Non-Profit Spotlight: Transgender Law Center
** Please start your read of this post by watching this 15-minute introductory TED Talk 🙂 **
If you’ve been paying attention to legislative initiatives in the United States during the past year, you may have noticed a heightened targeting of transgender individuals using antagonistic discourses to depict “transgender communities as led by a perverse ideology”. You just need to peek at the Human Rights Campaign’s map tracking anti-trans legislation to see that trans people can’t receive basic gender-affirming healthcare in the majority of states. Transgender folks aren’t the only people negatively impacted by this trend.
“Lawmakers want to homogenize the lives that people are living, and they have this very small-minded idea of who people are and how people should look, live their lives, and should think”
–Tori Cooper
Director of Community Engagement for the Human Rights Campaign’s Trans Justice Initiative
Historically we’ve seen that restrictions imposed on a small group are limits that can be applied to all groups in practice. The good news is: that there are impactful, thoughtful, community-led initiatives supporting trans people and the rights of all people to exist and thrive authentically. We will highlight one such organization today: the Transgender Law Center.
MISSION AND CONTEXT
Transgender Law Center (TLC) is a trans-led organization that provides legal support for diverse cases from individuals or class action lawsuits where they represent hundreds or thousands of people. Founded in 2002, TLC works to uphold the right of all transgender and gender-nonconforming people to make their own choices and live freely, safely, and authentically. TLC’s work stems from the foundational principles of autonomy and self-determination for all people, hoping to create a world where everyone can live as their authentic selves. They offer a wide swath of services including community programs, legal support, advocacy initiatives, and educational efforts.
As the TLC website summarizes:
“For two decades, TLC has won precedent-setting legal victories through cases like that of the Ash Whitaker Case and the Shiloh Quine Case, as well as incubated groundbreaking programs including Black Trans Circles Project, Positively Trans Project, the Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, TRUTH Project, TLC@SONG Project, and the Disability Project.”
TLC has five pillars that support its programs: Justice, Empowerment, Self-Determination, Integrity, and Compassionate Action. Below is a summary of the TLC programs.
PROGRAMS
Positively Trans
Positively Trans (T+) is a program for transgender people living with HIV to address the stigma surrounding HIV. This program has released Needs Assessments for varying cities around the country, creates digital stories, and uplifts news related to the lived experience of people living with HIV.
Disability Project
The Disability Project of TLC addresses the impacts of ableism through an intersectional and educational lens. Grounded in the history of Disability Justice, this project “breaks isolation, grows connection, builds leadership and infrastructure … while increasing Disability Justice capacity in the movements.”
Black Trans Circles
“Black Trans Circles (BTC) develops the leadership of Black trans women in the South and Midwest through the creation of healing justice spaces to work through oppression-based trauma and incubate community organizing efforts to address anti-trans murder and violence.”
Gender Justice Leadership Programs
Gender Justice Leadership Programs (GJLP) is a “storytelling program that aims to build empathy, understanding, and a movement for youth to share their stories in their own words and in their own way.”
Legal Programs
Legal Services Project: “TLC’s Legal Services Project harnesses community power to meet community needs. We believe that trans and gender nonconforming people, when connected to the knowledge and resources we need, hold the power to protect ourselves, each other, and our community as a whole. “
Litigation: “focuses on three aspects of criminalization: laws and policies that disproportionately impact and criminalize trans people like walking while trans laws; the impact of criminalization inside prisons, detention centers, and hospitals; and collateral consequences of convictions, such as criminal convictions that impact a person’s ability to get immigration status.“
Border Butterflies Project: “Border Butterflies is a coordinated coalitional response to the crisis of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border. We provide legal and humanitarian support, policy advocacy, leadership development, and community organizing.”
SUPPORT TLC!
This article only dips a toe into the waters of trans liberatory efforts. The next step after education and research is to get involved! To stay up to date with everything the Transgender Law Center is up to, you can follow them on their socials linked below. To support their work, you can volunteer, donate directly, or become a sustaining donor for the Trans Liberation Circle.
“Transgender Law Center changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.”