Trans Lifeline: A Conversation on Community Support
interview by Trinity Taylor
thumbnail art by @okdood via @translifeline
In 2020, three-hundred and fifty trans people have been reported murdered, globally. These numbers mark the highest rate of reported anti-trans homicides in history. A total of forty countries including the United States maintain the LGBTQ+ “Panic” Defense, allowing a perpetrator to claim a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity was to blame for their violent actions. In the United States, seventeen states exclude trans youth from athletics through requiring student athletes to participate in sports teams based on their biological gender at birth. Trans Lifeline, existing in both the United States and Canada, is one of few grassroots organizations to provide critical resources for the trans community and raise awareness around trans issues such as these.
In an interview with Bri Barnett, development director of Trans Lifeline, Pure Nowhere was given the run-down of what Trans Lifeline is, what resources they provide for trans people, and how allies must show up for the trans community through the professional opinion of a longtime advocate for the trans community.
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What is Trans Lifeline?
Trans Lifeline is a non-profit organization that is focused on making sure trans-people are able to connect with the support, the community, and the resources they need to survive and thrive. We have a hotline program that is a peer support and crisis hotline. We are there for people who are questioning their gender, we are there for difficult issues in your life, employment discrimination, healthcare discrimination, or an abusive partner or family member. We are the only hotline [in the U.S. and Canada] guaranteeing that all of our operators [responding to calls] are trans people. In addition, it’s worth mentioning that, as of [last] summer, our line is also fully available for people who speak Spanish. We also have a micro-grants program that looks at mental health holistically; we give trans people money to legally change their name and gender, in addition to specialized support for trans people who are in the immigration process, being detained, or who are imprisoned. Finally, I’d say that it’s really important to [point out] that we’ll never call the cops on you without your permission, without you asking for that. We don’t believe in active rescue and we don’t do active rescue so when you're talking to us, you’re only talking to us.
What is your role at Trans Lifeline?
I am the director of development and interim director of communications. I oversee our relationship with people outside of the organization as a way to unite those two things, [developing and communicating]. Most practically, I’m in charge of fundraising and I’m in charge of [internally and externally] communicating about the work that we do.
What is your mission for the transgender community? Do you have any specific goals for trans rights?
We want to make it so that any trans person anywhere in the U.S. or Canada can reach out and be greeted by someone who understands what they’re going through, someone who gets it. Ideally, when we think of the big picture, we’d like every service to be trans-affirming, we’d like every community to be trans-affirming, and we’d like there to be less stigma about trans people. [We want to] make the connection between trans people easier so that eventually services like ours aren’t necessary. In the short-term, we want to raise more money to be able to give [back] to our people.
In the long-term, we’d love to see a radically remade society where people are very supported economically for who they are.
What resources does your lifeline offer to people who might call in?
The conversation is really going to be about what the caller makes it about. That can range from any number of issues that our operators are trained in. [They’re trained to listen and provide care-support],offering insights if their caller wants and requests them and even connecting them to local support groups and resources, particularly if they are facing discrimination. .We believe that in-person connection really matters. When we’re talking with you, we aren’t going to do things like a risk assessment, we aren’t going to be evaluating how much of a risk you might be to yourself or any of that. We are going to [let] you lead the conversation and we are going to be offering the support you want about literally anything. That’s what we’re there to do, we’re there to support our callers, not to pathologize them.
What’s the age range of people who call in?
We are also unique in that we serve all trans people. We know, among callers who discuss their age, that we get everyone from teenagers, trans-youth to elders/seniors. I’d say the majority of our callers are adults, perhaps young adults around 18-40 [years old] but that’s just the majority, we certainly answer callers from all across the age spectrum. We are intergenerational. Our operators are intergenerational.
If you’re comfortable answering this question, what do people usually call in about?
People call in about any number of issues.People call in because they are questioning their gender; for a lot of our callers it’s the first time they’ve ever talked to another trans-person-- which is just so powerful. There's a long history of trans isolation and we’re able to really breakthrough that which is such a gift. People call to talk about challenges they’re facing, things like employment discrimination and healthcare discrimination. Especially at the beginning of COVID, we saw a massive increase in people talking about unemploy[ment] as major stressors to their life. We also saw over 300% increase in people calling in to talk about being exposed to unsafe living conditions either at home or [with a] partner or a family member, [surviving] domestic violence. With the protests, people have been calling to talk about violent encounters with the police, in increasing numbers. Of course, people call to talk about suicidal ideations as well, but really a wide cross-section of issues.
