Donations spotlight: Help Transgender Law Center’s trans-led movement for liberation

Note from the CREDO Mobile team: This June, Transgender Law Center is among three amazing nonprofits that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO Mobile community will support TLC as it champions the right of all transgender and gender-nonconforming people to make their own choices and live freely, safely and authentically.

 Read this important message from TLC, then visit CREDO Donations and cast your vote to help send vital grant money to the group to assist its efforts—and the efforts of our other outstanding June grantees.

Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Since 2002, we’ve been organizing, assisting, informing and empowering thousands of individual community members toward a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation.

As we witness the rise of authoritarianism and increased backlash toward Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and LGBTQ communities—particularly attacks on trans communities of color—it is more important than ever to advance community-driven strategies that build on trans knowledge, power and joy.

Mariah Moore, director of policy and programs at Transgender Law Center, recently spoke at the Freedom to Be rally in Washington, D.C. Her speech, below, has been lightly edited for this blog post.

A message of resilience and hope from Mariah Moore

I am deeply honored to be here today, representing the South and, more importantly, representing all those who are fighting for trans justice in some of the most hostile states in this country. I speak today as an activist and as a proud Black trans woman from New Orleans, Louisiana, who knows firsthand what it means to survive and to lead with love.

When I think of Freedom to Be, I imagine a world where we are no longer forced to explain our existence; where our brilliance is celebrated not criminalized; where our care, our joy and our truth are not acts of resistance but simply acts of living. I imagine Black trans children growing up free from boxes, free from binaries and free from fear. I imagine us whole. And I know that world is possible because we’re building it.

Black trans women have always led. Even when no one said our names, we were at the frontlines fighting, organizing, creating—not because it was easy or because we were invited but because we knew, deep in our bones, that no one was coming to save us but us. That’s the legacy we carry: a legacy of care for our community.

At Transgender Law Center, our Black Trans Circles program is just one example of how we are reclaiming healing and leadership. We know that organizing without healing is unsustainable. So we’re creating spaces where Black trans women can not only survive but breathe, rest, grieve and dream. Because we are worthy of that.

Trans people, especially Black trans people, have always been part of this country’s story. Even when we didn’t have the words, we existed. In the kitchens, the fields, the ballrooms, the back pews, we were there. We are not new. And we are not going anywhere.

This moment asks us to remember that we are the dreams of our ancestors. We carry their strength. And every time we choose to show up, to speak out, to build community, we are saying we’re still here.

And for those of us who stay and fight in places where leaving isn’t an option, we dig deep. In Louisiana, we organize block by block. We show up for each other when systems don’t. We cook for each other, hold space for each other and celebrate each other’s wins, no matter how small. We build joy in the cracks of a system that wants to break us. That is what resilience really looks like.

So I say this to every trans person fighting to be free: You are not alone. You are powerful. You are loved. And you are already enough.

Black Trans Circles: A program of Transgender Law Center

Black Trans Circles develops the leadership of Black trans women in the South and Midwest through the creation of healing justice spaces to work through oppression-based trauma and incubate community-organizing efforts to address anti-trans murder and violence.

Rather than push for solutions outside the community, BTC is unique in that it focuses on strengthening the relationships, skills and power of Black trans women. BTC utilizes preexisting networks at the local level to combat isolation and powerlessness.

To learn more about Black Trans Circles and all of Transgender Law Center’s work, please visit us at TransgenderLawCenter.org.