This season of the Anti-Trans Hate Machine, our producers dove deep into the mechanisms of public education and its funding in an effort to unearth the anti-trans forces trying to dismantle it. Over the course of the investigation, we discovered that the far-right has been weaponizing the concerns of so-called parental rights groups to sow distrust in public schools and privatize them. 

We’re sharing some of the books that our team found most helpful for our research. They cover a wide number of issues, including overviews of the groups behind the backlash, the history of privatization, and accounts of normal folks trying to push back against authoritarianism.

They Came for the Schools

By Mike Hixenbaugh

Journalist Mike Hixenbaugh tells the story of Southlake Texas, where a viral video of white high school students shouting racial slurs illuminated the deep divides that existed in the suburban community. A resurgent parental rights movement would go on to seize upon those divides and help inspire far-right activists across the country.

This book is for people looking for a well-written narrative providing more examples of how the far-right movement weaponized the spectre of so-called “critical race theory” and pivoted into a focus on trans kids.

School Moms

By Laura Pappano

Moms for Liberty and the larger so-called parental rights movement is the leading force fighting against LGBTQ inclusion in schools. In School Moms, journalist Laura Pappano attends parental rights events in an attempt to shine a light on this part of the far-right movement, including the Moms for Liberty Summit in 2022.

This book is great for listeners who want to hear first-hand accounts of how conservative parents groups organized, and how they have been weaponized by more powerful figures on the far-right.

The Privateers

By Josh Cowen

What is the end result of anti-trans attacks on schools? That’s the question education researcher Josh Cowen asks as he lays out how the conservative privatization movement has everything to gain from the increasing erosion of trust in public schools. 

Cowen’s book was an essential source in researching the issue of school vouchers. We recommend The Privateers for anyone curious about the origins of the school privatization movement, and how the far-right has managed to funnel increasing amounts of public money to private schools.

Overturning Brown

By Steve Suitts

Historian Steven Suitts examines the history of the backlash against public school integration, and how it has led to the current attempt to privatize education today. In the 50s and 60s, white-only private schools received public money in an attempt to circumvent integration. Today, private schools that receive public funding are touted as the solution for parents who want to make sure their children have an “anti-woke” education.

This account of civil rights era history is essential to understanding how the current backlash against inclusive public education is not new. It is simply the most recent fight in a long battle over democracy.

Shadow Network

By Anne Nelson

The Council For National Policy is the secret group pulling the strings of the conservative movement that most people have never heard of. Investigative Journalist Anne Nelson breaks down the complex web of relationships that make up the CNP and the network of far-right organizers responsible for the successes of Christian Nationalism. And as it turns out, their efforts are central to the attempt to privatize schools.

Nelson has been an essential source throughout the production of the Anti-Trans Hate Machine, and we can’t recommend her book enough when it comes to understanding how the most powerful players on the far-right operate.

Slaying Goliath

By Diane Ravitch

Even while the public education system is under attack, there are advocates leading the charge to protect this essential public good in our democracy. Through the accounts of communities in Colorado, Arizona, Massachusetts, and in numerous others across the United States, education professor Diane Ravitch demonstrates that resistance is possible.

We recommend this book for folks looking for more examples of how to resist the growing authoritarian movement targeting public schools. It also provided our team with a deep insight into the flaws of school reform movements that seek to make money off schools in the name of innovation.

The Anti-Trans Hate Machine

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on

Right wing forces have taken aim at trans kids in schools, relentlessly targeting some of our country’s most vulnerable youth. In this season, journalist and host Imara Jones investigates this movement, uncovering how these attacks are part of a larger plan to dismantle public education and shatter democracy itself.

List to Episodes

The post Essential Reads: 6 Books to Dive Deeper into the Anti-Trans Hate Machine Investigation appeared first on TransLash Media.

West Hollywood has long been home to many LGBTQ folks in the Los Angeles area, with more than 40 percent of residents identifying as such. It’s only fitting that each year the city has hosted its own Pride Month festivities, and the latest one was its most epic so far! Thousands of folks poured into West Hollywood for WeHo Pride 2024 to enjoy the street fair, concerts, and more. 

The weekend, which spanned from May 31 to June 2, was full of social events, pride parties, and a mega three-day musical festival headlined by none other than Ke$ha, Janelle Monáe, and Kylie Minogue. To capture all the fun, TransLash Media sent actress, activist, producer, and motivational speaker Blossom C. Brown to document all the celebratory love and glamor. Here’s everything that went down at WeHo Pride.

Watch our recap video and read more below!

Day 1 of WeHo Pride: Friday, May 31

WeHo Pride kicked off on Friday night with a free concert in West Hollywood Park. Ke$ha performed as the headliner, while audiences got to enjoy performances from Adam Lambert, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Monét X Change, Laganja Estranja & Morphine Love Dion, Niña Dioz, Jessica Betts, Owenn, and Venessa Michaels, according to CBS News. 

The concert also marked Ke$ha’s first show since she became a “free woman,” as Rolling Stone reports, after settling her decade-long lawsuit with Dr. Luke last summer.

Day 2 of WeHo Pride: Saturday, June 1

For those who prefer a more low-key Pride Month activity, there was the WeHo Pride Street Fair on Saturday afternoon. The eight hour family-friendly fair, stretched along Santa Monica Boulevard, featured a handful of community group booths, vendors, exhibitors, and even some performances by Bonnie McKee, Rêve, The Aces, and more.

After that, the Women’s Freedom Festival took place, which was presented by the historically lesbian non-profit, L-Project Los Angeles. The festival, which was in its third year according to CBS News, featured emerging LGBTQ and BIPOC women, non-binary musicians, comedians, poets, and activists.

Jackie Steele hosted the Women’s Freedom Festival, which featured plenty of performances throughout from KingQueen, MariahCounts, Medusa, Theia, Gattison, Cheri Moon, Shiah Luna, Nekeith, DJ SterlingVictorian, DJ Boom Boom, Suri Chan, and Jen Cheng.

Why We Need Queer Women Representation

Being able to attend the Women’s Freedom Festival on Saturday was a key highlight of the weekend for Blossom. “The representation of queer women in West Hollywood is so crucial and important. We have to amplify these types of voices, as they usually go unheard and unseen,” Brown said.

She added how exciting it was to see one of her friends get up on stage and speak her truth. “We must protect Native women. We must protect Black women at all costs. We must amplify all voices that are important in the movement,” Brown’s friend told the crowd.

WeHo Pride’s Dyke March

Later on Saturday afternoon, WeHo Pride’s Dyke March took place. The motorcycle-led march began with a biker gang — because how else could it start? —  followed by a performance by non-binary alt-pop/hip-hop producer and singer Medusa. The rally trailed down Santa Monica Boulevard and included even more live performances from Gattison, Theia and the KingQueen Band, as well as poetry by Yazmin Monet Watkins, Suri Chan and West Hollywood’s Poet Laurette, Jen Cheng.

For those who love to dance, there was also the Queerchata Pride Social on Saturday afternoon. The event included instructors guiding attendees through a lively Bachata class, a style of dance that originated in the Dominican Republic. After learning a few basic moves in the beginner class, attendees got to enjoy some Bachata and Salsa dancing with fellow queers in the Los Angeles sunshine.

Then the real party kicked off: the second night of the OUTLOUD musical festival included a concert with performances by Yaeji, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Noah Cyrus, Keke Palmer, Pegasus and Jack Faulkner, Channel Tres, Doechii, and, of course, headliner and former TransLash Podcast guest Janelle Monáe. What’s a pride party without Monáe anyway?

Blossom’s WeHo Pride Highlight

Brown didn’t just get to experience this mega concert live in person — she got to bask in all the joyful celebrations from backstage! One of her top five highlights from the weekend was being backstage at Saturday night’s OUTLOUD music festival. “The vibe backstage was so chill, so dope. I saw celebrities like Doechii, Queen Latifah, Gabrielle Union,” Blossom recounted. “I got to witness the moment that Gabrielle Union and Queen Latifah surprised Doechii after her performance. It was such a beautiful, healing moment. I was so inspired,” she added.

Brown’s other top moment from WeHo Pride 2024? Meeting the Queen herself. “She was so kind, so humble, so sweet,” Brown said of Queen Latifah, whom she met backstage. “It’s wonderful to meet A-list celebrities who are down to earth, who are kind. It’s so great to be in that space in WeHo Pride and meeting someone as legendary as Queen Latifah.”

Day 3 of WeHo Pride: Sunday

And finally — the parade! What’s Pride with a Pride Parade, after all? On Sunday afternoon, tens of thousands of people gathered along Santa Monica Boulevard to watch festive floats, colorful marching groups, plenty of dancers, and rainbows and glitter galore, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Celebrating Pride With the Queen Mother

Brown didn’t experience the WeHo Pride Parade from the sidelines, though — she got to be in it. She rode along Santa Monica Boulevard on a float with the organization the Imperial Court of Los Angeles, alongside the Queen Mother of Southern California herself, Mother Karina Samala.

An active member in the LGBTQ+ community for over twenty-five years, Samala is a Filipina trans woman, President of the Board of Directors for the Imperial Court, and current chair of the Los Angeles Transgender Advisory Board.

Additionally, Blossom expressed gratitude for being able to enjoy the parade festivities with some Pride first-timers. She celebrated with a group of Russian and Ukrainian LGBTQ folks who were able to be their fullest selves and attend a Pride event for the very first time.

A Kylie Minogue Finale

The vibrant and joyful Pride weekend came to a bitterweet close on Sunday evening (who wants Pride to ever end?) during the final leg of the OUTLOUD musical festival. Attendees got to dance to music by Ashnikko, Big Freedia, Vincint, a DJ set by Trixie Mattel, and more.

Then the big event everyone had been waiting for finally arrived — a big, queer Kylie Minogue concert. Is there any better way to close out Pride than Padam-ing with a massive dancing crowd? 

The Australian queen of pop performed a handful of her most beloved songs, according to Variety, from “Come Into My World” to “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” to “Love At First Sight,” and of course “Padam Padam.” She even brought Orville Peck on stage to debut a brand new single called “Midnight Ride,” produced by Diplo, who also joined the duo on stage for a fringe-filled performance.

It was a rainbow-infused weekend full of queer love, trans joy, music, dancing, and celebration. 

This isn’t the end of TransLash’s WeHo Pride 2024 coverage! Stay tuned for more exclusive Pride Month photos and videos from Blossom Brown on our socials, including on-the-street interviews from the WeHo Pride weekend with a variety of amazing, inspirational trans and queer folks throughout the Los Angeles area.

Did you find this resource helpful? Consider supporting TransLash today with a tax-deductible donation. Did we miss anything? Let us know!

The post Janelle Monáe, Kylie Minogue, and more: WeHo Pride 2024 appeared first on TransLash Media.

On June 19, 2024, Team TransLash hosted a Juneteenth event with WNYC at The Greene Space in New York, NY, featuring a screening of American Problems, Trans Solutions, which will have its broadcast premiere on PBS World on 6/24 at 9/8c.

Watch the replay below and access the full transcript. If you’re still looking for more behind-the-scenes content, we’ve included some cute snaps further down in this recap! 

About ‘American Problems, Trans Solutions’

In American Problems, Trans Solutions, Imara Jones travels across the country to meet and share the stories of leaders on the frontlines of change: housing advocate Kayla Gore; Breonna McCree, a champion for economic empowerment; and Oluchi Omeoga, who fights for the rights of migrants. 

Despite the record-breaking number of anti-trans bills passed in 2023, these three Black trans people are addressing critical issues surrounding economic empowerment and human dignity with heart and vision. 

Access the transcript from our Juneteenth event below.

Opening Remarks: Transcript

Jennifer Keeney Sendrow, Executive Producer, The Greene Space + Multiplatform Content:

Hello. Welcome to The Green Space. How many of you’re here for the first time ever? Wow. Almost everybody. How awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here tonight and spending this beautiful holiday evening with us. Also, Happy pride. How are you all doing?

I feel like you’re already in screening mode. We’re gonna get there in just a moment.

So are any of you members of WNYC or WQXR? A few. Okay, great. So just wanna let you know that The Greene Space, what we do here is connected to New York Public Radio. So when you listen to WNYC or WQXR, or you read Gothamist, that’s all us.

So everything that we do is supported by members, by the public or publicly funded. So appreciate your support and tune in. Come back. That’s my big ask of you. Please do come back, especially if you’re here for the first time. My small ask of you is, could you silence your phones if you haven’t already done that? Just so it doesn’t disrupt the talk back or the screening.

Now I’m very honored to finally have this collaboration with TransLash happening in The Greene Space, because some of you might know that we in 2020 did an entire year of monthly digital events with TransLash when Imara Jones was our Journalist-In-Residence here, our first and so far only Journalist-In-Residence here in The Greene Space.

So having her here in person finally on our stage is really, really awesome…So I’m really honored to be able to introduce her: she’s an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning creator of TransLash Media, named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2023.

And her groundbreaking work in journalism and narrative has profoundly shifted the cultural landscape for transgender individuals in the U.S.

So please join me in welcoming a true trailblazer and advocate for equality, Imara Jones.

Imara Jones:

First of all, I just wanted to let you all know that of course tonight we are encouraging you to get the word out on social media about this event. So this is the hashtag that you should use. It’s long, but it also captures the name of the show. So make sure that you use that in everything that you do.

I also have a bit of housekeeping that I have to do at every single event or else I get reprimanded by our social media team, and that is to encourage everyone to sign up for our TransLash Newsletter. So if you go TransLash.org, it’s pretty easy to figure it out.

Sign up for our newsletter. It really is worth your time. Once a week you’ll see all the things that we have going on at TransLash, but more importantly, it’s a great way to stay informed about the trans community, including anti-trans legislation. So make sure that you go do that.

Okay, now I’ve done my homework. I can start talking about the things I wanna talk about. 

Today is Juneteenth (read our guide here). And one of the most important things about Juneteenth, and the reason why it’s a celebration, is because it marks the time when the last enslaved people of African descent in the United States learned that they were free. 

