Community Activism

The Trans Disaster Relief Fund (TDRF) sent out an urgent request for donations to support transgender individuals and other members of the LGBTQI+ community during the current Coronavirus emergency. The transgender community is uniquely at risk during this emergency because of a higher than normal incidence of unemployment, homelessness, and lack of access to quality healthcare. Dr. Paige Padgett with the University of Texas School of Public Health said, “on any given day, the trans community faces significant discrimination.” She… Read more.

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is hosting the first Job Fair for TransWork on Tuesday, September 10, from 3-5 PM, at the William Way Community Center at 1315 Spruce Street. The Airport, which is owned and operated by the City of Philadelphia, has partnered with TransWork, a program of the Independence Business Alliance, whose goal is to increase access to opportunities for transgender people in the Greater Philadelphia region. Chellie Cameron, Airpot CEO | Source: PHL The… Read more.

In Texas, one of the trans community's most important activists is about to die. By Phyllis Randolph Frye I sadly write that a long-time fighter for trans rights, Sarah DePalma of Houston, is in hospice and may not last but a few more days. I went to see Sarah yesterday at the hospice --she was not cognizant of my holding her hand or talking to her-- and I learned that she will be gone in a few days. Back in the… Read more.

Having observed numerous conversations predicated on fundamental misunderstandings concerning trans advocacy, I put together this TransAdvocate 101 to compliment our Trans 101. If cis and trans advocate communities wish to better communicate, we need a foundation from which informed conversations may take place. Therefore, I will succinctly: Describe the three fundamentals informing our approach to trans advocacy; Describe the differences between the cis and trans experience as it relates to “gender identity;” Describe the difference between Gender Dysphoria and Gender Identity… Read more.

My name is Amiel, and as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian edition of the TransAdvocate, I’m happy to announce the official launch of the newest addition to the TransAdvocate family: TransAdvocate Brazil. As a Brazilian intersex trans man, I felt it was time to bring the TransAdvocate model of journalism to a community that has, for far too long, had its story told by cisgender people who are more interested in sensationalism than anything like an honest depiction of… Read more.

By Kelley Winters The National Center for Transgender Equality Executive Director Mara Keisling respondedKeisling, M (2016). Response to BuzzFeed Article. Blog, National Center for Transgender Equality, Oct. 28. http://www.transequality.org/blog/response-to-buzzfeed-article]to sharp criticismHolden, D. (2016). Top LGBT Leaders Are Divided Over Compromising On The Bathroom Fight. BuzzFeed News, Oct. 25. https://www.buzzfeed.com/dominicholden/lgbt-leaders-divided-bathroom-fight] of the recent strategy by NCTE and other nonprofits funded by the Gill Foundation to back a Pennsylvania state nondiscrimination bill that included LGBT employment and housing protection but excluded public accommodation protections.… Read more.

Do you want to know what Just Want Privacy's talking points are? The talking points that the organization gives out to their spokespeople who support of their "repeal the rule" initiative on transgender public accommodations? The things they tell them not to say? Just Want Privacy is the group who wants to repeal the public accommodation antidiscrimination protections based on gender identity in Washington by a statewide initiative. One thing… Read more.

The TransAdvocate is pleased to announce the launch of a new program aimed at making a decades-old intersectional trans, intersex and genderqueer inclusive radical feminism more accessible. The TransAdvocate, in partnership with the Transgender Archive, launched The Conversations Project on New Year’s Day 2016. The Project seeks to inspire discourse through its community group, a journal, interviews and the publication of a book-length collection of collaborative essays from radical feminist… Read more.

Pat Cordova-Goff, an 18-year-old college student and Trans Youth Justice Organizer for TRUTH (a position jointly funded by GSA Network and Transgender Law Center) started a petition on the GSA-Network's website entitled Boycott 2015 "Stonewall" Movie. The petition, which currently has over 22,000 signatures, begins by stating: To: the potential viewers of STONEWALL To all considering watching the newest whitewashed version of queer history, It is time that black and brown transwomyn and drag queens are recognized for their… Read more.

In January of 2014 California, Speaker of the Assembly Toni Atkins introduced the Respect After Death Act (AB 1577), and Gov. Brown signed it into law the following September 26th. As of July 1, 2015, it requires the official responsible for completing a transgender person’s death certificate to do so in a manner that reflects the person’s gender identity if they are presented appropriate documentation, such as written instructions from the deceased person confirming their wishes, an updated birth certificate… Read more.

Hi Lisa Vogel, Perhaps you know of me. My name is Autumn Sandeen. I've written about MichFest quite a few times over the past seven or eight years. Have you noticed that the beloved LGBT inclusivity community the past few days has been directing its ire at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the LGBTQ Task Force, as well as their executive directors Kate Kendall and Rea Carey? Have you noticed that the trans community is directing… Read more.

One of the fairly regular commenters on GenderTrender is Roslyn Hardy Holcomb, a published writer of color. She's been interviewed by USA Today, she has twenty-three books reviewed on Goodreads, and you can buy her books on Amazon. Basically, she's a moderately well-known author in the romance genre. She apparently is also a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, abbreviated as TERF. Holcomb made a comment on the GenderTrender post “We must look, act and live the part” about the Planet Fitness… Read more.

