April 2, 2024 • 13 mins
Today we highlight four organizations doing hard and important work in the realm of trans rights.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to stuff. I
never told you production I hurted you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So today is because I feel like we're gonna have
to do some timelines and time stamping. They stamping? What
what are those things?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Time stamps? Yeah, you're right, time stamps?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Okay, all right, all right, I think I'm thinking about
now like work time stamps. Oh do you have to
use those?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I've never had to use those.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh yeah, so many times I've worked at like different
like corporations and companies and like menial jobs that I
definitely had those and you had to line them up perfectly.
Those were really nerve wracking. Anyway, back to my original point,
digital time stamp, meaning we are going to do it
for our podcast because we wanted to talk about Transmitsibility Day.
(00:58):
But today is April second, twenty twenty four. And I've
also mentioned how I hate April Fool's Day, so you know,
no April fools on you people's because we don't do
that here anyway. Yeah, so we are talking about chance
Day of Visibility, which was March thirty first, twenty twenty four.
To many people's arrived barely. I didn't know this. I
(01:21):
was like why are you what's happening? But whatever, I
love it even more. But that was a trans day
of visibility, and since we did not publish anything new
for that day, we thought we would take an episode
and highlight several trans focused organizations that have been helping
to advocate for the rights and protection and quality of
the trans community and of course when it comes to
feminists around the world, the trans community have been fighting really, really,
(01:45):
really hard for everyone's rights, and we were all about intersectionality, right,
That's what we're going to do for this episode, and
we would love for you to join us in not
only sharing their amazing works, but helping however you can
to highlight them and their contribution. So we do want
to do a content warning here because we are going
to mention Priya, which is the Prison Rate Elimination Act.
(02:07):
Also mentioned rape and socidality. So again we're not talking
any in depth, no actual incidents, but just isn't there.
It's in there and these are in no particular order,
and of course there are so many many more organizations
and we would love to hear from you, our lovely listeners,
(02:28):
for any of your own local nonprofits that are doing
some amazing work for the queer community and beyond, so
please let us know. But yeah, these are a few
that we wanted to highlight today. I'm sure we'll do
it again and we'll keep doing it.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Let's start with GATE, or Global Action for Trans Equality,
which is based out of the UK and has been
around since two thousand and nine and according to their site,
gate dot ngo quote was born out of a need
for a central body to lobby for trans rites at
the global level, particularly at the United Founded in two
(03:01):
thousand and nine, GATE sought to develop a global coordinating
network for trans organizing to transform the systemic exclusion of
trans people and their issues from international decision making and
research processes. Since the beginning of the organization, they have
focused on the inclusion of trans and gender diverse people
when it comes to human rights on an international level
(03:23):
by campaigning and educating others around the world by bringing
awareness to the discrimination many trans people face. They have
also focused on advocating for the healthcare rights and access
for all trans and gender diverse people with community led
campaigns within the political process and exposing how the healthcare
responses for the trans community have been handled or oftentimes
(03:45):
not handled, and they have worked to help train and
mentor others to create a sustainable movement. They have worked
to grow resources and networks all over the world to
push for access, funding, and organizational growth that can eventually
be self seen staining within different organizations and sectors. So
there's one, here's another one. We have an organization in Memphis, Tennessee,
(04:08):
called My Sister's House, started by transactivist kay La Gore.
The organization started as a transitional home for trans and
other queer people who were unhoused and without resources. According
to their site MSH Memphis dot org, My Sister's House
MSH is a grassroots transgender led organization in Memphis, Tennessee
(04:30):
that provides wraparound services for primarily black and brown, transgender
and non binary individuals, including a safe space, emergency shelter,
and access to health and social services. Since the beginning
of the organization in twenty sixteen, they have been able
to provide at least twenty homes to those in need
of housing by using their tiny house project, and are
(04:51):
in the works of creating more homes that are ADA
compliant and accessible for those with disabilities. Gore herself converted
her six bedrooms from home into emergency housing for the
trans and queer community, and with that they've expanded their
services to include bail funds for incarcerated trans women, legal
help and assistance, and multi level resources to help with
(05:13):
housing and staple income.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Right, and then we have a Black and Pink National
which is an organization that quote is a prison abolitionist
organization dedicated to abolishing the criminal punishment system and liberating LGBTQIA,
t s plus people and people living with HIV AIDS
who are affected by the system through advocacy, support and
organizing and continuing from their site Blackinpink dot org. As
(05:37):
we continue to grow as an organization, a family, and
a community of accomplices, we will always hold true to
our foundational and radical beliefs in the capacity for good
and the abilities of all people to be the best
version of themselves and to dismantle the systems that plaque
I communities. We will always be partners with those impacted
by the prison industrial complex through autrocities it enacts, and
(05:58):
will not rest until it's come completely dismantled because we
not only imagine a world without prisons, we demand it.
