Resources

BOSTON, February 2022

The Gardner is an inclusive museum that welcomes everyone and values diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI). Through our exhibitions, programs, and collaborations, we support efforts to educate ourselves and our audiences about differing views and lived experiences.

On February 10, 2022, the Isabella Gardner Museum opened Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance. 

Sir Zanele Muholi’s visual activism centers humanity in Blackness and queerness. In support of exhibition audiences, the Gardner asked Chastity Bowick, Executive Director, Transgender Emergency Fund of MA INC, and Future Archive participant, and Arielle Gray, writer, multimedia artist, and Future Archive Creative Lead to develop a list of readings, national agencies, and local organizations focused on support for the LGBQIA+ and Transgender community. We hope these resources are helpful to the LGBQIA+ and Transgender community, their allies, and all those who wish to learn more.

A Note on Terminology

We are committed to learning how to better use inclusive language. A glossary of terms as used in this exhibition is available on our website. Our collaborators and some of the organizations they recommend may use terminology differently than we do at the Gardner. For example, various acronyms are used to acknowledge the wide diversity of gender and sexual identities. We commonly use the acronym LGBTQIA+, but, on this document we have used LGBQIA+ and Transgender because our collaborators have asked us to acknowledge that the needs of Trans folks are different than what others in the community need. We recognize and honor the language used by our collaborators and these organizations by providing the resources to our audiences just as they were provided to us.

RESOURCES PROVIDED BY 

Chastity Bowick, Executive Director, Transgender Emergency Fund of MA INC, and Future Archive participant

• Alcoholism in the LGBTQ Community
  This free web guide is a resource for transgender people who are looking to take the next step and learn more about recovery.
• Black Transmen Inc.
  Black Transmen Inc is continuing to position itself to adequately meet the needs of its constituency creating and providing programs that will aid the black trans community.
• Black Transwomen Inc.
  BTWI, a national nonprofit organization committed to women’s empowerment by addressing the urgent concerns facing black trans women and girls in our community.
• Black Trans MX (on Facebook)
  Black Trans MX (BTXI) is created to advance equality for the gender non-conforming and non-binary community.
• Center of Excellence for Transgender Health
  Increasing access to comprehensive, effective, and affirming healthcare services for transgender communities
• Gender Spectrum
  Gender Spectrum works to create gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens.
• I AM: Trans People Speak
  A project created by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition – MTPC to raise awareness about the diversity in the trans community.
• Massachusetts Trans Political Coalition
  Working towards lived equity for transgender, nonbinary, and all gender expansive people in Massachusetts.
• MOTHA (The Museum of Transgender History & Art)
  The mission of MOTHA is to ask audiences to think critically about what a visual history of transgender life could and should look like, and if it’s even possible to compile a comprehensive history of an identity category for which the language is fairly new, sometimes contested, and still rapidly evolving.
• National Center for Transgender Equality
  The National Center for Transgender Equality is the nation’s leading social justice advocacy organization winning life-saving change for transgender people.
• Substance Abuse Rehabilitation and Treatment
  Find the best options for treatment, detox, rehab and more.
• The Recovery Village
  LGBTQ+ Drug and Alcohol Treatment Resources
• The Sylvia Rivera Law Project
  The Sylvia Rivera Law Project works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence.
• The Transgender Law Center
  Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people.
• TransAthlete.com
  TransAthlete is a resource for students, athletes, coaches, and administrators to find information about trans inclusion in athletics at various levels of play.
• TransLatin@ Coalition
  Members of the TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC) are transgender Latina leaders who come together from all across the country, donating their time to organize and advocate for the issues and needs of Trans Latin@ community living in the United States.
• Transgender Lives: Your Stories
  As part of a series of editorials about transgender experiences, we are featuring personal stories that reflect the strength, diversity and challenges of the community.
• Trans People of Color Coalition (on Facebook)
  Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC) exists to advance justice for all trans people of color.
• Transgender American Veterans Association
  The Transgender American Veterans Association advocates for equality for transgender veterans and active-duty service members in healthcare, benefits, and open transgender military service.
• Trans Club of New England
  Trans Club of New England (TCNE) hosts the 40th annual First Event Conference on January 29 through February 2 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.
• Trans Lifeline (English and Spanish)
  Phone: 877-565-8860
• Trans Resistance MA
  Empowering Trans People of Color in Massachusetts
• Trans Women of Color Collective
  TWOCC seeks to shift the narrative of surviving to thriving in our communities. We strive to build economic empowerment and global networks that connect rural communities with suburban enclaves, inner city youth with elders, donors with Black trans entrepreneurs, healers with those seeking to be whole and collaborators with agitators.
• Trans Youth Equality Foundation
  The Trans Youth Equality Foundation provides education, advocacy and support for transgender and gender non-conforming children and youth and their families.
• TransYouth Family Allies and TranYouth Equality Foundation  
  A TransYouth Family Ally (TYFA) is any person or organization who is supportive of trans, gender variant and gender questioning children and their families and can uphold the mission of TYFA.
• Transgender Emergency Fund – Massachusetts 
  Transgender Emergency Fund. Since 2008, the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts has been providing critical assistance to low-income transgender people in MA. The Transgender Emergency Fund assists with homelessness prevention, shelter assistance, nutrition assistance, prescription co-pay assistance, transportation, and escort to medical appointments, etc. All services are contingent on the availability of funds. The Transgender Emergency Fund is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and is operated solely on donations.
• HIV Testing/Services | Multicultural AIDS Coalition ...
  The Multicultural AIDS Coalition mission is to mobilize communities of color to end the HIV epidemic. MAC supports broader efforts to eradicate conditions that fuel the epidemic, including substance abuse, sexually transmitted infections, lack of healthcare access, homelessness, incarceration, and discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity.
• BAGLY
  The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth is a youth-led, adult-supported social support organization committed to social justice, and creating, sustaining and advocating for programs, policies, and services for the GLBT youth community.