We don’t celebrate the first day that enslaved Africans were free. We don’t celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation. 

We celebrate the last day that enslaved people were free.

And the reason why that is, is a very simple notion and a very real thing and a deep understanding that enslaved people know and understood, which is that no one is free until everybody is free.

That’s right. There’s no such thing as freedom for part of us. There has to be freedom for everybody.

And what I think is so powerful about the three stories that you all are going to

hear tonight is that Kayla and Breonna and Oluchi live that principle of Juneteenth every single day of their lives.

They have devoted themselves and continue to devote themselves to that simple understanding that until the most marginalized people are able to be free, no one is free.

And so it is fitting that we are doing this screening tonight with them centering their stories on Juneteenth.

So let’s just give them a round of applause even before we see it.

It is fitting that this event is here because as Jen said, we wanted to be doing this once a month for over a year and we had grand plans to do so. But then the pandemic arrived and changed all of our plans, but in so many ways opened up so many powerful conversations that we wouldn’t have been able to have people if we had only centered #LivesAtStake here in New York.

There are certain people in the room who were in #LivesAtStake, but we were able to include people like Cecilia, who is no longer with us, she was also a part of that.

And Elisa Crespo when she was running for City Council and so many other voices. And so I’m glad that we can finally, you know, come back full circle and be here together in this space.

For those of you all who don’t know, TransLash is a narrative change organization where we use the power of journalism and nonfiction storytelling to center the humanity of trans people.

Understanding that the violence against our community in all of its forms, the ways in which people are targeting us, comes down to the fact that people don’t see us as human.

And so we want to correct that as an organization and we try to do that in as many ways as possible.

We do so through written articles and we do that through films such as the one you’re going to see tonight.

We do so through zines and we do so through not one, but now three podcasts.

It started essentially in similar ways that you’re going to see tonight, where in 2018 I was encouraged by some of my colleagues who are journalists to tell my story about what it was like to be trans during the Trump era. Kind of the first wave of, you know, being targeted.

And the first thing that I said was, no one’s gonna care about that. And when I heard myself say those words, I immediately knew two things. I knew that one, that wasn’t what I actually believed because I had spent my entire life understanding the power of story and its ability to change and to motivate.

And secondly, I knew that if that was an unheard thought that I had in myself, that there were others who thought the same thing.

And if that were the case, that was the predicate for us to be harmed.

And so I called in a favor from a friend of mine who worked on reality television in Atlanta. And we essentially traveled the country  for a year doing the first docuseries for TransLash, which remains among some of our most watched videos, even as they are six years old.

But what eventually started with no money and a called in favor, I mean even the first logo was a bootleg design that he called in a favor from his friend who owed him a favor.

The whole thing has now grown into a team of people across the country who helped to produce the award-winning content that you all see all the time. And many of those team members are here and you should get to know them. If you’re a TransLash team member. or have you ever worked with Trans Lash, just raise your hand in some way. 

See there are a lot of, and you know, these are a smattering of some of the awards that we’ve gotten. And maybe after tonight and af0ter this film comes out next week, there’ll be some more. We’ll add to the list. Yeah, thank you, you can clap for those awards.

But a great way to learn about all of the things that TransLash is doing is in our brand new as of today website, which launched, which not only is an easy way for you to be able to see our array of content, but we also launched a new trans legislation dashboard, which makes it really easy for non-experts to see what’s going on with anti-trans legislation, what’s going on in your state.

And we did that in partnership with the Trans Legislation Tracker. So we’re thrilled to be able to do that. So there’s lots of content, lots of capabilities. So make sure you go to TransLash.org as of today to see our new website, but just not right now, here. Later on. Don’t get distracted to see all of the things that we are doing.

So that then brings us to how we are all here tonight. And essentially what happened is that during the George Floyd uprising in 2020, Time Magazine wanted to do an entire issue, which was devoted to reimagining America, right?

What would a new American Revolution look like? And my name is one of those names on the cover who was asked to reimagine what that looks like.

I wrote a piece about the vision and the power of Black trans people and the necessity of centering Black trans visions in a new America. That there was essentially no way for us to reimagine society without the contributions of Black trans people.

Because when you live in a society that’s not working for you, that makes you the perfect person to reimagine what that society would look like.

And that if you could redesign that society to work for the people that it’s not functioning for, that means you could build a society that works for everyone, right?

It removes us from a zero sum conversation and expands the idea of what’s possible.

Now for the next three years, people would ask me in various places, “what do you think is the most underreported story with trans people?” And I would always say, I think it is the leadership and the vision of Black trans people working to transform their communities one at a time.

And I would say it in so many times, in many ways because I had the hope that someone else was going to do the story.

You know, as a journalist, I don’t always feel like I have to tell every single story. It’s great if other people pick up these stories and tell them and see them at other places.

So I said it on NPR, not once, but twice. I said it on the PBS News Hour, I said it on MSNBC, I said it a bunch. 

And I kept thinking that some enterprising journalists, ’cause journalists are always looking for new stories to cover. we’re going to like dig deep and find the leaders that I was referencing and do an amazing story.

But at some point I realized that that wasn’t gonna happen. And it was a story that I believed was essential to be told.

And so once I get certain ideas in my head. I am annoying and I don’t stop. And so I didn’t stop.

So I got this idea and I went first to a bunch of people that I knew finally had a, a good meeting at the WNET Group. And you know, like all these meetings when you go in and pitch something, the first meeting is Aha. Yeah, okay. You know, like, but I kept going back and kept going back and finally they said, all right, well the only way to stop you from being annoying is to say that we’ll work with you on it.

And we did and then worked really hard to find stories that we thought were emblematic of this particular phenomenon. And that’s how logically we landed on these three people’s stories, who are you going to hear tonight.

And then we went out and found the right partners to be able to work with us to produce that: Naz, and then Tiler,  whose names you will see in the credits and who deserves so much of the credit for realizing this particular vision.

And then we set out across the country to make this film, you know, being trailed by a camera and asking people to tell their stories. So that’s why we are here tonight.

And what we are going to do is to listen to the really powerful visions of these three people that if our country actually adopted, if they were taking taken to scale would, be transformative.

And so, without further ado, I want to show you for the very first time in the world, American Problems, Trans Solutions: focusing on Kayla Gore, Breonna McCree, and Oluchi Omeoga

So as they get settled, I wanted to do two things, which is to first welcome everyone who is joining us on the livestream for The Greene Space and also on TransLash’s YouTube page.

You all were not able to see the film, but you will be able to see it on June 24th. So next week at 9:00 PM Eastern. But check your local listing as they say, because it’ll change.

It is being broadcast through our broadcast partner, PBS World, who this would not be possible without them opening and providing millions of viewers to us.

And so actually the head of PBS World is in the audience, Chris Hastings. So I just wanted to thank Chris. Chris came down from Boston. But anytime anyone from Boston comes from New York, you know they’re willing to do it. Sorry, Boston. Sorry Boston.

And secondly, I just wanted to let you all know that as well, each of you has a copy of the TransLash Zine on your seats that just came out today. It’s our latest zine and it’s uplifting, again, the voices and the stories of Black trans people, specifically Black Trans Femmes in the Arts.

Everyone online, you can go online to TransLash.org/zines and you can actually read it online. So, you’re not being excluded by not being here for that.

Thank you all so much.

Talk Back Q&A: Transcript

Imara Jones:

I want to know what it is like for you all to see yourselves up there. ’cause I don’t know how you feel, but mostly my days are, you know, answering emails and having to return calls and I’m running late and I’m in the drudgery of the work. I shouldn’t say drudgery, but I’m in the details of the work. Is it drudgery? Okay. 

I’m in the details. Okay. It is, it is. It’s another, be real, my Slack messages are pinging and I’m annoyed. So like that’s where I am mostly.

I’m not thinking about all the things that we’re doing.

But you know, I’m wondering if taking a step back how you all see yourselves, and your work…

Breonna McCree:

First, I can say for me, first, I just wanna say thank you. Can we give it up to Imara Jones for putting this together? For bringing us all together? Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. 

I would say for me, stepping back from the depths of the work and watching it, invigorates me to continue to do this work. I remember calling you just about a week ago saying, I’m tired of this. I’m done with this wor. I’m through with these people. but watching this gives, oh, this is what I do.

Because in the work, you lose exactly what you do because you’re just in the bowels of it. But to see it and reimagine, oh this is what I do, okay, yes, I’m gonna continue to do this.

So thank you for that. 

Oluchi Omeoga:

Yeah, I feel really similarly. I…a transparent moment: I hate watching myself on TV. This is the first time I’ve ever seen that. I like made it a point ’cause I was like, I do not like seeing myself.

But I’m also very grateful for like, just seeing all of the things, not only that I’ve done, but my comrades on the stage have also done, right.

I’ve been working with Kayla [Gore] for like six years now, and like I know about My Sista’s House, and like I know the impact that they’ve had. But just like watching it, I’m like, damn, she’s really putting in that work. So I don’t know if I can swear on PBS. Dang.

But like actually putting in that work and just like the brilliance of like Black trans leadership. Like I know it theoretically, but to see it is something that we’re not really shown, which is like another reason why I’m so grateful, these three are of hundreds of people, right? There are Black trans leaders in this room that I know do amazing work.

That’s right. But we’re not visible, as in the ways that we should be. So yeah, feeling surreal but also very humbled right now. Just like, yeah.

Kayla Gore:

In short, just everything that these two wonderful people said. But it also is a moment for me just to like, really to celebrate. It’s celebratory when we get to join in spaces like this.

I have come all the way from Memphis, Tennessee to New York City and like the red carpet has been laid out because of the work that you’ve done. Yeah. Which is not something  that Black trans people from the South really get to experience.

So being able to see us on the big screen is amazing.

And then the impact stories that you got from our residents, like we don’t do a lot of the that. Mm. So hearing it for the first time from a resident is like, it’s like music to my ears. Like we’re, we’re really getting it right. So, yeah.

Imara Jones:

I mean, I say all the time, first of all Oluchi,  you’re like, you’re saying that you’re like, you know, experiencing humility. I don’t say I can be humble in this outfit. Like, have you all seen this?

Oluchi Omeoga:

Every, everyone on stage got the memo but Kayla, it was supposed to be hues of red.

But you know, we can Photoshop something. 

Imara Jones:

I mean Kayla and, and Breonna like that makes sense to me. You know what I mean? Like, they’re always gonna do this, but I’ve never seen you like this. I have. You have? Yes.

Oluchi Omeoga:

I’m a Leo, so I’m always on 10. Okay. With the Libra rising. So the aesthetics are important.

Imara Jones:

Okay. Good to know. Good to know. 

Breonna McCree:

He left a part of it in the audio.

Imara Jones:

You know, one of the things that happens with stories, is that the stories that we tell actually are one of the ways that we signify who matters in the country.

Right? Like the stories that get told are the ones that we think are important, right? We always hear about George Washington. We never hear about the people that he enslaved or the people in the Continental Army who he betrayed, right? Who were Black and promised all sorts of things.

So, you know, there’s, the stories that we tell shape what we say is important. And one of the things that can happen is skepticism. Like when someone comes to your door and is like, “Hey, I wanna tell your story,” right?  

Even if they’re Black and trans, you’ll be like, “well what are you gonna say?” What are you gonna do?”

And I’m wondering like, what led you to say I’m going to go with this, I’m going to trust my story with someone else. Do you know what I mean? Because I think that like, there’s so many ways in which there’s a sense of betrayal right on. And that we can carry from our lives. And so I’m wondering, how did trust come up in this for you?

Kayla Gore:

For me, coming from a national organization working with Oluchi at the Transgender Law Center and having a comms team, and having them vet different media outlets before we give them our stories or tell them our nitty-gritty of, you know, the work that we’re doing.

We didn’t have to do that because we knew that it was coming from good stuff. 

We knew it was coming from people who are familiar with our experiences in life and how we experience life. So I don’t think it was, hmm, let me vet these people.

I knew of TransLash, I knew of you, and I knew of PBS of course, I grew up on that. That waslike the freest television ever.

Breonna McCree:

I loved The Electric Company and Sesame Street.

Oluchi Omeoga:

It was so funny though, ’cause I remember vividly like, the back and forth that was happening, because like Shelby actually texted me and Shelby was like, you need to talk to Imara. I was like, I didn’t get a call from Imara.

And then eventually we like got connected, and it wasn’t necessarily like a trusting, and like you telling the story. For me, it was more so like, why do you want me? I was like, there are so many other Black trans leaders here doing amazing work.

I was like, I think you were mistaking me with Ol. I think that’s who you want, and then you’re like, no it’s, it’s like we want you. And I think for me it was less about trusting you because I already knew around like all of the amazing documentaries that you did and the amazing narrative shift work that you’ve done, it was mainly like, I think you’re looking for the wrong person, you’re looking for the wrong nigga, and it’s not me, it might be someone else.

But I think that like once you were like, no, like we want you, then there was like a

re-trusting in myself and my own leadership that I had to do.

I think another really vulnerable moment was like my family being in the documentary and just like trusting like, that was like another hurdle for me because like my organizing work and my personal work usually is very siloed.

And so like that was like one of the first instances that it was kind of like a come together moment and also moment in which like my family got to hear about the work that I do in a way that’s not just like, I’m on MSNBC or Fox News and someone’s yelling at me ’cause I’m in the middle of a street.

Imara Jones:

I mean also, especially for the two people on the ends, but for all of you, we got very intimate, right? We’re in your mama’s house, we are in your house. We are hearing stories of you from, you know, remembrances that are extremely intimate. We’re literally in your parents’ house and your house. It’s, you know, it’s an intimate process.

So yeah, I just wanna express appreciation because we can only show as good a story as y’all allow us to show. Right. And you allowed us to show some, some really good stories.

So audience, I’m going to, this is your cue to think of your questions. We’re gonna take a few questions from the audience in a second.

This would be my last question.

So I’m telling y’all so that when we don’t, we don’t want that awkward moment when I’m like, when’s the question? And everyone’s like, okay, so we already had the awkward moment. It was just then. 