And yeah, they've been working not only for liberation and
for the health of their community, but they have been
publishing data and detailed research to educate the public for
the reasons that needs behind organizations like theirs. Their extensive report,
done alongside vera dot org, shows the need to change
(06:20):
policies and procedures for the trans community who are currently incarcerated.
They're able to give it detailed surveys of what the
trans and queer community we're going through in their time
of incarceration and what is needed to help correct what
is happening. And here's a bit from their conclusion of
that report. It says three overarching themes emerged in this
report in terms of transgender people's experience in prison, their
(06:41):
housing situations, their access to healthcare and other gender affirming practices,
and their interactions and relationships with other people from abusive
to supportive. Participants in this project also had clear asks
in their terms of policy change. These policy recommendations underscores
the importance of meaningful input from transgender peace people who
are incarcerated and their advocates at all stages. Policy designed,
(07:05):
implementations and monitoring. Formal policies should also allow for some
flexibility for each person's individual situation. Not everyone who's transgender
has the same needs, risk or preferences, and so one
size fits all policies or eligibility criteria are too rigid.
This report outlines concrete suggestions from people with lived experience
(07:26):
of prison on more supportive policies and practices related to housing,
relationship and community, social transition and gender affirming language, healthcare PREA,
and other responses to sexual assault or harassment and staff conduct.
So that is a really really important piece and if
you have the time, please go and read their research.
There is a link from Black and Pink National dot
(07:48):
org to Vera dot org and it gives you a
whole pdf. It's about a ninety nine page report. And
I think it's so important that we have research like this.
We know that we've had a friend of the show,
Raquel will let's talk about the abolition of incarceration and
just how transgender communities are persecuted within the prison system.
So I think it's something that we need to talk
(08:09):
about more often. They do a lot when it comes
to that type of work, and they have done the work,
so it's not something that we have to do ourselves. Again,
there's a ninety nine page report about it with a
lot of good detailed surveys and questionnaires and a lot
of great information, so that in itself, go and check
it out, start publishing it, whatever you want to do,
(08:30):
If you want to highlight it in your own social media,
go for it, because I think it's such an important report.
And then we also have a trans Lifeline, which was
founded in twenty fourteen after an epidemic of sociedality arose
(08:53):
and no real support system for the trans community. So
it came quickly after I believe the Trans Day of
Remembrance was started, and after they realized how much of
a need they really had to support their own community.
They not only offer emotional support for the trans community,
but up until recently we're able to give financial support
as well. And they are, quote from their site translifeline
(09:16):
dot org, a trans community by the trans community. And
we do want to know they have some controversy within
their organization, including that the original founders were allegedly embezzling
money from the company. Of course, they have since changed
over their leadership and have merged with a trans Assistance
Project who at the time helped develop a new program
(09:38):
known as the micro Grants program which helped provide funds
to quote support to correct names and or gender marketers
on identifying legal documents, fund gender affirming permanent hair removal,
and supply necessities for our siblings behind bars. However, this
program has been paused at this time due to the
higher demands and lack of funding. They were able to
(10:01):
give out one point five million, and I think that
equals out to be like several people getting five hundred
dollars to get this type of assistance. So they get
they did do quite a bit, and also due to
the budget shortfall, they've had to cut down the operating
hours for their hotlines, so I don't think it's successful
Saturday and Sundays. So they are such a needed organization
(10:24):
for this community. We know what happens oftentimes when police
are called or law enforcement are called in the states
of emergencies or in crisis, and there has been reports
showing that more oftentimes it causes more harm to the
trans communities when this happens. So having a support system
like this is vital and yes it is currently available
(10:46):
in US and Canada. Organizations like these are oftentimes under
the radar and don't get the support that they need.
