Embedded Files
Sarah Newton stands with a trans pride flag during a rally to protest the passing of SB 150 on March 29, 2023 at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky. Credit: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
More Than Broken
More Than Broken
Some systems aren’t broken—they’re working exactly as they were designed. The police, foster care, immigration, housing, prisons, and psychiatry aren’t neutral institutions. They're tools of control and containment—especially for people who are Black, Brown, queer, trans, disabled, undocumented, low-income, or all of the above.
This module explores how systemic harm manifests in institutions and its impact on queer and trans lives across the board. We'll not only acknowledge the harm but also break down how it operates, who it benefits, and who it harms. By understanding these patterns, we can envision a better future.
Core Content
Core Content
Scholarly Article: “I Have Nowhere to Go”: A Multiple‑Case Study of Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth, Their Families, and Healthcare Experiences – Paceley, Ananda, Thomas, Isaac Sanders, Hiegert & Monley (2021)
A ~10–15 minute peer-reviewed case study featuring rural and suburban trans and non-binary youth (ages 4–16) in the U.S. Midwest. Highlights systemic healthcare barriers, affirming care, and the experiences of families and adults within bureaucratic systems.
Documentary (PBS Frontline): Growing Up Trans - Mira Navasky & Karen O'Connor
A 90-minute film exploring the experiences of transgender youth and their families navigating medical care, politics, and identity. Closed captions and free access.
Report (PBS NewsHour): Incarcerated LGBTQ Americans find little to no support upon release - Cat Wise, Mary Fecteau, and Maea Lenei Buhre
A ~9-minute segment spotlighting the unique challenges queer and trans folks face post-incarceration, exposing institutional neglect.
Short Film (YouTube/The New Yorker): Flipping the Script on Trans Medical Encounters - Noah Schamus and Brit Fryer
A heartfelt reflection from a queer parent on choosing joy during uncertain times, especially for their child’s sake. Grounded in love, hope, and daily action.
NGO Resource (Web): Transgender Law Center – Prisons and Policing Resources
A practical, online toolkit with data, policy analysis, and organizing strategies on how law enforcement and incarceration uniquely impact trans communities.
Scholarly Article: LGBTQ Youth in Unstable Housing and Foster Care - Baams, et al.
This peer-reviewed paper offers a clear, data-rich overview of the disproportionate rates of homelessness and housing instability experienced by LGBTQ youth—especially trans and nonbinary individuals and youth of color—in foster care settings. Highlights include mental health disparities, family rejection, and systemic oversight.
Scholarly Article: Lived Experiences of Transgender Forced Migrants and Their Mental Health
A meta-ethnographic synthesis documenting how systemic oppression, violence, and institutional barriers affect transgender forced migrants. Explores the trauma of seeking asylum, challenges with healthcare, and how community affirmation and resilience shape survival.
Reflect, Resist, Rejoice: Discussion & Practice
Reflect, Resist, Rejoice: Discussion & Practice
Reflection Questions (great for journaling or small group dialogue)
Reflection Questions (great for journaling or small group dialogue)
When did you first learn that a system you were part of—school, healthcare, foster care—was causing harm?
How did that realization shape your understanding of safety?
Have you or someone you love ever been harmed by a system that claimed to offer care or protection?
What did that experience teach you?
What does “access” mean when systems are still violent?
Can access alone be enough?
What survival strategies have queer and trans people created in response to systemic neglect or abuse?
How do you participate in or benefit from those strategies?
After reading about systems like foster care, prisons, or immigration enforcement, what questions do you have about alternatives?
What would care without control look like?
Critical Discussions Prompts (for classrooms, study groups, or peer-led facilitation)
Critical Discussions Prompts (for classrooms, study groups, or peer-led facilitation)
What does it mean to say a system is “working as designed”?
How does that framing shift our responsibility from fixing to transforming?
How are harm and care sometimes blurred in systems like foster care, psychiatry, or immigration policy?
What makes harm harder to recognize when it’s wrapped in institutional language?
What patterns emerge across systems when you look at how they treat queer and trans people—especially Black, Brown, Indigenous, disabled, or undocumented folks?
Are those patterns of harm coincidental or coordinated?
How do surveillance and control show up in places that claim to be supportive, like schools, shelters, hospitals, or social services?
What’s the cost of being “seen” in those spaces?
What would it mean to design systems that don’t require people to be legible, compliant, or exceptional in order to receive care?
What gets in the way of building them?
Creative + Collective Practice Prompts (for workshops, zines, or embodied learning)
Creative + Collective Practice Prompts (for workshops, zines, or embodied learning)
Create a “system survival map.”
Chart the systems you’ve had to navigate (school, healthcare, housing, immigration, etc.). Mark the points of harm, survival strategies, and people who helped. Share in pairs or zine it.
Write a letter to a system that failed you.
You can write with rage, grief, sarcasm, or refusal. You don’t have to send it, but you might want to share it aloud.
Design a care system from scratch.
If no institution existed, what would your community need to feel safe, affirmed, and supported? What would it look like, sound like, smell like? Who runs it?
Create an “abolitionist intake form.”
Rewrite a healthcare or social service form that centers dignity, agency, and complexity. What questions would you ask—or remove entirely?
Stage a healing intervention.
In pairs or small groups, act out a scene where someone is being harmed by a system, and collectively rewrite it in real time. What shifts? Who intervenes? What replaces punishment?
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