So right now when I say you’re gonna have your question:

We’re in an election year, and there’s not an issue that you all are working on that isn’t in the center of this particular campaign. And I’m wondering:

If you had an ability to call the people that are running together for office in a room, if they invited you and said, “what is the thing that I should know about what your community is facing from your vantage point, and the thing that I should do about it,” what would you say?

And let’s start with you Kayla, and go down the list.

Kayla Gore:

Oh, they put me in the hot seat. Okay.

Imara Jones:

Y’all are doing really well. I didn’t tell you these questions. So you’re doing quite well, I have to say, right?

Kayla Gore:

So I would definitely, we, we just got a new mayor, mayor Paul Young and we’ve been included in their budget as far as transitional housing funding goes.

So I would definitely like, you know, like hone in on, hey you’ve given us a little bit, now we need more. We’ve shown you what we can do in one year with a couple hundred thousand dollars.

Now let us show you what we can do. Like we can really, really flex out. So I definitely would like push the issue around housing policies and funding, right? Yeah. More availability of HUD funding for specific LGBT trans-specific housing as related to emergency transitional and permanent housing.

There’s funding already allocated federally, but it doesn’t really make it to organizations that are led by Black and brown trans people. Whether that’s because of capacity issues, whether that’s because of language barriers or disability issues or, or barriers. We just don’t feel into receiving that money and we have to find it other places like we did at My  Sistah’s House, which is through mutual aid; through people knowing people and saying, Hey, these people are worthy of your support down there in the South.

So I would definitely push toward more federal, state and local policies around funding and housing.

Imara Jones:

Yeah, we shown you what we can do with a couple hundred thousand, to how out a couple of million is what you’re saying. Yeah. I mean fundamentally also like the idea of the way that you instantly remove barriers to housing as ownership.

Like you instantly creating wealth by saying actually here’s a house and here’s land. And I always think that that’s,  ’cause it totally shifted my own point of view is like, well why do we have this process of essentially making it hard for people to, to be housed and to own?

That’s a choice. And I think that your program shows that.

Kayla Gore:

I agree. We modeled our emergency shelter off a housing first model and I feel like we’ve created a whole new model for how we house people through our transition and permanent housing. ‘Cause the tiny houses is like, people have a million questions and I’m like, oh these are all good questions.

But the answer is still like, yeah, very low barrier, no deposits, no…some things I can’t say because of insurance reasons. But – Yeah, there’s a lot of things that we that, that are typically done when people are, are leasing spaces or buying properties or land that we do not put people through.

We don’t ask a lot of invasive questions about income or income verification. It’s a really, like, I wish I had the process. I also wish I had a nice home for a lot of folks it’s their first place by themselves and they’re like, you can see, you saw they’re really, really nice homes and trans people, we really don’t get that experience in our lifetimes. Yes.

Imara Jones:

Breonna, what would you say?

Breonna McCree:

I would put them all in the room and say, you are the problem. I would say, yes, because they are, I would say your patriarchal systems are the problem that is killing America.

That is killing the land that we’re on.

But I would also say if you were to be able to shift the foundation for the most marginalized people, let me give you a blueprint on how to do that.

Because if you shift that foundation for us, then that lifts the foundation for everyone else.

Yeah. So I mean because with our program today, we have created almost 60 new entrepreneurs. Yes, we are working with the city to put them in pop-up shops all over the Bay area.

We are working with another project to actively put them in storefronts in the Tenderloin and beyond. And with extra funding we could fill the vacant storefronts in San Francisco.

Nordstrom’s, which is in one of the biggest mall is one is in one of the biggest malls in San Francisco, through our entrepreneurship program, we could fill that space in Nordstrom’s with trans and non-binary folks. That would be transformative in San Francisco,

a space that really it says “that we are a safe space for you. Come to us, we are your sanctuary city.”

Let me help you make this a sanctuary city for our most marginalized folks because it looks good for you as well. But it also helps us create ownerships and business. ‘Cause we’ve learned once we get in the door, then we hire each other and we make space for more of us to come in.

And I love how you said the Underground Railroad to the houses. ‘Cause we all are creating an underground railroad for Black and brown trans people. Let’s continue that.

But definitely they are still the problem.

Imara Jones:

Well, what’s not the problem are your shoes. They’re fabulous. Absolutely. What would you, I mean especially now, there’s so much going on. I mean, I’m being euphemistic, but there’s so much going on with immigration just in the past week and one of the things that we didn’t necessarily get to talk about is the way in which you personally, right?

Sometime and other people in BLMP get calls in the night of Black and brown trans people who are trapped on the other side of the border, because the border is now the only way to get into the United States, and have to try to bring them across using asylum laws. just in your area right now. What would you say?

Oluchi Omeoga:

Yeah, definitely ditto. I think too, I just, I’ve personally just been very unenthused about federal immigration policy in general, but I think the United States western powers have to be responsible for forced migration, period.

Yeah. The reason why people are leaving their homelands is not because they want to leave their homelands. If you live on an island, why would you wanna leave that? People are leaving their homelands because of Christian imperialism, because of patriarchy, gender-based violence, homophobia, transphobia.

And so because you are the cause of that problem, you need to be responsible for the solution. And what the United States is doing in this moment is the exact opposite.

We didn’t really talk about like what asylum looks like, but regardless of it’s a Democrat or a Republican in office, immigrants specifically will always be the first people that they attack.

And so the solution for that is one, get rid of detention.

A lot of folks don’t understand that if you present yourself and you seek asylum, you are automatically detained for an indefinite amount of time. Meaning that you are put in an immigrant prison. 

Get rid of detention for all folks who are seeking asylum.

I think the other thing that some folks don’t really conceptualize, is even when we think about these social services that we want folks to have: homes, we want folks to have economic freedom, that does not exist if you are not a citizen of the United States.

If you are undocumented or under-documented, you do not receive those same social services, and you might not even have a working document or a travel document. So you can’t even travel to see someone that might be dying in your home country.

And so why are there restrictions on folks who are who coming here because of the different tactics that we have used, while then restricting their migration even within the United States?

So just shifting our narrative on what we, what that looks like when we think about immigrants and migrant folks.

Imara Jones:

Thank you for that. Questions.

Oh, there’s one question in the back.

Audience Member:

Thanks for sharing your stories. I wanted to ask, what common personal themes or struggles do you see that Black trans leaders experience that don’t normally get represented or shared?

Oluchi Omeoga:

Can you repeat the question again? Sorry.

Audience Member:

Absolutely. What common personal themes or struggles do you see Black trans leaders experience that don’t normally get represented or shared? Yeah.

Breonna McCree:

I don’t wanna say our struggles because I feel like our struggles are always shared. That’s why  the work was created, because of our struggles and our disparities.

What doesn’t get shared is the way we create community. Mm.

The way we love on each other.

The way we create families.

the way like when we are in the streets, how we come together to survive in the streets.

I was on the streets for five years and I created family on the streets.

I met a woman that saved my life on the streets. Those are the stories that need to be shared.

I’m not gonna cry. I got on lashes. 

Imara Jones:

Too late. You already cried. 

Breonna McCree:

But those are the stories that need to be shared.

Kayla Gore:

Yeah, I would definitely agree. We share a lot when, and we go to therapy afterwards and

sometimes before, and then sometimes in that moment that is therapy for us to be able to share like our trans, like things that have transgressed us throughout our lives.

But I would like to see more moments of joy and liberation because we talk about getting there, but there are moments of joy and there are moments of liberation that we really don’t get to relish in.

This is one of those moments. So I think like having this broadcasted is another moment of like sharing that.

Like, we’re not just like, like look at us. We, we, we fine and fly up here.

So it’s not all bad. I said that to say it’s not all bad. We really do get to enjoy our lives and we get to see people enjoying their lives and their lives changing.

Like your story about Dolores, like that moved me. And then hearing that you’re paying it forward to other people and giving them an opportunity, not just giving them words of encouragement, but you’re giving them words of encouragement and there are tangible things attached to those words, which makes a whole heck of a difference.

Imara Jones:

Yeah. Yes. Right here.

Audience Member:

So first of all, I think there could be a film about each of you. And I hope that there is someday because I, the, the way the film was done was so well done. It leaves me wanting more, you know.

Specifically, I’m so curious about like where you said there’s over half a million dollars in grants given out and I think that was in, in the movie for Breonna’s.

Yeah. Yeah. Where did that come from? Is that from the city budget?

Breonna McCree:

Yeah, that’s from the city and county of San Francisco.  And I have to say thanks to Mayor Breed, our city mayor in San Francisco, she really invests in economic empowerment and ending trans homelessness.

She really puts her money where her mouth is when it comes to investing in the uplifting of trans and non-binary people in San Francisco.

We just recently passed a bill saying that San Francisco is now a sanctuary city on paper and we are the only city that has a Transgender History Month that is recognized in the

state of California due to Mayor Breed and Jupiter Peraza of The Transgender District.

Imara Jones:

One last question we have time for. Yep. Right here.

Audience Member:

What can the rest of us do to help?

Breonna McCree:

Money, money, money, money, period. 

Support the work that we do? Yeah. If you can’t donate money to the cause, uplift and amplify our story, share ’em on social media.

More visibility means more eyes on the things that we do for the people that we serve.

Oluchi Omeoga:

I would also say research the different movements that we are coming from, like what locally is happening in terms of housing for trans people where you live. 

What is happening as far as economic liberation? What is happening on the immigration front?

Because I think that one thing is the, the funding piece, but I think that there needs to be more collective political education around all of the things that are happening so that when we do have a moment where there’s like a mobilization, folks are more versed and more like, they’re more privy to what’s going on and they understand the fights and the local movements that are moving that work.

Kayla Gore:

I would agree with what both of them said. In addition to like people power. 

We are building houses and a lot of times it takes people and a community to help people get acclimated to home ownership. And that can look like cutting grass, helping them build a fence, like fixing things around their homes.

We have people who are 76 years old in some of our homes. So just, you know, just checking in on them and making sure that they’re not isolated in their new home.

So I think we really look for a lot of volunteers. I know y’all are up here in New York, but if you got a auntie or cousin that’s down there in the South, or they coming through Memphis, tell ’em to look us up, hit us up and you know, stop by. I will always have some outdoor work for you to do.

It’s true. I didn’t get this tan for nothing. It’s absolutely true. And it wasn’t on a beach.

Imara Jones:

I would also say that it’s just also extremely important to think that one, trans people are important. Like that’s a thing that most people don’t think about, but it actually, once you accept that, it shifts things.

And I also think understanding the centrality of trans lives to this moment and to this election, I would also add to that. I think that that’s a really important thing to hold onto as well.

Well thank you all so much. 

We want to invite you to hang around for the next half an hour or so. The drinks are on us

outside. There’s an open bar.

There’s also a step and repeat where you can take pictures of yourself, of the people who are in the film with each other. We would love for you all to do that.

Please make sure that you use the hashtag #AmericanProblemsTransSolutions and remember to watch on the 24th at 9:00 PM Eastern. But if you’re out beyond the East Coast, check your local listing because it changes station to station. Check your local PBS listing. 

And thank you all so much for coming. And Happy Juneteenth and Happy Pride. 

Happy Juneteenth.

Behind-the-Scenes at Translash’s Juneteenth Event

Enjoy some of the highlights from our American Problems, Trans Solutions special screening event with WNYC’s The Greene Space!

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America, as I wrote in The Grio, has the highest numbers of killings of trans women on the planet  with the exception of two countries: Brazil and Mexico. Nine out of 10 those killed in the United States are African-American.  In nearly every case where there is a suspect, someone charged or convicted, that person is a Black man. The truth about the reality of Black men’s roles in the deaths of trans women is a deeply disturbing one.

Because TransLash is a growing news source for trans and gender non-conforming people, especially those of color, we simply had to begin with this issue.

From the beginning, my goal was to make this Lives at Stake conversation an authentic one. That’s why I deliberately chose two, cis, heterosexual men, in their 30s, from the working-class neighborhood of East Flatbush rather than well-known voices.  One, Randy Davidson, was trans skeptical while the other, Justin Freeman, trans supportive. Randy and Justin were asked to join me and Nala Simone, a trans activist who participated in the controversial The Breakfast Club trans roundtable with Malik Yoba, in a frank exchange. 

This desire for a forthright conversation was why I was so disappointed in Randy’s decision to exit the program just one hour before we were set to begin.

Throughout the Black community, we must engage those with different thoughts and perspectives if we are going to save the lives of Black trans women.  We can’t only be talking to those who feel the exact same way we do, because those who agree with us are not the ones causing the harm. 

However Randy’s absence from Friday night’s dialogue is a metaphor for the absence of Black heterosexual men from this discussion overall.  And it is why I chose to leave his chair empty on the set as a visual representation of this gap. 

Randy’s decision points out a larger dynamic at work cited by Justin on Friday. “For men checking your boys on transphobia,” he said, “could put a target on your back.” This means that men themselves are afraid to police each other on this issue, leaving very little cultural accountability for their actions against trans women. It also underscores the larger cultural backdrop for the crisis of masculinity at this moment.  

As long as manhood is grounded in patriarchy—with its essential emphasis on a hierarchy and the domination of others at its core—then Black trans women will continue to lose their lives at a staggering rate.   

Yet patriarchy doesn’t work along in this matter. It is twinned with racism. Our turn to the ways in which patriarchy and racism work together during Lives at Stake led Justin to emphasize the Hegelian, “master-slave” philosophical framework into the conversation.  Justin’s core point is that many people only feel whole when they control the life and death others. This leaves us in a dark place.

The good news though is that healing is possible.  It must begin with Black, cis, heterosexual men acknowledging the harm that they have caused.  As Nala put it, “Black cis men need to know that there’s hurt. My life must matter enough for you to say to me, ‘I see you , what is it that you need?’ Black cis men must step up.”

Nala is right which is why we are committed to continuing to have this conversation through Lives at Stake and throughout our channels.  Within the first hour, our conversation had garnered thousands of views which underscores that there is a hunger for more of these types of explorations. 