Their hotline again doesn't have enough people to help out
and it is for trans by trans. So there's so
much to be said as we're losing more and more transactivists.
We know the deaths of transactivists have been pretty high,
(11:09):
and of course what's happening with policies going after the
trans community. Is not surprising to see that they're lacking support.
But organizations like these are in need and we do
want to support them as well. Again, their organization is
at translifeline dot org and they give you different resources
(11:30):
on how you can help, how cispeople can help the
organization as well, how non trans people can help in
these organizations, and it could be as easy as donating. Again,
like I said, I know they had controversies, but they
have really worked through that and come out of the fire.
Now they're trying to rebuild. They just recently did a
(11:50):
cool stream Athon, so they did it with several twitch
trans twitch people, trans celebrities i guess in the twitch world,
So that's exciting to see. That just happened like March twentieth,
so we missed it saying it, but they have many
more coming through I'm sure. So if you can, you know,
(12:11):
get to their newsletter, get more information, stay up to
date about what they're doing this This type of need
is high and there's not enough out there for those
who need it, and we know that, so we wanted
to take the time to talk about what they're doing.
You know, if you if you have an organization like this,
and I know there's other's like Trevor Project that are bigger,
(12:31):
that are more well known, but we did kind of
want to get the ones that were a little less
well known. Uh So that's what we were searching for.
But if you have the time, check out these organizations
and see if there's any way.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
You could help. Yes, definitely, And if there's anything that
you think we should shout out that should be on
our radar, please let us know. You can email us
at Stephanie your Momsteph at iHeartMedia dot com. You can
find us on Twitter at mom step podcast, or on
Instagram and TikTok at stuff. Whenever told you. We have
a tea public store and we have a book you
can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as always
(13:04):
to our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and
our contributor Joey, thank you and thanks to you for listening.
Stefan Never Told Me is a production of iHeart Radio.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can check
out the heart radio app, Apple podcast wherever you listen
to favorite shows,
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to stuff. I
never told you production I hurted you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So today is because I feel like we're gonna have
to do some timelines and time stamping. They stamping? What
what are those things?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Time stamps? Yeah, you're right, time stamps?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Okay, all right, all right, I think I'm thinking about
now like work time stamps. Oh do you have to
use those?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I've never had to use those.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh yeah, so many times I've worked at like different
like corporations and companies and like menial jobs that I
definitely had those and you had to line them up perfectly.
Those were really nerve wracking. Anyway, back to my original point,
digital time stamp, meaning we are going to do it
for our podcast because we wanted to talk about Transmitsibility Day.
(00:58):
But today is April second, twenty twenty four. And I've
also mentioned how I hate April Fool's Day, so you know,
no April fools on you people's because we don't do
that here anyway. Yeah, so we are talking about chance
Day of Visibility, which was March thirty first, twenty twenty four.
To many people's arrived barely. I didn't know this. I
(01:21):
was like why are you what's happening? But whatever, I
love it even more. But that was a trans day
of visibility, and since we did not publish anything new
for that day, we thought we would take an episode
and highlight several trans focused organizations that have been helping
to advocate for the rights and protection and quality of
the trans community and of course when it comes to
feminists around the world, the trans community have been fighting really, really,
(01:45):
really hard for everyone's rights, and we were all about intersectionality, right,
That's what we're going to do for this episode, and
we would love for you to join us in not
only sharing their amazing works, but helping however you can
to highlight them and their contribution. So we do want
to do a content warning here because we are going
to mention Priya, which is the Prison Rate Elimination Act.
(02:07):
Also mentioned rape and socidality. So again we're not talking
any in depth, no actual incidents, but just isn't there.
