“‘Forget it, it’s over, I’ll move to Canada’ is not really a solution. The vision needs to be: How are we going to make sure we protect things that are important to us?”
– Mary McNaughton-Cassill, U. of Texas San Antonio professor of psychology, on coping and moving forward through post-election stress
Here’s your breakdown of what’s happening this week in the #LGBTsouth:
WHAT COMES NEXT?
As the dust begins to settle after last week’s election shake up, people are now looking for ways to move from fear and shock toward concrete action. Many people in the LGBTQ community are afraid for their safety, the future of their marriages and families, their healthcare, and more. Here are a few good resources that offer clear advice on what you can do now to protect your rights under the incoming administration, and what, realistically, could be at stake under Trump’s presidency.
This week – November 14-20 – is Transgender Awareness Week, a time to increase visibility of transgender and gender non-conforming people and spread awareness of the unique issues that face this community, culminating in Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) to memorialize people lost to transphobic violence in the past year. With many trans people feeling their safety is at risk, and the highest rates of murder in the trans community in the U.S. this year, Trans Awareness Week feels more important than ever.
Over the last few months, our LGBT Rights Toolkit Coordinator, Ivy Hill (also of GenderBenders in Greenville, SC) coordinated pop up clinics for trans resources as prides all across the Carolinas. These clinics featured assistance in filling out name change forms, resource guides on how to pursue a name change and how to fund your transition, peer-to-peer counseling, and our Trans in the South Resource Guide. The clinics provided free, much-needed services and resources to folks across the two states; here’s a breakdown of how many people we were able to serve through these clinics:
Name Change Guides
In South Carolina, we completed name change guides for 26 people on-site at Prides. In North Carolina, we completed 10 name changes and give out another 25 for folks to fill out on their own. That’s 61 name changes in total!
Of the 36 whose paperwork was completed on-site:
77% were trans folks under the age of 26 – the youngest being 13, and the oldest being 46
70% reported and annual household income of $20,000 or below
15% were people of color
Resource Guides
We handed out about about 50 Trans in the South Resource Guides and 125 Funding Your Transition guides, which we ran out of at nearly every event, showing just how much folks need not just the information, but the funding itself.
WHAT THE CAMPAIGN FOR SOUTHERN EQUALITY IS UP TO
In the wake of last week’s election results, many people are reaching out and expressing a need for community and a space to come together. CSE will be holding a family dinner next Monday, November 21in Asheville at the First Congregational UCC. CSE staff, as well as other community leaders, will be on hand to talk and answer questions about how we will move forward. There will be a kids corner and Spanish/English simultaneous interpretation provided.
