From the July-August 2016 issue of News & Letters

by Elise

TRANSSA (Trans Siempre Amigas/Trans Always Friends), Guyana Trans United, JFLAG (Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays), Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition and Bahamas Transgender Intersex United are some of the Queer rights groups in the Caribbean fighting for Transgender people to have human rights. They document: the unlawful detentions and police brutality towards Transgender people, Transgender people who have been murdered, and the abuse of Transgender children by their own families. These and other Caribbean Queer rights groups demand that their governments encourage families to support their Transgender children and have enough shelters for abandoned Transgender children. They are also running life-saving programs for HIV-positive Trans women and helping them navigate healthcare systems. Guyana Trans United is challenging the constitutionality of colonial laws criminalizing cross-dressing.

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Corey Maison. Photo: Corey Maison

Transgender teen girl Corey Maison’s story of overcoming vicious bullying has gone viral. Through The Bully Project, a media campaign to end bullying of children, Corey reveals that her supportive parents home schooled her after the bullying at school became so severe that she was crying every day. After Corey watched the show I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition, about Transgender girl Jazz and her family’s journey to supportiveness, Corey returned to school and is allowed to use the girls’ restroom and locker room. To get involved in The Bully Project, see their Facebook page or their website www.thebullyproject.com.

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The University of North Carolina is finally protesting North Carolina’s anti-Queer rights and anti-Transgender bathroom law, HB2. After UNC President Margaret Spellings—no friend of the Queer Community—said the university would enforce HB2, she later stated UNC will not enforce provisions of the law that people must use the bathroom and changing room of their gender at birth, instead of the gender each person identifies with.

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Allies of Transgender and gender nonconforming students at Oregon State are wearing buttons, T-shirts and backpacks that say, “I’ll Go With You” (IGWY). The IGWY movement began over a year ago when T-shirts, buttons and backpacks with the words I’ll Go With You started to be distributed all over the country. OSU students wearing IGWY gear will escort Transgender and Gender Nonconforming students to bathrooms and changing rooms, to ensure their safety.