Our next Lives at Stake conversation will be a one-on-one interview with ACLU lawyer, Chase Strangio, to unpack the issues in three, October 8, cases before the Supreme Court.  Zarda v. Altitude Express, Bostock v. Clayton County and Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC will determine whether discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity are unconstitutional. 

I hope that you can join us and spread the word.  

TransLash Episode 3 premiered April 12, 2019, at 12:30 PM ET on the TransLash Facebook page. Join the conversation; everyone is welcome to participate.

For the latest on TransLash, please subscribe to our newsletter and follow us Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

Trans storytelling saves Trans lives. Help us make TransLash Episode 4: The Future of Trans with your monthly or on-time donation today. 

The post Lives At Stake: A Conversation Between Black Straight Men & Black Trans Women appeared first on TransLash Media.

The participants of the panel discussion were Imara Jones, founder and CEO of TransLash Media, Cathy Renna, moderator and Communications Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, Tracy E. Gilchrist, VP, Exec. Producer of Entertainment, Host @equalpride, Ina Fried, Chief Technology Correspondent for @Axios, Sonia Murphy, and Amir, representatives from GenderCool.

The post TransLash receives NLGJA Excellence in Podcasting Award appeared first on TransLash Media.

New York, USA – June 7, 2014: Facade of the New York Times headquarters building in Midtown Manhattan. Photo credit: mizoula

The New York Times’ Statement in response to The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: a Plot Against Equality Season 2 Episode 5 Capturing The New York Times:

“We reject the claim that our coverage is biased. The role of an independent news organization is to report on issues of public importance and follow the facts where they lead. 

As part of that mission, we’ve reported fully and fairly on transgender issues ranging from challenges and prejudice faced by the community, to the fight for expanding rights and freedoms, and open debates about care. Our coverage has been rigorously reported and edited, respectful of the people we’re covering and sensitive to the moment. It is providing a vital service to the LGBTQ+ community and our readership. 

The New York Times has published hundreds of articles — with a collective word count well over 330,000 — specifically on discrimination against transgender people and/or anti-transgender legislation since January 2020.”

TransLash’s Unanswered Questions of The New York Times

#1

How does The New York Times respond to our reporting that found the paper is laundering the myth of social contagion and other anti-trans disinformation in its pages? If the paper claims not to have an anti-trans bias, why doesn’t it properly contextualize or qualify anti-trans pseudoscience nor the organizations like Genspect which propagate it?

#2

Is it true that specific people in Times leadership believe that transness is a social contagion and are more inclined to run stories that support the idea of social contagion and to do so without the application of the paper’s own journalistic standards?  

#3

How has The New York Times responded internally to the concerns raised by staff about anti-trans bias and the paper not meeting its own journalistic standards on this topic? 

#4

Our reporting found that staff who go through the existing internal channels to hold The New York Times to its own journalistic standards are not taken seriously. And those who continually push for journalistic integrity on this issue internally are met with negative professional consequences by management. Why is that?

#5

Can The Times provide insight into why Dean Baquet shared Harper’s email with the masthead?

#6

Can The Times provide any insight into why Emily Bazelon’s piece “The Battle Over Gender Therapy” received the Publisher’s Award? How does A.G. Sulzberger respond to our reporting that found the piece elevates disinformation and gives credibility to the organizations and sources spreading that disinformation without qualification nor context?

#7

How does The New York Times respond to reporting from us that the Chairman AG Sulzberger is trying to push the paper to the right in order to appeal to right-wing audiences?

#8

Is it true that members of The Times masthead read and shared anti-trans posts from Bari Weiss’ substack with other masthead members? 

#9

As we reported, the New York Times dedicated 10,000 words of front-page coverage to raising concerns about medical care for trans youth in 2022, yet zero front page stories were dedicated to the nationwide, persistent and coordinated attacks to take away gender affirming healthcare from trans youth in that year. Given what stories the New York Times is choosing to center and elevate, how can the New York Times deny anti-trans bias in its coverage?

#10

Why is The New York Times conflating the contributor letter raising journalistic concerns with the GLAAD letter, by explicitly ignoring the former? Do leaders at The New York Times not believe that there was a difference between them? And was the lack of silence on the contributor letter a tactic to avoid addressing their points? 

#11

Is the New York Times concerned that its reporting—specifically its lack of contextualization of organizations and people who are skeptical, questioning or hostile to gender-affirming care—has been used or cited by anti-trans activists and lawmakers intent on denying health care and other rights to transgender people? Specifically, Texas lawmakers citing Times reporting in court to bolster their argument against families of trans youth, or the Attorney General of Arkansas who cited biased New York Times articles in an amicus brief supporting an Alabama law that criminalizes doctors and parents who provide trans youth with healthcare. What actions is The New York Times considering to possibly address those concerns?

#12

One concern we heard from staff was that trans voices were often left out of key conversations. Our research has found that to be largely accurate. Of the 330,000 words that the New York Times dedicated to attacks on transgender people and our rights, do you have data on how often the voices of transgender people were included in those pieces?

#13

One common theme throughout our investigation was that staffers said masthead leadership—including Carolyn Ryan, Cliff Levy and Pamela Paul—refused to apply the paper’s rigorous editorial standards to unsubstantiated or disputed claims about transgender care, and/or routinely defended stories that misidentified anti-trans activists as experts who spoke on those matters. Can you clarify the standard as it exists now? Can the NYT provide other examples where the political motivations of activists were not disclosed in favor of generic titles of authority?

#14

Did anyone on the masthead, including Pamela Paul, ever raise the factual and ethical concerns to Jesse Signal that were brought up internally by Times Out and other staff members about his review of Helen Joyce’s book?

#15

Did Jesse Singal’s article ever go through the standard fact checking process and, if so, were there ever any issues raised by that fact check?

#16

In the statement you provided, the New York Times defends its reporting on trans issues, saying the paper has published hundreds of articles “specifically on discrimination against transgender people and/or anti-transgender legislation since January 2020.” TransLash’s extensive analysis of New York Times coverage of trans issues found disinformation and anti-trans pseudoscience to be regularly elevated in these articles without correction or context. How does the New York Times respond to these findings and does the New York Times have any standards or guidelines for correcting anti-trans bias in its pages?

Listen to the episode of The Anti-Trans Hate Machine where TransLash investigates The New York Times:

Access the full transcript for Capturing The New York Times here.

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On Monday, April 8, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) delivered the latest piece of transphobic policy in athletics by banning transgender women from women’s sports. This marks the first time a national organization has made sex assigned at birth a requirement for participation in sports, as athlete Chris Mosier pointed out in his response on Instagram.

So why were 5 states actively Googling “NAIA” last week? Let’s get into it.

How the NAIA’s Anti-Trans Sports Ban Impacts These Key States

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which is made up of 241 small colleges and universities across the country, announced a new policy stating “only NAIA student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports.”

The NAIA further admitted it had “no knowledge of transgender athletes competing in its postseasons to this point,” per CBS Sports, suggesting this ban was the result of political pressure.

While this news is a painful blow to trans and gender nonconforming communities across the country, it seems to be of special interest to residents of five states:

Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, and Montana were among the top states that Googled the “National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics”/”NAIA” in the week following the announcement, according to Google Trends.

As it turns out, four of those states already have anti-trans sports bans, and one has had a ban introduced in its state legislature; specifically, all five states have anti-trans sports bills either in place or introduced in their legislatures.

NAIA’s new policy will now worsen conditions for trans athletes in four of those states.

How North Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Montana Are the Most Impacted

While the NAIA policy might not make a difference to trans athletes already facing sports bans in Iowa, it certainly will have devastating impacts on the four other states that turned to Google to research the NAIA over the past week.

North Dakota and Kansas

In both North Dakota and Kansas, trans women and girls are currently barred from women’s sports:

In 2023, North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill into law that restricts transgender health care in the state, immediately making it a crime to give gender-affirming care to people younger than 18. He also signed a transgender athlete ban into law after it similarly passed the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities.

Additionally in 2023, the Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s third veto in three years of a bill to ban transgender athletes, and came a day after state lawmakers passed a broad bathroom bill.

There are five NAIA colleges in North Dakota, while Kansas has a whopping 15, making both states especially worrisome places for trans and gender nonconforming folks hoping to join men’s sports teams and take HRT — and, ideally, do both of those things freely and privately.

The news of NAIA’s policy will likely be especially upsetting for transmasculine athletes in those states who may undergo or are currently taking HRT.

Montana

Transmasc athletes in Montana will now face similar limitations at the state’s six NAIA schools. But the bad news, unfortunately, doesn’t end there. Currently Montana prevents trans women and girls from women’s sports in K-12 only, due to a court order that ruled higher education bans unconstitutional. That’s no longer the case for trans female athletes who will now be barred from women’s athletics at Montana’s NAIA colleges.

While there may be no new anti-LGBTQ legislation in Montana and North Dakota so far this year, the former is facing a near ban on changes to birth certificates, while a North Dakota gender-affirming care ban for youth remains held up in court.

Nebraska

The ramifications of the new policy are most infuriating, however, when we look to Nebraska:

Earlier this month trans Nebraskans celebrated a major victory when a bill that sought to ban trans folks from sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms was found triumphantly dead on the legislative floor, according to the AP. But that incredible news has now been eclipsed by the NAIA’s transphobic decision, which will impact athletes at the state’s eight NAIA-affiliated schools.

It’s not hard to understand why these five states Google searched the NAIA the most — nearly all of them remain a hotbed of anti-trans legislative hate.

Allyship Matters

There is growing concern that NAIA’s decision could spiral into something worse by putting pressure on the NCAA to follow suit with their own anti-trans sports ban. Regardless of what happens, we can only hope that more vocal allies like Dawn Staley — the South Carolina Gamecocks coach who recently voiced her support for trans female athletes — continue to join us in fiercely defending trans rights.

It’s clear that trans folks and their families in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, and North Dakota are in a constant state of panic as their survival and safety remains threatened under existing transphobic laws, not to mention whatever future ones pass now through May or re-emerge in 2025.

Why NAIA’s Decision Has Nationwide Implications

There are currently 24 states nationwide that ban transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports, including Iowa, North Dakota, Montana, and Kansas. The latter has been one of the most contentious, with Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly notably rejecting such sports bills in the past.  The Republican-controlled legislature voted to override her 2023 veto, banning trans female athletes in kindergarten through college.

It’s far from a surprise to see Kansas ranked as the top state Googling the NAIA given this history, but the state is facing even more horrific legislation this session with 16 anti-LGBTQ bills, according to the ACLU’s Tracker.

The most alarming is a ban on gender-affirming health care for trans youth that’s already passed and is awaiting signage from the Governor.

In Iowa, trans athletes have been banned from participating in sports aligned with their gender identity since 2022.

Among the 34 anti-LGBTQ bills the ACLU is tracking so far this year, one has been dubbed the “LGBTQ erasure” bill, which would require trans and nonbinary Iowans’ sex assigned at birth to be listed on new birth certificates and ID cards.

How NAIA’s Anti-Trans Sports Ban Impacts Transmaculine Athletes

The new anti-trans policy allows all athletes to participate in men’s sports, however there’s limitations for trans men and gender nonconforming folks who have “begun masculinizing hormone therapy,” per the policy. In a clear violation of privacy, NAIA institutions are required to notify the association’s national office if they have an athlete who has “begun masculinizing” HRT. 

The reasons for reporting that personal information remain unclear, along with what the NAIA means by “begun” HRT. What about someone who’s started and stopped HRT treatment, intersex folks undergoing HRT, or even cisgender male athletes on TRT?

One could poke holes in this inane classification of transness and medicalization endlessly.

NAIA Defense: Trans-Affirming Resources

While all LGBTQ Americans could be impacted by the aftermath of the NAIA’s transphobic policy decision, here are some trans-affirming resources in Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota:

Iowa:

• ➤ The Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund distributes financial assistance to trans and non-binary individuals in Iowa for access to gender-affirming care.
• ➤ Iowa Safe Schools is an advocacy organization that provides support, victim services, resources, and events for LGBTQ youth, as well as educators, administrators, and the families and community members of LGBTQ youth.
• ➤ UCS Healthcare in Des Moines offers free transgender support groups for trans adults, trans teens, and for parents and partners of trans folks.
• ➤ One Iowa is an education and advocacy nonprofit that connects transgender Iowans to healthcare, support and social groups, and legal services, and features a list of local trans resources on their website.
• ➤ Aime Wichtendahl: elected to the Hiawatha, Iowa, City Council in 2015. She is the first openly trans woman elected to government in Iowa and she is running for the Iowa House of Representatives:

Kansas:

• ➤ The Center of Wichita offers a support group for LGBTQ+ youth and their families, a meeting space LGBTQ+ groups, and a growing LGBTQ+ library, and resources for other LGBTQ+ organizations across the state.
• ➤ Our Spot KC is a hub for resources that support, advance and equip LGBTQ+ individuals including programs such as Lion House, a transitional and rapid rehousing program, and a food truck meal program.
• ➤ Gender Pathway Services at the Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, KS offers family-centered services for transgender and gender-questioning children.
• ➤ Stephanie Byers: elected to the Kansas House of Representatives. She is the first openly trans woman of color to serve in and to be elected to a state legislature and the first Native American trans person to hold elected office in the United States (January 11, 2021 – January 9, 2023).

Montana:

• ➤ TransVisible Montana is a coalition of TGNC2S individuals and organizations who provide workshops, leadership opportunities, education, and more across the state.
• ➤ TransClosetMT is a trans-run mutual aid resource based in Bozeman, MT offering free gender-affirming clothes, shoes, and undergarments for trans+ folks across the state.
• ➤ The Center is western Montana’s LGBTQ+ space that offers a live chat space for LGBTQ+ teens, a weekly trans, intersex, & nonbinary group, a library, a queer clothing closet, and more.
• Zooey Zephyr: State Representative out of Missoula, Montana, elected to the 100th District of the Montana House of Representatives. She is the first openly transgender elected official in the Montana Legislature (January 2, 2023 – present).