RESOURCES PROVIDED BY 

Arielle Gray, writer, multimedia artist, and Future Archive Creative Lead 

Resource/Community List

• UnBound Bodies Collective
  This community driven arts lab is for QTPOC seeking to expand their arts practice in different ways. UnBound Bodies hosts programs and installations throughout the year. 
• PRIDE EXTENDED
  Founded by Mercedes Loving-Manley, PRIDE EXTENDED centers the stories and needs of Black trans and non-binary people past Pride Month.
• The Theater Offensive
  This organization offers a number of theater-centered programs for LGBTQIA+ youth of color in the city of Boston. 
• Black and Pink Massachusetts
  This abolitionist organization centers QTPOC in its mission to dismantle prisons and inequity in the criminal justice system. 
• The History Project
  The History Project is a living and expanding archive that documents the LGBTQIA+ community in Massachusetts and other parts of New England. You can submit your own story to the archive.
• The Digital Transgender Archive
  This digital archive documents the experiences, stories and work of trans people. You can find photos, records and old newspaper clippings. 
• The Network/ La Red
  This survivor-led organization is for those in the LGBTQIA+ community seeking help and resources concerning intimate partner abuse.
• National Resource Center on LGBTQ+ Aging
• National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition
  Need help accessing housing or healthcare? If you’re outside of Massachusetts and can’t contact the other organizations listed, this national group will help you secure what you need.
• Sisters Unchained
  Are you a woman of color who has a parent who is incarcerated? Sisters Unchained works with women of all identities towards a goal of prison abolition. 
• Black Trans Femmes in the Arts
• Black Trans Travel Fund
• The Okra Project
  This national service helps provide or locate free meals for Black trans people. 

Free Readings

• Our Mother’s Gardens
  This online reading room, curated by Cierra Peters, provides a myriad of resources on Blackness and queerness. All resources are free to access. 
• “Black On Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity”
  Black people have been queering and transcending gender since the beginning of time. This book traces that history. 
• “Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology”
  This reader provides an introduction into Black queer studies. 
• The Combahee River Collective Statement
  The Combahee River Collective was an organization founded in Boston that centered the experiences of QT women of color. Their statement was one of the building blocks for what would later be more widely known as Black feminism. 
• Trans Reads
  This massive library houses everything from scholarly writing to poetry, all penned by authors who “transverse or transcend western gender norms.”
• “No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies”
• “We Got Issues: Towards a Black Trans Studies” in Transgender Studies Quarterly

Spirituality/ Spiritual Care

• The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network
  Sick of prejudiced, micro aggressive therapists? Finding a therapist can take a while but this network is a good place to start. 
• The Black Trans Prayer Book
  “An interfaith, multi-dimensional, artistic and theological work that collects the stories, poems, prayers, meditation, spells, and incantations of Black Trans & Non-Binary people.”
• Midsummer Church
  Church of Hoodoo for Black trans people 
• Fierce Entertainment Media Network
  Offers free tarot card readings for Black trans people of all spiritual affiliates. 
• “Cosmological Queerness Across the Yoruba Diaspora”

Download the Resource Guide