Transgender communities are once again being scapegoated and targeted by the conservative right. While the current crises demand our attention, our Black Trans movement leaders are quick to remind us that these emergencies are the inevitable result of long-term under-investment in trans communities.

This plenary offers the funding of “Black trans joy” as a framework for understanding how funders can appropriately support transgender communities, our families, and our allies for the long-term–even in the face of immediate unrelenting attacks on our rights and on our humanity. Rather than falling into familiar patterns of putting out fires and letting the right dictate our agendas, “trans joy” helps us get out of reactive bust-and-boom cycles, and into pro-active movement building to advance truly liberatory visions for the future.

Plenary speakers will speak to what “Black trans joy” means to them, and how trans communities nationwide are using this concept to continue to create spaces where we can still build and thrive in hostile climates–long-standing work that is often not visible to funders. The framework can encompass a myriad of funding priorities, including but not limited to healing justice, safety, and spiritual care; community care and power-building; racial and gender justice; and arts, culture, and other narrative change work. Speakers will share how these innovative approaches and projects have evolved, especially during these last several years of heightened crisis, and how funders can continue to support their development.

Speakers:

• Bré Rivera (Black Trans Fund)
• Imara Jones (TransLash)
• Shea Cutliff (Contigo Fund)
• Devin Lowe (Black Trans Travel Fund)
• Morticia Godiva (Black Trans Travel Fund)