As a Texan-in-exile, I am one of over 130,000 transgender internal refugees currently in the United States. You can support the cause of trans liberation in Texas and across the South by donating to or volunteering with any of the following organizations:
Mahogany Project: The only Black trans-led/peer led community center in the state of Texas. Texas is the trans murder capital of the United States. Trans women are four times as likely as cisgendered women to be assaulted and twice as likely to be sexually assaulted. Black trans women face the brunt of this violence. Beyond this, the transgender unemployment rate is 14%, twice the national average, and a similar disparity exists for underemployment and poverty. This is, again, worse for black trans women due to higher rates of black unemployment. The Mahogany Project provides on-the-ground material support for transgender and queer communities of color in Texas.
Trans Continental Pipeline: A queer relocation nonprofit assisting in the resettlement of Trans and Queer internal refuges within the United States.
Campaign for Southern Equality: A nonprofit organization that engages in legal advocacy for queer and trans causes across the South and which also provides material support for southern trans youth and their families.
Trans Lifeline: A non-profit grassroots hotline, run by and for the trans community, offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis. Trans Lifeline is a 'safe hotline', meaning that (unlike many crisis hotlines, they will not call or dispatch police without the caller's consent). 41% of transgender adults report having attempted suicide at least once in their life, ten times more than for cisgendered people. The Trevor Project, a more general queer crisis hotline reported a 700% increase in calls following the re-election of the current President of the United States and ongoing state-level laws restricting the rights of trans people have been shown to increase suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary young people by 7-72%.
ACLU of Texas: the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which works with communities, at the State Capitol, and in the courts to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties for all Texans. This work currently includes and has historically included legal advocacy for transgender Texans.
Transgender Education Network of Texas: The largest statewide, BIPOC trans-led, trans-focused policy, education, and advocacy organization in the state of Texas.Â
For further reading on the experience of trans people in the state, my public comments to the Texas legislature are included in a larger post here.