Transgender/Ally

Here on this page, we have assembled all kinds of resources. We encourage you to browse through them. Whether you are newly discovering your TransGenderQueer identity or someone who’s been around the block, whether you are a friend or family member trying to understand a loved one’s TransGenderQueer journey or a an ally looking for info, this page is for you.

As we grow in our work with our community, so will this page! We encourage you to give us feedback, refer us to sites we haven’t seen before, and be a part of this project! Also, if you fall under the umbrella of a TransGenderQueer desi, we invite you to join our Transgender Desi NYC listserve.

Please scroll down for Basic, Health Care, Community Organizations, Legal Aid & Anti-Violence, Conferences & Campaigns, and Art & Activism Resources.

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Some Basic Resources for Everyone

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Trans Ally Tips

These tips are put out by the UC Davis LGBT Resource Center. Their first tip reads: “Don’t ever out a transperson. This is dangerous to their safety & can invalidate their identity.  Likewise, be aware of your surroundings when discussing trans issues with a transperson. For their safety & comfort, they may prefer not to discuss these topics in public places or among strangers.”

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My Body Is Not Mine

(video 19:29 min): Trikone, our queer desi allies in San Francisco, have some wonderful resources on their website, one of which is this video (3rd one down on the page). What’s particularly wonderful about this resource is that it’s desis telling their stories.

Transgender Basics

Trans Etiquette 101: No Offense, But That’s Offensive

Two Resources from the National Center for Transgender Equality

Teaching Transgender A resource from the National Center for Transgender Equality, January 2009.
Opening the Door to the Inclusion of Transgender People The nine keys to making lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations fully transgender-inclusive.

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Welcoming Our Trans Family and Friends

A support guide for parents, families and friends of transgender and gender-non-conforming people put out by PFLAG.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is a national non-profit organization with over 200,000 members and supporters and over 500 affiliates in the United States. They also have meetings for Families of Color and Allies.

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Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace

Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace provides human resource and other employment professionals with best practices for transgender workplace inclusion—from discrimination and benefits policies to internal practices that reflect how gender is expressed and integrated in the workplace—as well as the state of legal issues encompassing gender identity in employment situations. The guide also covers topics such as appropriate terminology with which to discuss gender identity and expression, the creation of policies that protect transgender workers from discrimination, and the expansion of diversity programs to include gender identity and expression. (See also, Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey)

GLAAD Media Reference Guide: A resource for journalists (updated in May 2010).

This American Life: “Act Two. Tom Girls.”

(Starts at about 29:30) Lilly and Thomasina have a lot in common. They’re both 8 years old. And they were both born boys, although it became clear pretty early on that they’d prefer to be girls. There aren’t all that many kids in the world like them, but recently, at a conference in Seattle on transgender parenting, they met. And they immediately hit it off. They could talk about things with each other that they’d never been able to share with other friends back home. And that’s comforting, even if they never see each other after the conference ends. Producer Mary Beth Kirchner tells the story, with production help from Rebecca Weiker. (17 minutes)

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Health Care Resources

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Callen-Lorde Community Health Center

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Positive Health Project (PHP)
To Be Determined (TBD), a bi-weekly drop in          social/support gathering for anyone who was assigned female at birth but feels that is an incorrect or incomplete label. Anyone who identifies on the trans-masculine spectrum and/or genderqueers are so welcome and encouraged to join! Bi-weekly group meets 1st and 3rd Mondays from 6:30-8:00pm at the Positive Health Project, 301 W 37th Street, 3rd Floor. For more information, please contact Jesse at: jgeguzis6(at)gmail.com.

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APICHA is a non-profit organization providing HIV/AIDS related services,   education, and research to Asian and Pacific Islander Communities in NYC.

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Gender Identity Project

The Center’s Gender Identity Project (GIP) works to foster the healthy development of transgender and gender non-conforming people, partners, family and community. Through the delivery of a range of transgender-driven supportive services, advocacy, outreach, education and capacity-building, the GIP creates a safe and productive atmosphere for community-building, wellness and self-care, and leadership development. It’s located in the West Village at the LGBT Center of NYC. They have weekly support groups for transmasculine and transfeminine spectrum folks, a sporadic group for partners of transgender folks, and also a few times a year they have a group for friends and family.

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Community Organizations

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HOTPOT! is a Philadelphia-Area gathering working to build community for Queer Asian and Pacific Islander women, trans, gender variant and gender queer/non-conforming identified folks through social gatherings, political action, and good food.

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Conferences & Campaigns

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The Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference offers three full days of workshops and activities focused on the health and well-being and transgender communities. The conference is free and draws a diverse group of over 1400 transgender people from all over the country.

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The Legalize Trans* campaign is an artistic and educational campaign intended to create dialogue and draw attention to the lack of inclusivity within the popular American Apparel “Legalize Gay” campaign.

Welcoming Faith Communities

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TThe Freedom Center for Social Justice (FCSJ) invited a group of transgender people of color to the table to shape and frame a summit to train a cohort of transgender people of faith to work as grassroots activists and opinion leaders around issues of sexuality within their respective faith and general communities.  Ultimately, the Summit provided resources and technical support to educate, develop appropriate strategies, and increase networking opportunities for transgender men and women as they build, grow, and mobilize around ‘personal’ and policy relevant issues.

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A A Christian organization devoted to creating a welcoming place for LGBT folks within the Christian community.

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Welcoming Islamic Organizations include Al-Fatiha (USA), Salaam (Canada), Imaan (UK), Safra Project (UK) and Inner Circle (South Africa). On the East Coast, you can contact Faisal Alam for more info about Al-Fatiha.

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News, Blogs & Resources

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Sampoorna

Sampoorna is a listserve for trans South Asians. It was founded by Satya, and he continues to run it today. The group is a source of community and support for South Asians living across the globe. For more information on how to join, click here. (You must be trans identified to join. There are other groups for friends and allies.) Satya has also had the following articles about transgender lives and struggles published online:

Where Are All the F2MS?: Trans Visibility and Organising in India ;

Shades of Grey ;

Tatte Girao, Hijra Hattao: Satya Rai Nagpaul)
(We are grateful to the many Sampoorna members who have shared their blogs with this resource site.)

safe2pee: bathrooms for everyone

A resource to help people find safe bathrooms to use. You can add bathrooms you know about, or check it for bathrooms in specific locations.

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Transgender Mental Health (Blog)

This is a forum to discuss all things related to mental health, psychotherapy and support for transgendered, transsexual, gender queer and gender variant individuals and their friends and family.

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Personal Blogs

The journey through a social and/or physical gender transition can be confusing. There are those who have done it and chronicled their journey, hoping it might be of help to others in the future. Everyone’s journey is unique and different, but there is much that is shared, not in the least the sense that we are not alone. The following blogs are offered by their authors for your perusal. (If you have a blog you think would be helpful to transgender or questioning community members, let us know and we’ll list it here.)

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Malika’s Indian Transgender Blog

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A Little Hope… A Little Happiness

Kalki’s Blog

Articles & Columns:

“Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide” (TvT) is a comparative, ongoing qualitative-quantitative research project conducted by Transgender Europe. The project provides an overview of the human rights situation of trans persons in different parts of the world and develops useful data and advocacy tools for international institutions, human rights organizations, the trans movement and the general public.”

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How to Make Love to a Trans Person (a poem by Gabe Moses)

“…Realize that bodies are only a fraction of who we are
They’re just oddly-shaped vessels for hearts
And honestly, they can barely contain us…”

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Tony Porter talks about growing up in NYC, an the pressures to be a certain kind of man, and the way he was taught to view women: “My liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman.”