What we saw this weekend from the leaked memo in the New York Times is not only a threat of erasure, but an attempt to threaten the survival of trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming communities.
While this threat is serious, it is not new. It mirrors what communities have been resisting across many states in America long before the Trump administration took office. It is about stripping away any and all access to resources that trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people have. It is about getting people who are homophobic, transphobic, and misogynist excited to turn out to vote. And, it’s about splintering the broader progressive movement.
As a feminist institution, our feminism will continue to center trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex communities, and we are never backing down. As a funder, we will prioritize people of color, working class, and low-income communities because when political attacks are waged, they are who experience the greatest impact and have the least access to philanthropy.
While this threat is serious, it is not new. It mirrors what communities have been resisting across many states in America long before the Trump administration took office. It is about stripping away any and all access to resources that trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people have. It is about getting people who are homophobic, transphobic, and misogynist excited to turn out to vote. And, it’s about splintering the broader progressive movement.
As a feminist institution, our feminism will continue to center trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex communities, and we are never backing down. As a funder, we will prioritize people of color, working class, and low-income communities because when political attacks are waged, they are who experience the greatest impact and have the least access to philanthropy.
In 2016, many mainstream voices were convinced that LGBTQ rights had been achieved. In that same year, trans communities, mostly trans women of color, experienced a record number of murders and a wave of anti-trans legislative attacks were levied at the state level, mostly in the form of “Bathroom Bills.” It was in this context that we created the Flush Transphobia Fund (FTF) to lift up and fund rapid response work led by trans, non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming organizers. FTF awarded $95,000 to 18 organizations in 14 states and the District of Columbia to defeat anti-trans legislation.
FTF grantees helped defeat state and local bills, ballot initiatives, and proposed policy changes in Washington, Alaska, South Dakota, Maryland, Texas, and the District of Columbia. Their efforts also fought back against North Carolina's HB2, mobilized voters in Alabama's 2017 Special Election, built relationships between Black cisgender and transgender women, and created media on the impacts of anti-trans policies on intersex youth. As of this year, FTF has been folded into the overall grantmaking of the Mobilize Power Fund to continue to support rapid response and healing justice needs of trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex communities.
FTF grantees helped defeat state and local bills, ballot initiatives, and proposed policy changes in Washington, Alaska, South Dakota, Maryland, Texas, and the District of Columbia. Their efforts also fought back against North Carolina's HB2, mobilized voters in Alabama's 2017 Special Election, built relationships between Black cisgender and transgender women, and created media on the impacts of anti-trans policies on intersex youth. As of this year, FTF has been folded into the overall grantmaking of the Mobilize Power Fund to continue to support rapid response and healing justice needs of trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex communities.
Since 2015, we’ve funded over 50 organizations & coalitions led by trans, intersex, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people across the country. We urge you to learn about these groups and support the following organizations still active in their efforts for justice and liberation:
API Equality - Northern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Assata’s Daughters (Chicago, IL)
Brave Space Alliance (Chicago, IL)
BreakOUT! (New Orleans, LA)
Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (Oakland, CA, Washington D.C, Detroit, MI)
Black Excellence Collective (Minneapolis, MN & New York, NY)
Coalition for the Rights and Safety of People in the Sex Trades (Seattle, WA)
Collective Action for Safe Spaces (Washington, D.C.)
Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo (Jackson Heights, NY)
Garden of Peace Project (Pittsburgh, PA)
Gender Justice League (Seattle, WA)
House of GGs (Little Rock, AR)
Identity, Inc. (Anchorage, AK)
Immigrant Youth Coalition (Los Angeles, CA)
InterACT (National)
No Justice No Pride (Washington, D.C.)
Our Spot KC (Kansas City, KS)
Peacock Rebellion (San Francisco, CA)
Semillas Healing Project (Puerto Rico)
Spring Up (Miami Gardens, FL)
Stonewall Youth (Olympia, WA)
TAKE Resource Center (Birmingham, AL)
TKO Society (Selma, AL)
TGI Justice Project (San Francisco, CA)
Trans(forming) (Atlanta, GA)
Translatina Network (New York, NY)
Trans Sistas of Color Project (Detroit, MI)
Trans Queer Pueblo (Phoenix, AZ)
Trans United Fund (Washington, D.C.)