Nebraska:

• ➤ Panhandle Equality is a nonprofit that advances LGBTQ+ rights in the Nebraska Panhandle, and offers a Transgender-Care Fund for costs related to transitioning and a free community clothing closet.
• ➤ Trans Stichin’ is a free closet of gender-affirming clothing in Omaha, and offers a list of local trans-affirming mental health professionals on their website.
• ➤ TransNebraska is a branch of the ACLU of Nebraska that offers a list of community resources, such as support groups and health resources, and information on name and gender marker changes.
• ➤ Jay Irwin: Faculty member @UNOmaha and a medical sociologist specializing in LGBTQ+ health & trans identities.
• In May 2023, Nebraska State Sen. Megan Hunt responded to one of her colleagues, Republican Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, who complained that the filibuster attempts to stop gender-affirming care and abortion bans caused her to miss events like her grandson’s school graduation:

North Dakota:

• ➤ Harbor Health Initiative is a former gender-affirming care clinic that now offers support with name and gender marker changes, connections to trans-affirming medical providers, and more.
• ➤ Trans-portation ND is a Facebook group that raises funds to buy gas cards to be donated and distributed to the families of young trans and nonbinary people in North Dakota.
• ➤ ACLU of North Dakota
• ➤ Dakota OutRight works to improve the lives of LGBTQIA2S+ people in Central North Dakota through connection, visibility, & advocacy. 

Learn more about trans athletes on TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones:

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The post Why Were These 5 States Googling NAIA’s Anti-Trans Sports Ban? appeared first on TransLash Media.

SXSW TRANSCRIPT: Responsible Reporting on Anti-Trans Violence for Journalists

INTRODUCTIONS

IMARA JONES: Welcome everyone to our panel today, which is going to be on responsible reporting on anti-trans violence. We’re thrilled to have this conversation with you at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, which of course is a focal point for not only anti-trans laws and anti-trans violence. And there’s a relationship between those things, which we can help unpack and discuss as well.

And also a place where, because of the way in which trans people are often portrayed, it contributes to the atmosphere of violence: physical violence, policy violence, cultural violence, and, all of the ways that that people can be attacked.

And we know that the media has a really important role in shaping the way issues are framed and shaping the way that people think [learn more about the #AntiTransHateMachine].

And it’s the feeling on every feeling, every single person on this panel, that if you can move those two things, that they can have a direct impact on increasing the safety and the strength of ability for us to live long, protected, and healthy lives.

Because trans people are only 1% of the population, it means that we have to be even more reliant on the ability of media and journalism in all of its forms to portray us in a way, so that people can get to know us and understand that we are human beings and deserve the same human rights as everyone.

So what we are going to do today is to show the way in which media portrayals of us and the way that we are reported on, in both the political mainstream entertainment press, directly impact our safety. And we’ll also talk about ways that we believe that the reporting on us in those various spheres of journalism can be improved, and what action people can take in order to help make us safer. We’re going to talk for about 35, 40 minutes, to kind of start the conversation and let you all know what we are thinking, and then move to questions from you all, which will be a really valuable and enriching part of this conversation.

So, we just want to thank you for joining us. I’m gonna start with introductions and then we’ll move to the conversation. My name is Imara Jones. I am the founder and CEO of Trans slash Media, which is a journalism and non-profit storytelling organization, which uses the power of narrative in order to center the humanity of trans people. And we do so with the very direct idea that the power of storytelling and centering our humanity as a way to decrease violence against trans people because we believe at TransLash that the ignorance about our communities is what contributes to our lack of wellbeing. And we do so in a variety of ways. We do so through video, including documentaries, short documentaries, animated films. We have three podcasts. One just launched on Thursday, just yesterday, called The Mess. It’s a political podcast.

We do so through zines. We do so through a variety of media, and at TransLash what we say is that we tell trans stories to save trans lives. And so it’s one of the reasons why I’m thrilled, as a part of my work, to be in conversation with everyone here. And I’m just going to tell you who all of these amazing people are. ‘Cause each of them could be a panel by themselves and in their own right.

The first person, uh, to my left is Serena Jazmine. Serena is a senior digital manager at Transgender Law Center. Serena is also a journalist, having been a correspondent at [redacted] where we first met, all those years ago. Who’s counting? Serena also has a TikTok, you know, on brand, which seeks to talk about the reality of trans people, both in terms of politics and what’s happening to us, and as well as centering our humanity.

Next to Serena is Eva Reign. Eva is a GLAAD and Peabody Award-winning actress, as well as journalist, having written for imprints like Vogue, Vice, as well as TransLash. And then Eva is also the star of anything Anything’s Possible on Amazon Prime. So for all of you Prime subscribers, you know, we get Prime video as a part of that. So it’s real easy to go there and type in Anything’s Possible where you can see Eva’s work. So we’re thrilled to have Eva here.

And then last but not least is Arielle Rebekah, who is a communications consultant at the Transgender Law Center. And also, I’m gonna get this very right, Ariel is the founder of Trans and Caffeinated––I mean, so many things you can do with that brand, right? It’s not my job, but I’m coming up with branding ideas––founder of Trans and Caffeinated Consulting, which offers communications and advocacy support to progressive organizations and anyone who wishes to inject those perspectives in their work. Please welcome our panelists today.

Misrepresentation of Trans People in Mainstream America

IMARA JONES: One of the things that I wanted to start you all with in terms of contextualization is to show just how much stereotypes, disinformation, and the misrepresentation of trans people has funneled into the mainstream ideas of America, and specifically mainstream journalism. And we know that if it’s there, it’s everywhere. It’s literally, as the pop culture collaborative says is, you know, the ocean that we are swimming in, it is the narrative ocean that we are swimming in. And it gives context to what we’re gonna talk about today.

At Trans Lash, we have a group of investigative journalists that since 2020 has been working to unpack the people, the money, the organizations, that are driving anti-trans hate, and subsequently anti-trans violence in the country. And their work is encapsulated in, a podcast that we have, an investigative series, that we have called The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot Against Equality.

And each season we take a different look at what’s driving the violence in these bills. And most recently, we had an entire season that was devoted to the media and to the media landscape, and the penultimate episode of that podcast focused on the New York Times and the way in which misrepresentations, disinformation, stereotypes about trans people have made their way into the New York Times. And how that is being weaponized against trans people.

For people who don’t want to spend an hour and 10 minutes with that episode listening to it online, we’ve also developed a two and a half minute animation, which encapsulates some of the main points.

What we show is how the New York Times has essentially decided to become a repository for anti-trans information by the conversations of pseudoscientific groups like the American College of Pediatricians by uplifting discredited, disgruntled Christian nationalist parents who say that their kids are being trans are as a result of social contagion. And also by listening to other various discredited voices, and I mean, discredited scientifically, who support these ideas about transness essentially not being real. And we know that those representations that are in the New York Times are actually being quoted in the various state capitals across the country as a legitimizing factor for anti-trans bills. And we know that in those states, that whenever those bills are discussed, that, that the calls to suicide hotlines of trans and other queer youth shoot through the roof, which means that there’s a very clear connection between the media landscape, these bills, and violence that trans people face.

And one of the most stark examples of that, that we have recently, although it is clearly not the only one, is Nex Benedict. And Nex Benedict lived in a state in which they have increasingly passed laws to erase and makes schools hostile to trans youth. And their murder shows the consequence of that. And that’s on top of the violence that trans people face overall. The fact that for several years in a row, we have record breaking years of murders of trans people in this country. And what’s most [muffled] about a lot of those murders is that the people who kill trans people don’t believe that they’ve done anything wrong, and they don’t believe that they’ve done anything wrong because they live in a world where they receive messages that trans people are fake, not real, and therefore not human, and don’t even deserve the basic ability to breathe.

In some of these cases, when you read about these murders, the men that commit them will literally wait for the police because they don’t believe that they’ve done anything wrong. And so what we want to do is to talk about the messages that people are receiving that allow them to commit these extreme acts of violence in all of the ways. So first I want to talk to you, Serena, who understands kind of the digital landscape in great detail, but also has been a reporter in newsrooms. Can you just give a sense of what the conversations are like about trans people that leads to some of these misrepresentations?

Serena Jazmine: Yes, absolutely. So I’ve been working in different newsrooms for a decade now, starting at the Huffington Post, Mic, Slate, Conde Nast. So I’ve gone from a period where newsrooms didn’t care at all about trans issues, and the trans community was under recorded on, and now what we’re seeing is a saturation of coverage about our community, right?

But as we all know, visibility without protection is a curse, and it’s ultimate, ultimately detrimental because we’re seeing, like you mentioned, legacy publishers, some of the most storied giants in journalism, like the New York Times, like the Washington Post, um, amplifying, anti-trans rhetoric that the data shows has a direct through line to acts of anti-trans violence being committed. So I think a lot of times when publishers like the New York Times are covering the trans community in this way, maybe they think that it’s a good business decision because for better, for worse, people are invested in our community right now, you know, across political leanings, across police.

People really want to read and consume news about the trans community. And so, in a way, these publishers are capitalizing on it, but they’re actually doing themselves a disservice in the long run because in order to build sustainable journalism around the trans community, you have to build a through line to the community. You have to develop trust. And what they’re doing is breaking trust, because we take notice of the publishers that are reporting sensitively and responsibly about a community, and we take notice about the ones who don’t, and we become more reluctant to speak to ’em when incidents happen. We tell our community members not to trust these journalists, uh, these reporters. And it erodes trust over time. And so, you know, as reporters, I think we should care about finding solutions to an anti-trans violence, because it’s the morally and ethically responsible thing to do.

But I know publishers don’t always care about that. So it’s also, if they don’t care about that, should be an incentive to them from a business model perspective to start responsibly reporting on trans the trans community. Because when they own trust, they’re basically building a wall between themselves and a community that they’re relying on right now to meet their KPIs, their page views, you know what I mean? So I think another issue is that legacy publishers like the New York Times are using their opinion sections as a way to just amplify and platform blatant anti-trans personal essays from people who just dislike trans people. And so they’re giving legitimacy to news that are completely have been debunked by science, by medical professionals. And so I think this is especially troubling in an era where we’re seeing publications that are actually reporting on the trans community in ways that are accurate, like Buzzfeed and, the Huffington Post and Vice being completely shuttered, their newsroom’s gutted.

So it’s like the space that’s being occupied by journalists who actually want to report on the trans community in ways that are beneficial is shrinking. And now it’s leaving this huge space for publishers who don’t care about our community to basically say whatever they want without any resistance. So that’s why encourage journalists who have been laid off, or who are looking to pivot in a different direction, to start a substack, to start a TikTok account, to start a podcast, to find ways to tell these stories in ways that circumvent the legacy media world, because they’re gonna filter our ideas and they’re gonna filter the trans voices. And so I ultimately think that’s going to be one of the long term solutions.

Trans Representation in Hollywood

IMARA JONES: Um, Eva, given your unique role as having been in the world of mainstream journalism and now in the world of, um, entertainment and Hollywood, I’m wondering what you see as the echoes between what you see, um, the way in which media coverage and mainstream press happens, and how it actually influences how Hollywood sees us and therefore, um, the roles that people are offered or the stories that get told?

EVA REIGN: That’s a good question. Um, I’m just kind of sitting with it. I’m like, Hmm. Well, you know, one thing that Hollywood does is Hollywood does chase the money, right? So pretty much anytime that Hollywood sees that there is a group of people that is “trendy,” you know, that’s like starting to pick up steam. That’s like, that is when we start to see that reflected back in shows and films, or even music. You know, I think one thing that, yeah, so with trans narratives, um, oddly enough, Hollywood was kind of one of the arenas that we started to see more positive representation. While that wasn’t always the case, you know, like, I mean, if you look back at like what was happening, um, pretty much anything like pre 2012 was pretty negative when it comes to trans representation, right?

The more we started to see different activists speak up and people slowly started to change their views on us, that is when we started to see more trans roles on television. Which, you know, they weren’t perfect. They were kind of clunky. And I think part of that is Hollywood saw that there was something that was eye catching about us, and they wanted to use that to garner more attention, to garner more views, um, to kind of have this like wow factor to all of their programs. We really suffered through all of that, and trans writers did also, uh, but, you know, thanks to people like Laverne [Cox] who were able to really like push through that, we then started to see this shift where, um, there was more positive representation of us. There was more holistic representation of us also, that kind of went beyond just like the coming out story and talk around like what body parts we have, but actually talked about who we are as people.

And like that led to shows like Pose that led to us seeing trans people just a part of people’s everyday lives on screen, whether that was Elliot Fletcher on Shameless or like Ian Alexander on Star Trek, and now we’re slowly starting to see more starring roles such as Tracy Ette and Monica, me with Anything’s Possible in Prime. You know, we’re starting to see this shift, but it is slow. I do think it’s steady. And I think that Hollywood is kind of like one of the few mediums that we have to like, show ourselves in a positive light, um, after, you know, yeah, like the shuttering of several newsrooms. Um, now that there are a number of trans people who do have strong platforms who are on talk shows, like going on there and talking about their lives, um, or on TikTok or on Instagram, you know, like, we have other ways to show our voices and show who we are.

But yeah, it gets tricky with Hollywood, you know. I think Hollywood, I think they don’t quite know how to always cast us in things because they don’t really understand who we are. They just know that they want to see trans people in different roles. But, you know, I mean, oftentimes when I get a breakdown for stuff, it’s not quite clear like what kind of trans person they’re looking for.

You know, it can be super broad. I mean, it’ll say they want like, you know, like a white guy with blonde hair who’s like really [muffled] or whatever. But then when it comes to trans people, it can just be as broad as like, um, like trans/genderqueer person ages 18 to 50.

And I’m like, what does that mean? You know, like, what exactly are you searching for? So I think, yeah, I think there’s a lot of ways in which people are slowly becoming educated on us. Even with like the negative, uh, the negative stories that we’ve seen from, you know, like, from the early 2000s, there’s, I mean, there’s lots of people who actually saw something positive in that, and it did shift how they viewed us. It made them think twice about how they interact with trans people. So every like, every little thing does count.

