We will post resources here for persons needing assistance leaving the state or taking other actions to protect their children.
If considering a move to Colorado, the Trans Continental Pipeline has information, and they are working on several projects, included a queer housing network, moving assistance, and temporary housing.
TPI has recently been made aware of an organization that is helping trans persons, particularly trans kids, needing to access healthcare that is in another state. The organization is called Elevated Access, and their web site is here: elevatedaccess.org. TPI has contacted them to see if we can do anything to facilitate the process.
For those needing to consider relocating, several states have adopted shield or refuge laws that help protect trans persons coming to the state.
As of May 2023, the states that appear to have the best protections or be declared safe for trans persons include ( indicates shield law in place): California, Colorado, Connecticutt, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington, Washington DC, Vermont
States with BANS against best practices concerning healthcare for trans youth include: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Gerorgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia
Sources for state information: NPR, GLAAD, Truthout (1, 2), Movement Advancement Project, Journalist Erin Reed
[Although the information in this section is less urgent now that courts have halted the investigations into trans families, we believe the information here is still valuable, and that people should still reach out and object to these types of attacks against trans persons. The info will remain available here for those who wish to review or take action.]
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has declared that supporting trans children is “child abuse,” and is criminalizing family and caregivers for providing loving support for trans children. It is unbelievable that we have to fight this kind of abuse and bullying from public servants!
TPI has created a letter writing campaign to help people write their state and federal legislators as well as contact state officials promoting this horrendous policy. We hope you will help us challenge this harmful and bullying effort by state officials!
Trans Pride Initiative is working to provide assistance and support for transgender and gender diverse persons in areas of healthcare, housing, employment, education, and public accommodations.
Our initial efforts focused on healthcare and housing issues and assistance. To see some of the materials we have available for information and use, please see the resources pages.
Over the past several years, our work has increasingly focused on applying our mission objectives to prisoner support, particularly Texas trans and queer prisoners.
If you would like to get involved, feel free to email us at admin@tpride.org or see our Committees page to view which committees have active projects!
Last, we will always welcome community input to what we are doing and how we can do better! If you have suggestions, please let us know, but part of our response will probably be to encourage you to become involved because that is the way change is made!
Some of our important projects currently on-going or recently completed.
Project 103 is a cooperative effort between civil rights attorney Moria Meltzer-Cohen and the Austin Community Law Center to challenge the constitutionality of restrictions on name changes for trans persons with a conviction history.
Our Project 103 included a request that the UT Austin School of Law Human Rights Clinic look at the international basis for the right to self-determination of identity, and they created a report of their findings as part of the effort. The project include a survey of persons TPI has corresponded with and the publication of the Naming and Shaming report.