Allison Woolbert, recently resigned executive director of Transgender Human Rights Institute (THRI), has a 1991 New Jersey conviction for First Degree Aggravated Sexual Assault of a 15-year old relative. Woolbert was sentenced to 6 years for the offense and was released after 4. She was 28 at the time of offense and conviction. Woolbert isn't a registered sex offender as her criminal conviction occurred 3 years before New Jersey's law mandating sex offender registration was signed into law. The Trans*… Read more.

Yesterday, we, the TransAdvocate editorial team, learned that Alison Woolbert, an anti-violence trans activist who gained a measure of prominence in 2014, was convicted of a sexual assault 23 years ago. We were gratified to learn that Woolbert submitted a resignation letter to an anti-violence organization that she led; however, we are alarmed that the organization declined to accept her resignation. Woolbert’s criminal history was disclosed to the TransAdvocate editorial team by freelance writers Emmagene Kaytlyn Cronin and Laurelai Bailey,… Read more.

By Jennifer Lopez Suspects | Credit: DCPI On January 8th, 2014 a 30 year old transwoman whom wishes to remain anonymous for now, went to the Neptune Diner in Astoria Queens, New York City to eat an early morning meal with a friend.  Her friend, a 32 year old cisgender man, went to the restroom.  According to Deputy Inspector Kevin Maloney of the 114th Precinct in NYC that is when three other patrons in the diner… Read more.

  This is imagery of the flags we paraded at the San Diego Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) march. Note we flew an American flag -- shown in the center of the photo -- to highlight trans people are Americans. The far right flag is the Transgender Pride flag that Monica Helms designed for the 1998 Phoenix, Arizona pride march. In between the American flag and the trans flag there is a TransAmerican flag -- a pink, white, and blue… Read more.

It's just not enough to know what you're against: we also need to know what we're for, and then work and sacrifice to create the kind of world we want to live in. And, sometimes it takes more than keyboard activism to create that kind of world. On November 19, 2013 -- on a day before the annual Transgender Day Of Remembrance -- The Transadvocate organized an action in front of the Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, California entitled… Read more.

I've collected a number of quotes from those against California's School Success and Opportunity Act (AB 1266) referendum signature drive and should it turn out to be successful. There's also some background quotes by some of the characters or organizations involved with signature drive as they give some context for previous comments. So, to give you an idea of the measured words of the PJI at the hearing on AB 1266 (The California Success and Opportunity Act) bill and their… Read more.

Ben Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) testified against California's Success and Opportunity Act at the State Senate Education Committee hearing on June 12, 2013. An excerpt from his testimony: This bill would call for any student and young adult who perceives themselves to be something other than their sex at birth to share shower facilities, restrooms, locker rooms with gender or sex they feel they are at any given time. The problem is that this bill, or current… Read more.

It All Depends On The Audience The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) has been at the center of a controversy because of what they've clamed about the behavior of a trans student at a Colorado high school. They've turned her into a predator...a monster...a "nightmare" example of what trans female youth will do if they are universally allowed into any public school's girls locker rooms and restrooms. And as Transadvocate editor-in-chief Cristan Williams has pointed out, one of their transparent reasons… Read more.

Call them classic transsexuals or women of operative history; call them true transsexuals or transsexual separatists -- whatever you call them, you can also call them ineffectual slacktivists. Over at LGBT Weekly where I write the Trans Progressive column, the August 15, 2013 column is about this year's California Transgender Advocacy Day. About fifty people, including trans adults, trans youth, parents of trans youth, and allies lobbied for three bills that will impact trans people -- trans people who are… Read more.

Crossposted with permission from OutServe Magazine, the magazine of OutServe-SLDN. By Anonymous Memorial Day weekend is, first and foremost, about remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. It honors the many sacrifices of those who served and who are currently serving. It lifts up families and friends who have lost loved ones to combat and in the line of duty. It recognizes the best our nation had and has to offer. Last week, as I have on every Memorial… Read more.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. ~Martin Luther King, Jr. During the civil rights struggles of Martin Luther King Junior's day, he was appalled by the silence of those whom he believed were, or should have been, on the side of African-American community civil rights. So with that in mind, The Advocate posted an… Read more.

fter my surgery and later issuance of a new birth certificate last November, I wanted to apply to the Department of the Navy (DON) to change my recorded gender. The Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) keeps track of servicemembers and retirees genders, so I wanted, for gender affirmation and DOD acknowledgement, my gender reflected in my Department of Defense (DOD) records. There is no gender marker on military identification cards, so it's not an issue of being outed by… Read more.

There are whys to transgender activism, but beyond the whys of transgender activism there are the whats: there are the goals of transgender activism. Here are seven goals of trans activism with some explanation as to why these are trans activism goals. Employment antidiscrimination protections. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE)/Task Force report Injustice at Every Turn A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, trans and gender non-conforming respondents experienced double the rate of unemployment: Survey… Read more.

As Cristan Williams pointed out in her recent Transadvocate piece Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, segregation against trans women has been occurring at that festival for a very, very long time. Over the years, many intra-LGBT community allies of trans women have spoken out against the policy -- including the Lesbians for Justice in 1992, the Lesbian Resource Center of Seattle in 1999, and the Lesbian Avengers of Boston in 2000 -- and yet words alone haven't moved the Michigan Womyn’s… Read more.