But I think the biggest thing that we can always do is to really make sure that we’re telling our stories accurately and make sure that the people who call themselves our allies, but they are also holding themselves to a higher standard on, you know, how they show up for us. Yeah.

IMARA JONES: Yeah. I think one of the questions, I mean, it’s interesting ’cause you’re saying that the roles are trickling in and they’re slightly getting better, but then you can get, have a situation where, you know, someone like Dave Chappelle is suddenly platformed and, you know, with anti-trans rhetoric, they have the biggest, streams of that year on Netflix. And so it’s the way in which like, even though there are these trickle of roles, you’re still contesting the images of trans people that still can garner huge audiences, right?

EVA REIGN: Absolutely. Yeah ’cause I mean, trans, I mean, transness is such a, it can be such a spectacle to different people, you know? And I think that is where a lot of the draw comes from. Especially when it comes to trans women. We have always been the most visible because people, um, people are very caught up on the whole notion of what makes a woman, what makes a woman appear attractive, what makes her appear not attractive, all these things.

And, and so, you know, even when we turn on very like far right media, likeFox News, they’re typically focusing on trans women, and they’re focusing on us and using the bathroom and us entering sports. And yeah, like when you go online, you see the major impact of, all these negative ideals and notions that are being output, with people very much focusing on this whole idea of like a man being in the bathroom, or a man being in a dress or whatever, whatever, whatever.

Um, it’s false. All of it is, you know, fueled by people who, probably don’t know us or maybe they do, or, you know, maybe they do know us in a very personal way, you know, I mean, we’ve seen that multiple times, but people who have the most to say about us are also the same ones who are hitting us up in our Instagram messages in the middle of the night, right? Um, you know, or they’re on Tinder or whatever dating app, you know, and they also are turning around and trying to save face by being so adamantly anti-trans.

And it is this big question of like, why are you so concerned with us? Um, why is there such a big spectacle of us in journalism? Because that is because that, that like gets clicks, right? That gets lots of clicks, that gets lots of traffic. Um, and, uh, you know, I think there’s….I think when it comes to the spectacle that sadly is what has, um, garnered more roles for us in, in Hollywood was, you know, that is also what has generated more storylines for us, and that also gives us so much more to push back against, you know?

And I think that’s why, um, you know, the fact that we all make our own media, that we all are showing our faces and being proud of who we are, that is such a powerful thing. Yeah. Because in this world with so much propaganda around our very being, it can be very easy for trans folks to feel that we can’t even walk outside our front door because we think that people are going to put this camera up to our face. You know, we see this on social media, we see it in the news.

Yeah, I think like the more that we just keep generating and the more that we keep showing up for our selves first and foremost, um, the more we will see a positive change in helping people like Dave Chappelle and all those other people who probably do have a fetish for us, we’re being totally honest, you know, the more we can get them to shut up and run their own damn business. So, yeah.

IMARA JONES: Yeah. I think as, um, as Trace Lysette said in her famous TikTok, um, framed Dave Chappelle as “it’s giving client,” yeah. So giving client.

Anti-Trans Violence Reporting in Local Newsrooms

IMARA JONES: Alright, Rebekah. I want you to help take us to two places where you know a lot about: the first is the way that anti-trans violence is reported in local newsrooms, and specifically in relationship to the murders of trans people, specifically Black trans women.

So take us into the things that they’re getting wrong and how those portrayals are harmful and what’s wrong, and then some of the thoughts you have about ways that, especially in local news, um, where and how things can change.

ARIELLE REBEKAH: Yeah, no, thanks for that question. So I think what’s so interesting about reporting on anti-trans violence is there’s basically this like one Facebook group called Trans Violence News, where all of the conversations, all of the initial reports about incidents of anti-trans violence, begin. And so it basically is like Sue Kerr of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents or a couple of other folks will post that they have heard about in the incident that happened somewhere in the U.S. or somewhere around the world. It is a global group, and basically all of the conversations of anti-trans violence start in that group.

Often what we will see is the way that folks in that group pick up on incidents of anti-trans violence in local media is by having something really awful Googled that was said. So like man in a dress, um, like, presenting as female, like all these things, but all these little buzzwords that we see in local newsrooms where we know that these are buzzwords indicating that generally transgender women, uh, or trans women broadly are being misgendered.

These are the buzzwords that folks in that group use to monitor local incidents of anti-trans violence, which is really freaking telling that that is how we pick up on these local incidents. And so to answer your question, you know, often there are all of these indicators that local newsrooms either intentionally ignore that indicate someone, a victim of violence was trans, or just lack the expertise understanding or desire to pick up on these indicators. And I think unfortunately, it is often this intentional lack of respect for transgender people because, you know, how I got my start in this work was reaching out to local reporters and saying, hey, you picked up on this incident with anti-trans violence. I have noticed that you have misgendered this person. I’ve noticed you called him [muffled]. I’ve noticed that you used a photo from before they transitioned. And as a reporter, you should care that this is inaccurate.

And that was sort of how I got my start in responding to anti-trans violence, was reaching out to journalists to get them to correct inaccurate reporting. And the reason I think it is intentional is because 9 times out of 10, they would respond to me if they responded at all and say, sorry, my local newsroom guidelines say that I have to report what was on this person’s ID. Or I have to report what the police are saying this person’s gender is. And no matter how many times I push back in this, no matter how many times I try to offer them guidelines for how to improve their strategy of reporting about trans people, there is very little shift.

And we’re starting to see some of that with progressive local news. Even in more right wing states, like even in Texas, there are a couple of local publications that are doing a much better job reporting on anti-trans violence.

IMARA JONES: Will you name them really quickly?

ARIELLE REBEKAH: Um, oh my God, I, it’s escaping me right now….but there, there are a number of local papers that have popped up, like dedicated to telling progressive stories within more right wing states. If I remember it, I’ll name it. But you know, by and large, it does seem like an intentional lack of respect for transgender people. And so there becomes this over reliance on people like Sue Kerr of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents to be the one to correct all of these stories. And, you know, there was a six week period of time where Sue was dealing with a personal problem in the fall, and there were like 10 incidents of anti-trans island that came up over that six week period of time that either weren’t reported on at all, or were reported on so disrespectfully without any regard for trans people’s lives. And because of this over reliance on this one Facebook group, that may be handling 20 of us active in it at any given time, unless people in that group are responding to it and doing this work, most of whom are doing it without being paid local news gets carte blanche to say whatever they want.

IMARA JONES: Yeah, I mean, I think that one of the things that is interesting sadly about local news reporting is not only do they do everything that you said, misgendering using the the wrong photos, all the rest of it, deadnaming, you know, all of the things that, I mean, should be utterly unthinkable in this age. But it is also the case that they rarely actually report on the people who have died as human beings.

So they talk about where they lived, how they died, what the police are doing about it, and quotes from local officials. They rarely have things about “this is where this person works, this is who loved them, this is what their friends and family are saying about them.” They don’t actually center them as human beings, which is kind of standard for other stories of people who were murdered. Like you center the person who was murdered as a––they’re human being. And then the other things are around that. And that’s one of the most glaring absences for me in the reporting on trans people and trans death.

ARIELLE REBEKAH: Yeah. And I think that this is so interesting that you bring that up. ‘Cause I mean that’s, and the, y’all all have these journalist guides on your seats and these, uh, the anti-trans one we just came out with in September and Serena and I worked on that together. Um, and that is, that is one of the things that we really see so often is this, um, this lack of recording on who trans people were in their lives. And what that leads to is a lack of inability of folks reading the stories, who actually comprehend that trans people are human beings, and this person that died was a person that had family, friends, loved ones coworkers, that they were a human being. And it just perpetuates the dehumanization that perpetuates anti-trans violence.

Because if you don’t see trans people as human beings similar to any other group that, you know, gets humanized — we are seeing this with Palestinians and Gaza right now — if we see the repeated dehumanization of a group of people over time, then it is very difficult to get the general public to become invested in finding solutions to the conditions that place them in harm’s way.

And so it feels, um, sometimes intentional or intentional lack of a desire to do it differently where local newsrooms are just not reporting on huge trans people where in life, probably because they aren’t personally invested in finding solutions to violence, they’re just like, well, this is a breaking news piece of a murder of this person that I don’t care about. And so I’m going to report on it as such, when the reality is one of the biggest indicators of, uh, one of the biggest factors that increases empathy for any group of people is portraying them as human beings with full robust lives and experiences. And we see when we tell trans stories to save trans lives, well, that increases empathy, empathy for transgender people and pushes the needle forward because more folks are invested in finding solutions to anti-trans violence and solutions to violence impacting all of our communities. Then we as a collective have the power to shift the narrative and to shift the conditions that places to harm’s way.

But if local media and media that by and large continue dehumanizing trans folks continue, you know, platforming groups like the freaking ADF [Alliance Defending Freedom] as “experts,” when their whole lane is targeting and increasing hate towards transgender people, then it becomes really difficult to push the needle forward, uh, in our fight.

IMARA JONES: Yeah it reminds me of…so, there was a gruesome murder, I think it was three years ago of Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, a Black trans woman in Philadelphia whose murder was among the most extreme that I’ve ever heard of. And if you read the details, I’m not gonna recount them, but they are almost in the realm of [Jeffrey] Dahmer, right? Like it’s wild what happened to her, in every single way. And I spoke to her mother about it. And one, her mother was never included in any of the articles that was written about her before she died, right? She was like “the world never knew that my daughter had a job, that she had a mom that loved her, that she had, a family that supported her, you know, the world never knew that about her.”

And the second thing I asked her was on this issue of humanity, I said, if you could be in a room alone with the person who murdered her, what would you say to him? And she said, “the thing that I would say to him is that my daughter was loved, right? That she was a person.” And that was so poignant to me. And that shows you what’s absent in everything that you’re saying.

What do you think are some of the solutions, before we kind of move the questions, what do you think are some of the solutions? ‘Cause you’ve also done a lot of thinking in terms of the guide that you all have worked on. Solutions in terms of reporting solutions. So what are the things you think the journalists can do to improve?

Tips for Improving Trans Reporting in Local Newsrooms

ARIELLE REBEKAH: Yeah, I mean, I think the number one thing is always talking to trans people. Always talking to family members of trans people. You know, the soundbite framing of nothing about us without us. Every story about trans lives, whether that is about anti-trans violence, anti-trans legislation, should always include trans voices and should always include the voices of those most impacted.

And so we know that poor and low-income families of trans youth are more impacted by anti-trans legislation because the ability to relocate out of state is significantly lower. We know that disabled trans youth face increased barriers to accessing healthcare. And so really thinking through not just about including trans people in general in reporting, but thinking through, okay, the issue that I’m reporting on is such and such thing. So, you know, if, if it is healthcare, okay, I know that ableism in healthcare, especially in the era of the Covid pandemic, prevents disabled and immunocompromised people in general from accessing healthcare because masks are not mandated in healthcare anymore.

How do I bring that angle into reporting on gender-affirming healthcare, knowing that disabled and immunocompromised trans youth can no longer access healthcare for now multiple reasons because of ableism in healthcare and because of transphobia in healthcare. You know, it is asking those questions of what the story I’m telling, who are those most impacted even with within the trans community, and how do I access those spokespeople.

And I think one of the recommendations that I would give is that Transgender Law Center, one of the things that we do is connect journalists with spokespeople who can speak on certain issues. And one of the series that we were launching in 2024 and 2025 is a series of webinars aimed at increasing familiarity with spokespeople around certain specific issue issue areas being anti-trans violence: medical band, athletics, disability justice and reproductive justice, and Christian nationalism to name [a few].

And so, you know, increasing familiarity with spokespeople who could speak on issues. And if you aren’t able to connect directly with a spokesperson or know someone offhand connecting with an organization like Transgender Law Center or your local Equality Federation representative organization or local ACLU to connect with spokespeople who can add the personal angle to the story you’re telling. Because as we’ve been talking about that personal connection, that humanization is what will push the needle for your readers in favor of solutions in regards to trans people. And not just like fatal anti-trans violence, anti-trans legislation, harassment. But you know, what happened to Nex Benedict, right? Like, these are the stories that we need to tell, including trans people to increase their empathy necessary to end violence towards our communities.

IMARA JONES: I would also add that like in addition to the TLC resources, that there are lots of other resources with regards to style guides for how people can write about these. So the Trans Journalist Association has a style guide. The NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists also has a style guide. I know that the New York Times, a lot of the journalists there were actually pushing for various parts of those to be incorporated into the way that the paper covers trans people. So the point here is that the things that journalists need to do are not a mystery, right? This is not like, you know, trying to figure out how to land on the polar axis of the moon, um, which is really hard. I dunno if you’ve seen the two things, but they both ended up upside down. So it’s a really hard thing to do, but this is not that hard.

Like, you actually, you actually have tons of resources to be able to tell you how to cover these things accurately. And so the point here is to urge people to actually use the things that are out there. This is not rocket science, and this is something that all of us have done in our jobs, all of us do routinely. It’s something that’s not that hard. Um, so I’m wondering if we can take time for questions. We may have 15 minutes or so for that. Um, if not, I can keep going.

ARIELLE REBEKAH: I’m pretty sure it’s Texas Tribune. I’m pretty sure that is what I’m talking about, but I can verify there.

IMARA JONES: So the microphone is here, please come up if anyone has any comments or reflections.

SXSW PANEL: AUDIENCE Q&A

Trans Journalism in The Future

AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: What are you hopeful about in regards to trans journalism in the future?

SERENA DANIARI: Sure, that’s a great question because I think it’s easy with everything going on right now to feel defeated. And I know a lot of us in media and journalism and comms are feeling that constant burnout, that fatigue of logging online and seeing a news alert about one of our brothers, sisters, or siblings being murdered again or being a victim of anti-trans violence.

I’m hopeful about creating a journalistic environment where the rules on reporting about anti-trans violence go beyond, “don’t misgender, don’t deadname.” Like these are table stakes, right? These are the bare minimum of what we need to be doing as reporters. Our goal is to find the truth, okay? And I think one of the biggest issues is that — and we talk about this in our journalist guide at Transgender Law Center — there’s a need to push the framing beyond individual incidents of violence. As journalists, we need to zoom out and we need to connect the dots and find the extrapolations, find the connections between the acts of violence that are happening because incidents of anti-trans violence don’t happen in a vacuum, right? There’s a context beyond that.