It's in there and these are in no particular order,
and of course there are so many many more organizations
and we would love to hear from you, our lovely listeners,
(02:28):
for any of your own local nonprofits that are doing
some amazing work for the queer community and beyond, so
please let us know. But yeah, these are a few
that we wanted to highlight today. I'm sure we'll do
it again and we'll keep doing it.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Let's start with GATE, or Global Action for Trans Equality,
which is based out of the UK and has been
around since two thousand and nine and according to their site,
gate dot ngo quote was born out of a need
for a central body to lobby for trans rites at
the global level, particularly at the United Founded in two
(03:01):
thousand and nine, GATE sought to develop a global coordinating
network for trans organizing to transform the systemic exclusion of
trans people and their issues from international decision making and
research processes. Since the beginning of the organization, they have
focused on the inclusion of trans and gender diverse people
when it comes to human rights on an international level
(03:23):
by campaigning and educating others around the world by bringing
awareness to the discrimination many trans people face. They have
also focused on advocating for the healthcare rights and access
for all trans and gender diverse people with community led
campaigns within the political process and exposing how the healthcare
responses for the trans community have been handled or oftentimes
(03:45):
not handled, and they have worked to help train and
mentor others to create a sustainable movement. They have worked
to grow resources and networks all over the world to
push for access, funding, and organizational growth that can eventually
be self seen staining within different organizations and sectors. So
there's one, here's another one. We have an organization in Memphis, Tennessee,
(04:08):
called My Sister's House, started by transactivist kay La Gore.
The organization started as a transitional home for trans and
other queer people who were unhoused and without resources. According
to their site MSH Memphis dot org, My Sister's House
MSH is a grassroots transgender led organization in Memphis, Tennessee
(04:30):
that provides wraparound services for primarily black and brown, transgender
and non binary individuals, including a safe space, emergency shelter,
and access to health and social services. Since the beginning
of the organization in twenty sixteen, they have been able
to provide at least twenty homes to those in need
of housing by using their tiny house project, and are
(04:51):
in the works of creating more homes that are ADA
compliant and accessible for those with disabilities. Gore herself converted
her six bedrooms from home into emergency housing for the
trans and queer community, and with that they've expanded their
services to include bail funds for incarcerated trans women, legal
help and assistance, and multi level resources to help with
(05:13):
housing and staple income.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Right, and then we have a Black and Pink National
which is an organization that quote is a prison abolitionist
organization dedicated to abolishing the criminal punishment system and liberating LGBTQIA,
t s plus people and people living with HIV AIDS
who are affected by the system through advocacy, support and
organizing and continuing from their site Blackinpink dot org. As
(05:37):
we continue to grow as an organization, a family, and
a community of accomplices, we will always hold true to
our foundational and radical beliefs in the capacity for good
and the abilities of all people to be the best
version of themselves and to dismantle the systems that plaque
I communities. We will always be partners with those impacted
by the prison industrial complex through autrocities it enacts, and
(05:58):
will not rest until it's come completely dismantled because we
not only imagine a world without prisons, we demand it.
And yeah, they've been working not only for liberation and
for the health of their community, but they have been
publishing data and detailed research to educate the public for
the reasons that needs behind organizations like theirs. Their extensive report,
done alongside vera dot org, shows the need to change
(06:20):
policies and procedures for the trans community who are currently incarcerated.
They're able to give it detailed surveys of what the
trans and queer community we're going through in their time
of incarceration and what is needed to help correct what
is happening. And here's a bit from their conclusion of
that report. It says three overarching themes emerged in this
report in terms of transgender people's experience in prison, their
(06:41):
housing situations, their access to healthcare and other gender affirming practices,
and their interactions and relationships with other people from abusive
to supportive. Participants in this project also had clear asks
in their terms of policy change. These policy recommendations underscores
the importance of meaningful input from transgender peace people who
are incarcerated and their advocates at all stages. Policy designed,
(07:05):
implementations and monitoring. Formal policies should also allow for some
flexibility for each person's individual situation. Not everyone who's transgender
has the same needs, risk or preferences, and so one
size fits all policies or eligibility criteria are too rigid.
This report outlines concrete suggestions from people with lived experience
(07:26):
of prison on more supportive policies and practices related to housing,
relationship and community, social transition and gender affirming language, healthcare PREA,
and other responses to sexual assault or harassment and staff conduct.
So that is a really really important piece and if
you have the time, please go and read their research.
There is a link from Black and Pink National dot
(07:48):
org to Vera dot org and it gives you a
whole pdf. It's about a ninety nine page report. And
I think it's so important that we have research like this.
