining India’s traditional family.
The touching short film above, which Procter & Gamble’s Vicks created, tells the true story of a young orphan in India named Gayatri who was adopted by 37-year-old Gauri Sawant, a transgender woman and social activist who lives in Mumbai.
On the way to boarding school, Gayatri recounts her life, her adoption and meeting her new mother, Sawant, for the very first time. Gayatri says that her mother sends her to boarding school so she can one day be a doctor. But Gayatri says she wants to be a lawyer instead, so she can fight for the rights of people who are like her mom.
“My civics book says that everyone is entitled to basic rights,” Gayatri says. “Then why is my mom denied them?”
Why Queer & Trans Immigrant Rights Activists Shut Down The Phoenix Pride Parade This Weekend
Queer and trans immigrants rights activists in Phoenix blocked the route of the city’s Pride parade on Sunday with a huge banner that read “no justice, no pride.”
About 100 activists blocked the parade for roughly 5 minutes, just as the Phoenix Police Department float and the newly elected Maricopa County Sheriff, Paul Penzone, started marching. The protesters actually took over the route immediately behind the police float and blocked Penzone from continuing.
‘Raising Zoey’ Doc Puts a Latina Face On the Struggles Faced by #TransYouth
The doc follows a year in the life of Zoey Luna, a 13-year-old girl living in California with her mother, Ofelia, and her older sister, Letty. Like many other girls her age, Zoey wants nothing more than to enjoy her life and have a great group of friends. But facing a willfully ignorant and intolerant community, especially at her school, made her childhood and teenage years a difficult time in her life. Chronicling the support she got from her mother and sister and the eventual legal fight they all became involved in as they sought to protect Zoey’s right to self-expression at school, Raising Zoey puts a Latina face on the ongoing battles trans youth have to wage every day.
Even amid the swell of anti-LGBT legislation being introduced by conservative lawmakers, it would be wrong to make assumptions and generalize about religious people and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, rights. Communities of faith are broadly supportive of the LGBT community, including transgender people. People of faith are especially concerned about bullying and protecting transgender people through comprehensive nondiscrimination policies, and many have expressed their support for the transgender community through the passage and implementation of denominationwide policies. In fact, apart from a small vocal minority, many diverse faith traditions show majority support for transgender rights and inclusionary policies both in and outside houses of worship.