Support TGNC Theatre People

UPDATED 1/12/23:

Donate to Trans Lifeline, which offers name change microgrants to trans and nonbinary people needing court-ordered name changes to IDs, including passports, driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and state and Tribal IDs.

UPDATED 11/16/22:

During this Transgender Awareness Week and leading up to Transgender Day of Awareness, read more about the impact of the 2022 midterm elections on TGNC people here, and the current transphobic legislation being advanced across multiple states here. In particular, gender-affirming care for younger trans people is under attack, and its important to push back against anti-trans propaganda and myths (resources below from GLAAD):

Recommended Resources on Transgender Healthcare:

• Fact Sheet: Evidence Based Healthcare for Transgender People and Youth 
• John Oliver explains why gender-affirming care is so important, exposes extremist attacks on trans youth 
• Jon Stewart sets the record straight on gender-affirming care 
• Fact Sheet: Medical Association Statements Supporting Trans Youth Healthcare and Against Discriminatory Bills 

BIPOC trans people are especially vulnerable to legal and extralegal violence. Learn more and support organizations like Movement for Black Lives, House of GG, Iron Path Farms, and Native Justice Coalition's Two-Spirit Program. 

Within the theatre field, donate to and attend performances of theatre companies that center TGNC artists, like Peacock Rebellion, Trans Lab, Honest Accomplice, and The Theater Offensive.  Read on for more ways to support TGNC peoples this week and throughout the year!


UPDATED 3/25/22:

Today begins Trans Week of Visibility & Action: "From March 25-March 31 we are launching a digital mobilization campaign targeting 7 states to build power and support for trans young people and the organizers and communities fighting alongside them. More than 200 bills have been introduced across the country attacking trans youth — from threatening to criminalize health care to investigating families for affirming their children to banning trans youth from school activities, these bills represent a threat to trans survival." Take action here, and learn more ways to support TGNC people below.

UPDATED 2/25/22:

The legislative onslaught against TGNC people continues in 2022.  This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott have criminalized caregiving to trans young people. This alarming development, which could be used to tear apart families of trans children and arrest healthcare providers, must be stopped. Here are some Texas-based organizations that you can support to push back against this state violence:

• TENT/Trans Texas
• Organización Latina Trans en Texas
• AllGo 
• Trans Pride Initiative
• San Antonio Gender Association
• The Mahogany Project
• Normal Anomaly Initiative
• National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition 

Read a full list of resources and actions here.

Unfortunately, the attacks on TGNC people is not limited to Texas. Please sign this petition to stop anti-trans laws in Alabama and find more info on how to stop the more than 100 anti-LGBTQ bills under consideration across state legislatures. 

UPDATED: 11/13/21

Transgender Awareness Week is November 13-19 this year, and Transgender Day of Remembrance is on November 20. To support Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming people this week and throughout the year, we're adding resources and action opportunities to our original post below:

• Use resources like the T List and Trans* Theater Makers List to hire TGNC theatre people. 
• Donate to and attend performances of theatre companies that center TGNC artists, like Peacock Rebellion, Trans Lab, Honest Accomplice, and The Theater Offensive. 
• Follow and support the ACLU's tracking and fighting of anti-trans legislation across the country. 
• Donate to grassroots organizations that support TGNC people, especially Black trans women and femmes. 
• GLAAD has put together a series of toolkits for the film Disclosure, which helps combat much of the false representation of trans people in the media. 
• Out & Equal has a list of resources for how you can support TGNC employees and colleagues. 

You can find more resources from our original post earlier this year below.

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March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day to celebrate the lives and successes of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people and communities. However, there can be no celebration of visibility without the defense of trans lives. 2021 is a record year for anti-transgender legislation, with 174 anti-LGBTQ bills so far under consideration in state legislatures across the country. Over half of them are aimed specifically at trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people. This legislative assault follows a record-year of violence against TGNC people, most frequently against Black trans women.

The situation is especially distressing in Arkansas, where the governor signed into law Senate Bill 354, an anti-transgender bill that bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports, and may sign House Bill 1570, which would prohibit doctors from providing medically necessary health care for transgender teenagers. This would block young people from essential care, and take away parents' rights to make decisions about their children's care—this even bars public health insurance coverage for trans people of ANY AGE. This is the first bill of its kind and is life-threatening—denying gender-affirming care has been shown to contribute to depression, social isolation, self-hatred, suicidal ideation, and more.

In Alabama, state lawmakers are considering House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 10, which if passed would be the most sweeping attack on trans youth in history. These laws would make it a felony to treat trans youth up to age 19 and forcibly out trans and gender expansive youth to their parents.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION:

• Contact your U.S. senator to urge them to vote YES on the Equality Act, federal legislation that would modernize our nation’s civil rights laws by including explicit protections for LGBTQ people, as well as improving protections for women, people of color, and people of all faiths. (More information) 
• Contact Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson at 501-682-2345 and asa.hutchinson@governor.arkansas.gov to veto HB1570 (email templates)
• Contact Alabama Governor Kay Ivey at 334-242-7100 to veto bills HB1/SB10 and HB391. HB391 wrongly discriminates against transgender girls in sports. (email templates)
• Take Action with TransAthlete.com
• Track Anti-Transgender legislation here and stay informed
• Allyship resources for cisgender folks: Trevor Project Guide; Schuyler Bailar’s “Steps to Being a Good Ally”
• Reach out to your TGNC colleagues, family and friends. They need your support. This level of coordinated legislation across the country is hitting folks right in the gut and causing mental distress and pain.
• And yes, celebrate the visibility of trans theatre artists! One great place to start is American Theatre magazine's special issue, Trans Voices Lead the Way.