We know that we've had a friend of the show,
Raquel will let's talk about the abolition of incarceration and
just how transgender communities are persecuted within the prison system.
So I think it's something that we need to talk
(08:09):
about more often. They do a lot when it comes
to that type of work, and they have done the work,
so it's not something that we have to do ourselves. Again,
there's a ninety nine page report about it with a
lot of good detailed surveys and questionnaires and a lot
of great information, so that in itself, go and check
it out, start publishing it, whatever you want to do,
(08:30):
If you want to highlight it in your own social media,
go for it, because I think it's such an important report.
And then we also have a trans Lifeline, which was
founded in twenty fourteen after an epidemic of sociedality arose
(08:53):
and no real support system for the trans community. So
it came quickly after I believe the Trans Day of
Remembrance was started, and after they realized how much of
a need they really had to support their own community.
They not only offer emotional support for the trans community,
but up until recently we're able to give financial support
as well. And they are, quote from their site translifeline
(09:16):
dot org, a trans community by the trans community. And
we do want to know they have some controversy within
their organization, including that the original founders were allegedly embezzling
money from the company. Of course, they have since changed
over their leadership and have merged with a trans Assistance
Project who at the time helped develop a new program
(09:38):
known as the micro Grants program which helped provide funds
to quote support to correct names and or gender marketers
on identifying legal documents, fund gender affirming permanent hair removal,
and supply necessities for our siblings behind bars. However, this
program has been paused at this time due to the
higher demands and lack of funding. They were able to
(10:01):
give out one point five million, and I think that
equals out to be like several people getting five hundred
dollars to get this type of assistance. So they get
they did do quite a bit, and also due to
the budget shortfall, they've had to cut down the operating
hours for their hotlines, so I don't think it's successful
Saturday and Sundays. So they are such a needed organization
(10:24):
for this community. We know what happens oftentimes when police
are called or law enforcement are called in the states
of emergencies or in crisis, and there has been reports
showing that more oftentimes it causes more harm to the
trans communities when this happens. So having a support system
like this is vital and yes it is currently available
(10:46):
in US and Canada. Organizations like these are oftentimes under
the radar and don't get the support that they need.
Their hotline again doesn't have enough people to help out
and it is for trans by trans. So there's so
much to be said as we're losing more and more transactivists.
We know the deaths of transactivists have been pretty high,
(11:09):
and of course what's happening with policies going after the
trans community. Is not surprising to see that they're lacking support.
But organizations like these are in need and we do
want to support them as well. Again, their organization is
at translifeline dot org and they give you different resources
(11:30):
on how you can help, how cispeople can help the
organization as well, how non trans people can help in
these organizations, and it could be as easy as donating. Again,
like I said, I know they had controversies, but they
have really worked through that and come out of the fire.
Now they're trying to rebuild. They just recently did a
(11:50):
cool stream Athon, so they did it with several twitch
trans twitch people, trans celebrities i guess in the twitch world,
So that's exciting to see. That just happened like March twentieth,
so we missed it saying it, but they have many
more coming through I'm sure. So if you can, you know,
(12:11):
get to their newsletter, get more information, stay up to
date about what they're doing this This type of need
is high and there's not enough out there for those
who need it, and we know that, so we wanted
to take the time to talk about what they're doing.
You know, if you if you have an organization like this,
and I know there's other's like Trevor Project that are bigger,
(12:31):
that are more well known, but we did kind of
want to get the ones that were a little less
well known. Uh So that's what we were searching for.
But if you have the time, check out these organizations
and see if there's any way.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
You could help. Yes, definitely, And if there's anything that
you think we should shout out that should be on
our radar, please let us know. You can email us
at Stephanie your Momsteph at iHeartMedia dot com. You can
find us on Twitter at mom step podcast, or on
Instagram and TikTok at stuff. Whenever told you. We have
a tea public store and we have a book you
can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as always
(13:04):
to our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and
our contributor Joey, thank you and thanks to you for listening.
Stefan Never Told Me is a production of iHeart Radio.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can check
out the heart radio app, Apple podcast wherever you listen
to favorite shows,
Stuff Mom Never Told You News
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