Trans Women of Color Collective (Washington, D.C.)
Two Spirit Nation (Portland, OR)
Virginia Student Environmental Coalition (Roanoke, VA)
WA SAFE Alliance (Washington)
Youth Organizing Institute (Minneapolis, MN)
We also hope you check out Trans Justice Funding Project’s most recent blog post, “We Have Something They Don’t…” in which they list the 182 trans-led groups they’ve funded this year alone.
Anytime a major political attack occurs, we experience a dramatic increase in applications for rapid response grants. Please consider a gift to the Mobilize Power Fund, or join others who are setting up monthly gifts.
You can count on Third Wave to continue funding communities most-impacted by institutional and interpersonal violence and to continue funding healing justice as a form of resistance and resilience.
With love and solidarity,
Third Wave Fund Staff
API Equality - Northern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Assata’s Daughters (Chicago, IL)
Brave Space Alliance (Chicago, IL)
BreakOUT! (New Orleans, LA)
Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (Oakland, CA, Washington D.C, Detroit, MI)
Black Excellence Collective (Minneapolis, MN & New York, NY)
Coalition for the Rights and Safety of People in the Sex Trades (Seattle, WA)
Collective Action for Safe Spaces (Washington, D.C.)
Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo (Jackson Heights, NY)
Garden of Peace Project (Pittsburgh, PA)
Gender Justice League (Seattle, WA)
House of GGs (Little Rock, AR)
Identity, Inc. (Anchorage, AK)
Immigrant Youth Coalition (Los Angeles, CA)
InterACT (National)
No Justice No Pride (Washington, D.C.)
Our Spot KC (Kansas City, KS)
Peacock Rebellion (San Francisco, CA)
Semillas Healing Project (Puerto Rico)
Spring Up (Miami Gardens, FL)
Stonewall Youth (Olympia, WA)
TAKE Resource Center (Birmingham, AL)
TKO Society (Selma, AL)
TGI Justice Project (San Francisco, CA)
Trans(forming) (Atlanta, GA)
Translatina Network (New York, NY)
Trans Sistas of Color Project (Detroit, MI)
Trans Queer Pueblo (Phoenix, AZ)
Trans United Fund (Washington, D.C.)
Trans Women of Color Collective (Washington, D.C.)
Two Spirit Nation (Portland, OR)
Virginia Student Environmental Coalition (Roanoke, VA)
WA SAFE Alliance (Washington)
Youth Organizing Institute (Minneapolis, MN)
We also hope you check out Trans Justice Funding Project’s most recent blog post, “We Have Something They Don’t…” in which they list the 182 trans-led groups they’ve funded this year alone.
Anytime a major political attack occurs, we experience a dramatic increase in applications for rapid response grants. Please consider a gift to the Mobilize Power Fund, or join others who are setting up monthly gifts.
You can count on Third Wave to continue funding communities most-impacted by institutional and interpersonal violence and to continue funding healing justice as a form of resistance and resilience.
With love and solidarity,
Third Wave Fund Staff
To-Read List:
Trump can’t erase transgender people with a memo, but he can make our lives harder, Evan Greer, NBC, 10/22/2018
Right-Wing Fantasies About Gender Are Killing Trans People, Dean Spade, Truthout, 10/22/18
Hell No to the Memo: Trans People Continue to Rally for our Human Rights, Tyler Ford, them, 10/22/18
Hell No to the Memo: 7 Action Items to Protect Trans & GNC People, Chase Strangio, Out, 10/21/18
Trump Considers Terrifying New Policy to Eliminate Transgender Rights, Opheli Garcia Lawler, the Cut, 10/21/18
Trump can’t erase transgender people with a memo, but he can make our lives harder, Evan Greer, NBC, 10/22/2018
Right-Wing Fantasies About Gender Are Killing Trans People, Dean Spade, Truthout, 10/22/18
Hell No to the Memo: Trans People Continue to Rally for our Human Rights, Tyler Ford, them, 10/22/18
Hell No to the Memo: 7 Action Items to Protect Trans & GNC People, Chase Strangio, Out, 10/21/18
Trump Considers Terrifying New Policy to Eliminate Transgender Rights, Opheli Garcia Lawler, the Cut, 10/21/18
RSS Feed