What are the conditions, the societal ills, the societal failings, the conditions that create an environment where violence against trans people is so pervasive. I’m talking about a lack of equitable housing, a lack of employment opportunities, a lack of accessible healthcare. These are the conditions and we need to name them. So I see a lot of anti-trans violence [reporting] very much fixated on numbers, you know, the 15th trans person to be killed in 2024. And while it’s important that we track the pervasiveness of the violence, we also to address the underlying occurrence that enabled this violence to happen so regularly.

Because unless we name those larger issues, those looming issues, then we’re not gonna really be able to guide readers towards the solutions. And I think that’s what the goal of journalism should be right now. I mean, it’s interesting because I’ve reported a lot of anti-trans violence in my career. And in 2020 I kind of went from reporting on the story to being the story because I was attacked on the subway in New York City, and like the very next day it went viral and it blew up. And journalists were hounding me to get a quote or some sort of blurb about a traumatic incident. And I felt like journalists were trying to sensationalize it, you know, speaking about what I was wearing, what I was saying, what I maybe had done to contribute to this act of violence happening.

So we also need to shift away from victim blaming narratives because when a non-trans person is killed, we [trans people] never, you know, go “what did they do to deserve that? What did they say? What were they wearing?” So I think when we’re able to focus on the systemic issues, instead of focusing on what the victim did to deserve this horrible attack, that’s when we’ll get to a place solid reporting around these issues.

IMARA JONES TO EVA REIGN: What do you hope about in regards to the future of trans reporting?

EVA REIGN: Sorry, I was listening to you. What am I hopeful about? I’m hopeful that even with like the rise in anti-trans rhetoric in media, it’s also a rise in trans people on social media, right? Like I think now we’ve never seen this many trans people visibly online talking about their lives, talking about what they go through. I mean, that’s like honestly how I got my start. Like I would post on Instagram and then people would find me through whatever hashtag, um, and I was able to connect to other people in media. I mean, that’s how I learned who you were. You know, I read all of your stories from like, from like way back when and, you know, like seeing you gave me a lot of hope and I thought, okay, I guess there is some kind of avenue for me to tell my own story, right? And at first I thought, oh, like, who cares about me? I’m just like some random girl Missouri.

But the more I shared, the more people did care. I mean, with that, it can be tricky because I do think there are a lot of trans youth who I think they’re sharing a little too much online. Um, I do want to just kind of like, you know, just like, turn off your phones at times. So I’m like, you’re saying too much, you know, and like the whole world doesn’t need to know, um, all these things about your life, you know, like you are like a kid and I think you should really try to hold on to, um, that youth and your own right to privacy. Mm-Hmm. Um, but the fact that we do have the power to be our own voice, that also makes all of this like legacy media that, I mean, that makes them think twice about what they say when they know that someone has the platform to totally call them out on it, right?

A lot of journalists who have been transphobic, they tried to push back by saying, oh no, you’re trying to weaponize your platform against me.” You know, I mean that’s what happened when, I think it was Piers Morgan who interviewed Janet Mock back in like, was it like 2014? Yeah. He like tried to go off on her and, he just kind of showed his own colors and the evidence was there, there was no denying what his true intentions were in that moment. And I think that’s, I mean, it is very sad what happened to Janet in that moment. She did not deserve to go through that trauma, at the same time, that is a great example of the power that we do have thanks to the Internet, and thanks to a growing number of people who actually have empathy for who we are and are seeking to really understand us as best as they possibly can. So I think that’s what has me really excited. We’re seeing more and more people with that power.

IMARA JONES TO ARIELLE REBEKAH Mm-Hmm. What are you hopeful about?

ARIELLE REBEKAH: Have y’all seen how trans Gen Z and Gen Alpha are? It’s a sight to behold. I think that, you know, we’re seeing these like old school journalists in the legacy publications, they still have this sort of like, stronghold on media and that will continue to fade, and that is going to fade as Gen Z and Jen Alpha enter newsrooms, gain more power in journalism because one of the biggest things we need is more trans and trans-friendly folks in newsrooms telling these stories. And because of the shift in values even from like millennials to Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the shift is inevitable, right? Like, we are doing this work is important, and because we need to break the movable middle in our generations along, like we can’t like completely see the ground among folks that are telling great stories. Now, we can’t just like wait for, you know, Gen Z and Gena to come up into newsrooms. But I do think the shift towards support and affirmation for trans people in newsrooms is a tidal wave waiting to happen because of the young voices that are coming up in the newsrooms over the next five, 10 years.

IMARA JONES: Any other questions we have time for maybe one more before we wrap up?

AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: Hi, my name’s Anne and I am a liberal Austin photojournalist and creative portrait photographer. I am here to represent a story of someone that I’m working with who is trans-masculine and has gone through cancer, surviving through the discovery of top surgery. And I just am hoping to make a connection because there’s an amazing story.

I’ve been working with this person now for six months to document the visual side of body transformation. And in that time period I’m becoming more educated and I’m understanding this like huge impact that my photos have for them to reflect back what they’re going through physically and the physical changes. And so I don’t really necessarily have a question, but I’m in a room full of potentially journalists and people that can help propel this story forward. So I just wanted to point myself out and unfortunately Ashton can’t be here to tell this story. So I appreciate all that you guys are doing and understanding more and more.

As someone who is Gen X and a 50-year-old, it is so enlightening to understand this broad spectrum of humanity and then be able to work in that realm of storytelling, even though I’m not a writer, it’s, it’s the photo journalist side of storytelling that I’m doing that forward with. So thank you. Yeah, thank you for that. I think that, um, one of the most important things is that we, you know, look to all of the ways and that we can tell stories, of course in photojournalism is, um, one of them. Any thoughts or advice?

SERENA JAZMINE: Just want to say that I would love to connect with you after, because I think between the four of us, we have a lot of connections in LGBTQ media, and I know plenty of editors, video producers, who I think would be really interested in hearing a unique trans story about gender-affirming care, presented in a way that I think most folks don’t conventionally think about. So yeah, I would love to touch base with you later.

ARIELLE REBEKAH: Also, just like, I can’t think of anything more humanizing and beautiful than just like a photo essay on trans joy affirmation, especially like through the angle that you’re coming in through. I just think that, you know, it is hard to miss it when you see trans joy, it’s so infectious. And I love our joy for that reason, because you just, there is no denying it if you have a desire to see it.

IMARA JONES: Well, we have to end this panel at this particular time. But just wanted to thank all of you all for all of your powerful and experienced, informed insights, and also to everyone in the audience for joining us. Thank you so much.

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The post SXSW Panel: Responsible Reporting on Anti-Trans Violence for Journalists appeared first on TransLash Media.

By Daniela “Dani” Capistrano for TransLash Media

What Is TransLash Fam?

TransLash Fam is TransLash Media’s paid subscription offering through Apple Podcasts!

By subscribing to TransLash Fam, you can enjoy ad-free, uninterrupted listening of all of our current shows, as well as access to subscriber-only content such as The Mess: Imara’s Guide to our Political Hellscape.

What Is The Mess?

Episode 1 of The Mess: Imara’s Guide to our Political Hellscape premieres Thursday, March 7, at 6AM ET on Apple Podcasts. This biweekly series provides vital political analysis for the trans community and our allies. Listen to the trailer below:

Today’s political landscape is an absolute dumpster fire, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn and laugh through the mess. In this TransLash Media production, award-winning journalist Imara Jones brings you the political show that we need right now.  With political attacks on trans communities and ever-creeping authoritarianism at an all-time high, staying informed and engaged are key. Imara’s razor sharp wit and critical analysis takes the edge off and reminds us that there’s always hope. 

To access The Mess and other bonus content, sign up to be a TransLash Fam subscriber on the Apple Podcasts platform. Here’s how it works:

Translash Fam Subscriber Benefits

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We will be rolling out additional TransLash Fam subscriber-only benefits throughout the year. Subscribe to our newsletter for alerts!

TransLash Fam Sign-Up Instructions

You will need to download and install the Apple Podcasts app to subscribe to TransLash Fam.

Open the Apple Podcasts app on your mobile device or laptop/desktop and access the TransLash Podcasts shows page. At the top of the page will be a grey box that says “TRANSLASH FAM: uninterrupted listening from all of our shows” with a “TRY FREE” button.

Click the “TRY FREE” button and it will bring you to a screen where you can choose the “try free” option for $4.99/month or $39.99/year (save 33%).

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Learn More About Cecilia Gentili From People And Organizations Close To The Irreplaceable Trailblazer, In Their Own Words:

Imara Jones’ Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

I can’t remember the first time I met Cecilia Gentili nor the first time I ever heard her name. Perhaps it’s because she’s been an ever-present, powerful force in our community for so long that it’s hard to imagine any time without her.

But even though I can’t remember the first time I met her, what I do know is that she was and always shall remain unforgettable. Her laugh, wit, intelligence, sexiness, bawdiness and sheer grit were all outsized. No matter what room she was in, nor who was it, Cecilia stood out for all of the right reasons. It is fitting that she had a one woman show because no matter who she met Cecilia was unparalleled.

I was fortunate to know her and to see her in more, different types of scenarios than I can remember. Vigils, boardrooms, conference halls, and brunch tables all spring to mind. While she will be feted for her public face, what I recall is her private one. She is one of the shrewdest people I know. Cecilia got so much done on behalf of trans people because she knew where power lay, how to sell to it, and get it do what she wanted. I observed her roll men in suits more times than I can remember. To be honest, in a less transphobic society, #CeciliaGentili would have been an EMMY Award winning actress AND governor of a state. Cecilia had the range.

For all of these reasons, it is hard both for me and our community to fathom life without her. But she would expect nothing else. She knew that the creation of a better world was larger than one person.

I will especially miss her ability to know what I was going to do next even though I had never said it. I still don’t know how she did this exactly.

Lastly, as a journalist I had the opportunity to sit down with her for many hours of interviews. At the end of one for the #antitranshatemachine I said, “The United States is lucky that you chose her to make your life.”

The response to her passing over the last three days underscores how fortunate we all were.

Río Sofia’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

I’ve never felt pain like this. I lost my mom yesterday, and I don’t know what to do now. We had been living for six months together on a 10 acre property she bought upstate, with a creek and reservoir and two houses—one for me and Cyd and one for Cecilia and Peter. Cyd and I had just finished clearing a trail through the woods for a more direct path between our doors.

We laughed at the same bullshit, she was so so so fucking funny.

She was my mentor and taught me so much in the art of showing up.

Cecilia helped me and Cyd plan our entire wedding, and insisted on even paying for a huge chunk of it herself. Her defense was that this would be her wedding too—she wanted it to be to the standard she (as my mother) and we (as her children) dreamed of. She showered us with love, attention, and all of her organizing powers, and she made me feel in my bones—despite self doubt—that we deserved this wedding. And that our community deserved it too, an exquisitely over the top and magical T4T love ceremony for all of us.

This was when I learned what it meant to be lucky enough to have a trans mother. My favorite part of the whole thing was seeing the collaboration and co-mothering between my biological mother, Isabel, and Cecilia. They didn’t know each other very well, but they indulged in the rituals together: picking out matching dresses over FaceTime, and both walking me to the altar side by side to give me away. Cecilia knew how central she was to my life and this wedding, and still she was always so careful not to upstage Isabel—even making the utmost sacrifice of going for a (slightly) simpler dress.

Here’s Cecilia’s speech to Cyd. She loved Cyd like a brother, like a son, sometimes like a therapist, and always like a best friend. They spoke the same love languages: cooking for each other, constantly buying gifts, having the deepest talks, and being the first call when shit hit the fan.

The look Cecilia gave me in this video before heading back to her seat is seared into my heart forever. I’ll spend the rest of my life decoding all of the layers of things she was telling me with that look.

My heart is shattered, as I know is true for so many of you. Hold each other tight. I love y’all 

Kay Ulanday Barrett’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

Dearest Cecilia,

Thank you for raising so many of us transgender & nonbinary people with your beloved care. NYC, queer, migrant, transgender, SWer, justice seeking hearts are grieving. Cecilia is just so very rare.

Transjustice movements have an immeasurable gap; loss that won’t ever be filled in the same way. It’s like when we talk about we’ll never hear another Whitney Houston or Luther Vandross sing again, their timbre, their musicality.

There isn’t another Cecilia in Trans and Justice building, writing, performance community. A grounded organizer’s organizer. A vivacious artist, a marvelous writer. Liberation trying/making personified.

Personal note:
I wouldn’t have had top surgery if it weren’t for @ceciliagentili72 advocacy. She was my Trans intake person when I was very poor & on workers comp /disability. she ceaselessly advocated for me when I was fatshamed by doctors, rejected for clearance. She pushed back on ableism when I felt alone. She said, Don’t worry, you’re getting your surgery. And I did.

When covid began, she continued to try to be virtual, invited me to perform, speak panel after panel. She checked in on me. We talked about nonfiction & books. She helped me survive so we could talk about accessibility & covid.

In pandemic, many sick & disabled people are left behind. Trans movements, arts hubs, deny ableism & accessibility letting us disappear.

Cecilia always asked you what you thought. She never left me behind. We challenged eachother towards a fuller more comprehensive justice. I felt seen with her even if our understandings were on different wavelengths. She truly wanted everybody to win & everybody to be fed. Her work wasn’t driven by clout, followers, fads,likes. She was earnestly old skool, brilliantly trying for all Trans and BIPOC people. We are blessed to work with her. This loss. This loss. To feel her radiance imprint on everything we are & will become.

Thank you for everything. 

Qween Jean’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

Cecilia Gentili we honor you.

You are an eternal saint who guides us toward freedom!

You loved, protected & led our community through the darkest times and carried us to victory with fearless joy.

Your spirit will always beat in our hearts.