I’ve seen from your website that you give microgrants to trans people who are trying to affirm their legal gender. Would you like to talk about that a bit more? How do these microgrants work?
We open up our microgrants twice a month and often they fill up incredibly quickly, within an hour. A lot of the micro-grants we give are about the legal name and gender changes, updating IDs, such as getting an updated license. When you gain a micro-grant, you don’t only get a grant, you get a peer support specialist who is going to walk you through the process for your county, your unique municipality on what it takes to legally change your name and gender. We’re going to cover obvious fees, like court fees, and hidden fees, like notary fees that aren’t immediately apparent but are actually a part of the cost you’ll have. And the average cost of a grant is $500 for a U.S. citizen, for someone in the immigration process it can be as much as $1800 dollars. That’s just the majority of what [our] microgrants [program] does, it’s certainly not all of it. We also really want to uplift the experience of trans people who are incarcerated or imprisoned. Trans people are disproportionately policed [since] the economy doesn't provide for us and prison can be [a] really awful place for trans-people. We put money directly on the books of trans-people who are in ICE detention or who are inside a prison to help them access really basic things like edible food, cosmetics, shoes, and other things that can make a world of difference [to someone] who’s really going through a very violent situation at the hands of the state. Also, I think it’s really important to know that with our micro-grants, we have an equity policy in which at least 75% of our grants go to black, indigenous people of color because we believe that part of economic justice is resource redistribution. It’s reformations, it’s prioritizing groups that have been historical, not just marginalized, but actively targeted with violence, with lack of resources.
I’ve also seen from your website that you run solely off of donations. Let’s say someone donated $200, where would that money go?
All of the costs associated with connecting one person to our line are around $25 for the staffing, for the training-all of that. So that’s one way to visualize it — every $25 can make that connection. A micro-grant, on average, costs $500; getting $200 in donations goes towards helping us make sure that our staff is supported and making sure that we’re able to provide our services. A $200 donation would be really significant for us, the majority of our funding comes from small gifts under $1000. Just regular people pitching in what they can, more than 80% of our funding comes from individuals so we really are a people-powered organization.
What are some of the main issues that trans people, in general, face?
Isolation is a huge issue facing the trans community- isolation from support, isolation from material resources. It can be difficult being trans because society makes it difficult [due to stigma, shame, and different kinds of discrimination]. Specifically, [trans people face] a lack of economic opportunity, daily discrimination, people being misgendered or actively harassed whenever they walk down the streets. Basically, any societal problem a person faces in society is experienced even more if that person is trans. We know there are issues with income inequality in our society, trans people are more likely to live in poverty by I believe four times as much.
As an organization, how do you spread awareness? Do you have any tips on how individuals can spread awareness?
We love to uplift the voices and experiences of trans people. We do that through our work, as we are a trans-led organization. We uplift trans artists, trans thinkers, etc.on our social media platforms. I think following trans people [who] talk about trans issues is a great way for cis people to begin to get involved. It might not be appropriate to ask your trans friend their perspective on everything, but there are a lot of trans people out there making art and content who really want to engage on these issues in really smart ways. Another thing I’d say people could do is materially support the trans people in your life or just supporting trans people through organizations like ours. Intersectional organizing means getting involved in protests is supporting trans rights. The movement for black lives is a movement that also has to do with the well-being of trans people because [these struggles are intersectional]. Causes that advance greater equality, especially greater economic equality in the nation, like racial justice or socioeconomic justice, are trans issues. Being involved there really helps our community as well.
What do you think we could be doing to actively transform our culture into acceptance and inclusion for trans people?
Part of the journey starts with individual education of yourself on trans issues. I think that’s important, and then going out and spreading the word, being a visible ally, uplifting the perspectives of trans people on trans issues, bringing trans perspectives to other issues. [It’s] really important to know that no matter what issue you’re working on, it will impact trans people in a particular way, and that will include if you're designing a program — that that program is not just capable of serving trans people but actively has trans clients in line from the beginning. I think all of those are great places to make a change.
Is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers?
At Trans Lifeline, we all support each other and we all have a role to play in supporting each other both as individuals and as a collective. Getting involved is really the first step and hopefully that that will create additional energy to continue showing up for multiple [marginalized] communities.
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Thank you to Bri Barnett and Trans Lifeline for giving Pure Nowhere the opportunity to learn, love, and spread awareness.
For more information on how you can support and donate to Trans Lifeline: https://translifeline.org/donate/
The Trans Lifeline Hotline Number: 877-565-8860