Lavender Rights Project

     Rosario Jesús Treviño Yoson is a 2nd year majoring in Economics. They identify as a mixed queer transmasculine person using he/they pronouns. He plans to use their degree to address food insecurity. As a Diversity Center Advocate, you can find him in several virtual dCenter spaces, including Thursday evening Study Hall, the Latinx Student Union on Wednesday evenings, and Talk Story on Friday afternoons. 

Lavender Rights Project, and the WA Black Trans Task Force

    I believe organizations serving others should be primarily led by members of the respective communities. As a trans person, I see constant media stories, films, or articles written and created by non-trans people. Despite sometimes the best intentions, these outside representations come off as clumsy. At worst, they grossly misrepresent the transgender experience, with no input from trans creators- and serve as fuel for the ongoing violence and discrimination against us. How does media representation apply to activism? Even within the broad queer community, non-trans people can never fully understand what our daily lives are like, or what we need for support. Historical precedent has illustrated outright action from the LGB community towards the exclusion of trans people. The belief stemmed from the push for gay liberation in the 70s and 80s. LGB people thought they would be seen as more “socially acceptable” and would go farther without including trans people.

    With those holding multiple marginalized identities, such as trans people of color- this issue is magnified. This was a slap in the face to transwomen of color. They started the movement and took the most harm as a result of their courageous actions. While the transgender experience is light years away from the issues Black and indigenous people face everyday, I believe a similar mindset can be adopted when considering organizations designed to serve a specific population.

    

    Even with the best intentions of those outside of the community, the decisions made at the highest level of leadership should be members of the community that the organization serves. Otherwise the outcome will be missing a crucial piece, will come from a "savior" mindset, or the support won’t be directed as effectively. This is where I turn my attention to uplift an organization that is focused on putting in the work towards anti-racism. The Lavender Rights Project is based in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Here is their mission statement directly from the website.

“Lavender Rights Project (LRP) advances a more just and equitable society by providing low-cost civil legal services and community programming centered in values of social justice for trans and queer low-income people and other marginalized communities.”

    Some of the legal services outlined include estate planning, incident reporting, family law, and trans-related legal matters. Examples include name and gender marker changes, including for transgender people currently imprisoned. 
One of their programs stood out to me:

    The Washington Black Trans Task Force conducts research, community action, and political action “addressing the crisis of violence against Black trans people.” The executive director of Lavender Rights Project is Jaelynn Scott, who is also listed as a member of the Task Force. Their demands are listed on the website.

    Taking a multi-faceted approach to the support of Black trans people is so important, because they can face a myriad of issues at the same time. Black trans people face the highest risk of discrimination, homelessness, poverty, and violence. The broader queer community doesn’t provide nearly enough support that they should, often believing themselves immune to racism or transphobia.

    The work the Black Trans Task Force is committed to will likely contribute immeasurable impact to the most vulnerable in our local community, and should be uplifted as a resource and organizational model.