Nos Veremos En El Paraiso

Thank You @ceciliagentili72 For Your Testimony, Your Sacrifices and Unwavering Commitment To Making This World A Much Better Place For US ALL To Breathe and Exist!

Cecilia’s Declaration For Collective Liberation
@ceciliagentili72 We Lead With Love For The Wellness of All Humanity

Raquel Willis’ Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

Today is a tough day for all of us. Cecilia Gentili was a living legend. A titan, an unapologetic example of joy and power. Her spirit lives on in all whom she touched and all she built for us. We get to relish in her words eternally through her memoir, Faltas, her appearance in docs like The Stroll, all the videos and photos of her performances, and through the encouraging words she showered on us day in and day out.

I was always in awe of how vulnerable she was and grateful to hear her life’s testimony on more than one occasion. Most recently, I interviewed her for the final episode of this season of @afterlives.pod. It made sense for her to be the conclusion and she shared even more than this clip. She loved our people OUT LOUD. She made us burst out in laughter. She made us take ourselves seriously and not all at once. She MOTHERED in every sense of the word. She loved her some @gogograham, @therealgialove, and @rioxofia. And she had far too many children, nibblings, and fam to name in one sitting.

We last texted last week and she said, “Sister! I just wanted to tell you I love you so much. I will do anything for you anywhere. I truly love you sister.” And you know, if Ceci said it she meant it.

Rest powerfully and peacefully, Mami. And go kiki with the ancestors. You deserve eternal pleasure.

Gia Love’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

“Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time
That we might be exactly like we were
Before we realized
We were scared of getting old
It made us restless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song“

My mother is gone @ceciliagentili72. I am devastated. I am confused. I met @ceciliagentili72 at APHICA at my first appointment to start my transition. She was so kind, giving, and honest. She believed in community. She believed in me! My heart is broken again. I will forever feel the weight of her absence. Please pray for me, pray for Peter, Oscar, Chiqui, Mya, Amari, Gogo and sooooo many more family members that are in mourning. We lost an icon today. I just can’t believe I performed this song for her on her Birthday, and it was the last time……

Chase Strangio’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

love you forever. thanks for watching over me in so many ways for so long. i will carry you with me always. i know lorena is holding you.

Dominique Jackson’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

AN ACTIVIST, AN ICON, A TRAILBLAZER, A MOTHER, A WIFE, AN ACTRESS AND COMEDIAN, AN AMAZING SISTER AND A PHENOMENAL HUMAN BEING!

@fxnetworks @poseonfx

“I am deeply saddened by your departure dear sister! Even in death you are force to be reckoned with, your legacy one of movement, love and compassion unapologetic and true. I thank you dearly for ALL the work you have done,” Jackson wrote. “You sacrificed you boldly telling your truth and living it and for that you have changed and influenced many lives and the world. I LOVE YOU FOREVER BEAUTIFUL STRONG SISTER! REST WELL!”

Cecilia Gentili stared opposite Dominique Jackson in FX’s beloved TV series “Pose.”

Indya Moore’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

My friend Cecilia included so many people in her love & strength. She made life worth living & and she made life liveable for so many people. Cecilia made everything she was a part of more brilliant than it was before. To be embraced by her was a blessing & to embrace her was an honor.

Oh Cecilia, I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to see you & love you on this timeline, to be inspired by you, to stand in solidarity with true love & faith with you. Transition in blissful mystic wonder my friend.

ALOK’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

rest in power @ceciliagentili72 ! thank you for being a leader, a mentor, a mother, a sister for me for over a decade. i will never forget the sound of your laughter. i heard it pierce through the crowd just last week at my show in new york. thank you for being there. thanks for always being there.

i laughed so hard at your show last may. when we took this photo outside i told you that you were one of the funniest people i knew & that it was a testament to the work you had done to heal and alchemize so much of the pain you had experienced. it was the first time i had ever seen you bashful. it was so cute and human and real and i loved you so much for it.

just like i loved you for our side chats at every gala, the real talk, the side eyes, the knowing glances. the quips and eye lash flutters. you always made me feel like something greater than myself. even in my hesitations & doubts — something greater than myself.

this is so fresh, and so awful. and the world feels so much less glamorous, less possible without you in it. you did so much for us & fought so long and hard. thank you. thank you. thank you. for teaching me how to love trans people more than they could ever hate us.

my heart goes out to your family. and i know that because of how you lived your life: that includes the entire city of new york. maybe even — the entire world.

dear world: we lost our sun. we lost our sun.

Devin-Norelle’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

I have so many feelings about this photo, taken a couple days before Cecilia’s bday, because it might just be the last one I took with Cecilia. Tabytha simply wanted to take a selfie, but I’ve become a person that has moved towards taking less photos- I rather live in the moment, these days, and enjoy the eneegy of the people in my company. I’m glad @tabythagonzalez insisted, because I am reminded today that sometimes I SHOULD take that selfie and keep those memories with me forever.

Before this photo was taken, we had just left an all day retreat for our (Tabytha and me) first board meeting. Cecilia had long been a member, but recruited us to join her. We’d embark on a mighty important task.  I can not reveal exactly what that is as it is confidential, but what I will say is that Cecilia envisioned a trans revolution, and she recruited us as her mentees to work towards a trans takeover, not just for the Foundation, but for all and any work we would be doing going forward.

If no tranny left behind was a thing, that program would be ushered in and efficiently run by Cecilia. 

I’ve known Cecilia for so many years; we only became closer this year as I helped her and her kids with one or two of her events. She always thought of me over the years for various projects . But this year was different. She invited me to have a monthly dinner with her, and it at our first dinner that she let me know she wanted to mentor me. When Cecilia says she wants to take you under her wings, you don’t walk, you run. 

She is the most generous with her wisdom, and will pour into you heavily.  And even now, Cecilia is the gift that keeps on giving to so many.

A visionary, a mom, a wife, a sister, a force, a comedian if I may, an artist, an auntie, a mentor, an activist and a lover of all humans, Cecilia was a true beacon when there is darkness.

After this photo was taken, we took Cecilia’s little blue car, she joked about how she got her license to lighten the mood as we drove to our sibling Sasha’s funeral.

To know Cecilia is to know the scope of the work she has done. We are living in a world that she made possible.

Black Trans Femmes In The Arts’ Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

We are heartbroken to hear of the loss of our sister, Cecilia Gentili. Cecilia was a light in our community. She never failed to make us laugh even in the darkest of moments and she was never afraid to push boundaries and break doors down.

She is a trailblazer and was one of my inspirations and guiding lights when I started BTFA. I am so grateful to have worked alongside her and been a part of the same movement. She was an absolute force. I will always treasure our moments together. It brings me some peace to know that her last words to me were “I’m proud of you.” I hope I continue to make her proud, and I hope that we as a community will forever honor her legacy and carry her vision forward.

Rest in Power, Cecilia.

– Jordyn Jay and the BTFA family

GLAAD’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

We are devastated to hear about the death of Cecilia Gentili. Cecilia was a pillar in the trans community, a dedicated advocate, a striking actress on the hit TV program Pose, an incredible journalist, and a sex worker. She did direct service through The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, Callen Lorde, and the APICHA (originally the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS) Community Health Center in New York, and later was managing director of policy for GMHC.

Several years ago she founded Trans Equity Consulting and has collaborated with many major organizations on transgender and gender nonbinary rights. Cecilia was also a founding member of Decrim NY, a coalition working toward decriminalization, decarceration, and destigmatization of sex workers. She also led the charge alongside other trans journalists to speak out against the New York Times’ biased and inaccurate trans coverage. Cecilia just celebrated her 52nd birthday, surrounded by friends, loved ones, and community.

In the anthology, Surviving Transphobia, Cecilia wrote about growing up under dictatorship in Argentina, about being inspired by American movies to be her authentic self. She poured that passion for visibility and acceptance into her life and many others:

“I say this to trans people, trans women of color, and to trans women of color who are undocumented or sex workers or both, people like me: Do what you can to achieve whatever level of empowerment you can get, but also be safe… I’ll probably never call myself radical, especially in two countries with such high rates of trans femicide and histories of coups. I’m okay with it. I never want to judge my work by how ‘radical’ I am. But I do judge it on what I’m doing for my people and for myself.”

Her book Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist won the American Library Association’s 2023 Stonewall Book Award. Her one-woman show Red Ink was slated to make a comeback at the Public Theater this April.

NY Transgender Advocacy Group’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

Today, our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of Cecilia Gentili @ceciliagentili72 , a cherished community leader, pioneer, and fierce advocate for equal rights. Her passion, wisdom, and dedication will continue to inspire us all. Rest in power, Cecilia.  

The Okra Project’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

Through our deep heartbreak, we affirm Cecilia Gentilli was undoubtedly an angel on earth and will live on and through us all the same. Her contributions, art, and insatiable love of community are forever. Her spirit stands as a powerful roadmap to our collective freedom and liberation.

So, as we navigate the turbulent waters of grief, let us take comfort in the belief that our dearest angel, Cecilia, remains by our side and guides us with her love and light. Until we are reunited once more in the embrace of eternity. Her work and love live forever.

-Gabrielle Inés Souza & The Okra Project Family

interACT’s Tribute To Cecilia Gentili

We at interACT deeply mourn the loss of our friend and co-conspirator Cecilia Gentili. Cecilia was and is so many things – advocate, leader, teacher, caregiver, mother, warrior, truth-teller, mirror – and not least of all, she was a caring ally to intersex people, as she was to all she encountered in the fight for liberation and justice. She will always be with us, siempre juntos. —Erika

TransLash Family On Instagram Honors Cecilia Gentili

On February 6, 2024, @translashmedia published this call for memorials:

What did #CeciliaGentili mean to you? Share in the comments and we will add your memorials to our memorial this week. We love you and are holding space for your grief as we process our own. – Team TransLash

We will compile your responses and add them here through February 2024.

About Cecilia Gentili’s Legacy

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, outside of her work on “Pose” and as a published author, Gentili’s activism led to a partnership with the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in 2021, which resulted in the creation of her namesake Cecilia’s Occupational Inclusion Network health program that provided free care for sex workers.

Callen-Lorde Released The Following Statement From CEO Patrick McGovern:

“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Cecilia Gentili. Cecilia was a fierce, fearless advocate and a leader, who spoke candidly about her own experiences as a trans woman of color. In doing so, she inspired countless others and truly paved the way for our communities — especially, sex workers and trans women of color — to access high quality and judgment free healthcare. Her legacy will live on through our work at Callen-Lorde and beyond.”

New York State Senator Brad Hoylman Issued A Statement Describing The Work And Impact Cecilia Gentili Delivered:

“I’m devastated to learn of the passing of Cecilia Gentili, a pathbreaking civil rights activist, healthcare advocate, author and actress. I was honored to work with Cecilia on many issues in Albany as we passed legislation enshrining the civil rights protections for transgender New Yorkers into law, including the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act (GENDA), ending the so-called ban on “walking while trans,” eliminating the gay and trans panic defense in our criminal statutes, making New York a safe haven for transgender youth and their parents seeking gender-affirming care, and the creation of the New York State Lorena Borjas TGNB Wellness & Equity Fund. We could not have passed the multitude of bills improving the lives of transgender New Yorkers without her help and guidance. Cecilia was a force of nature who leaves a long trailblazing legacy behind. l will miss her deeply.” 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Shared This Statement:

Democracy Now! Shared This Obituary:

In New York, beloved transgender advocate, author, and actor Cecilia Gentili has died. Gentili migrated from Argentina years ago and dedicated her life fighting for the rights of sex workers, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities.

Gentili starred as Miss Orlando in the acclaimed television series “Pose.” Her debut memoir, “Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist,” was released in 2022, detailing her life before leaving Argentina. Last year she began performing in her autobiographical off-Broadway show called “Red Ink.”

Gentili was also the founder of Trans Equity Consulting, an organization that supports trans women of color, sex workers, immigrants and incarcerated people. A post on her Instagram said Tuesday, “Our beloved Cecilia Gentili passed away this morning to continue watching over us in spirit. … Please be gentle with each other and love one another with ferocity.”

Gentili was 52 years old.

REPLAY: Funeral Of Cecilia Gentili At Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, NYC, On February 15, 2024

Video Description:

𝑪𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒊 leaves a burning legacy of love, brotherhood and an infinite fire in our hearts to fight for the liberation of trans people, sex workers, migrants and people who have been pushed to the margins.

We honor her life, love and power with the 𝑪𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂’𝒔 𝑳𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝑭𝒖𝒏𝒅 and the following arrangements: gofundme.com/f/cecilias-legacy-fund

Please note, services are open to the public, but all media inquiries or politician requests must email media AT transequityconsulting DOT com to arrange details.

In following Cecilia’s wishes, any plaques, recognitions & awards must accompany material support for NYC’s trans & SW community, preferably through Cecilia’s Legacy Fund.

Wake: No press permitted Wed. 2/14, 2-8pm, Bushwick United Methodist Church

Funeral: Thurs 2/15 9:30-11:30am (sharp), St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Repass: Thurs 2/15 1-5pm, Nowadays NYC

Attire: Mother requests you all look fabulous & ¢vN+!

Bring RED flowers: 10% discount at Brooklyn’s Mwah Flowers (mwahflowers.com) by mentioning Interboro Funeral Home.

Explore All Of TransLash Media’s Content Featuring Cecilia Gentili

•  TransLash Podcast Episode 27, ‘Latinx Heritage Month’
•  TransLash Guide to Hispanic Heritage Month
•  The Anti-Trans Hate Machine Episode 3, ‘Transphobia In A Suit’
• WATCH #LivesAtStake: does the COVID-19 crisis reveal it’s time to declare sex work lawful? Imara Jones spoke with with trans activists Aria Sa’id, Toni-Michelle Williams, and Cecilia Gentili on April 23, 2020 (captions provided).

Did you find this resource helpful? Consider supporting TransLash today with a tax-deductible donation. Were you in community with Cecilia and would like to add your tribute? Let us know and we’ll update this memorial.

The post What Cecilia Gentili Means To Trans People appeared first on TransLash Media.