A Revitalized Resource
December 12, 2007
TRANS: THRIVE opens under A&PI Wellness Center
SAN FRANCISCO — Take a step into TRANS: THRIVE’s drop-in center on the second floor of 815 Hyde Street, and it feels immediately like a home away from home, with couches, books, a shower and friendly people around every corner.
TRANS: THRIVE — which stands for Transgender Resources and Neighborhood Space (TRANS) and Transgender Health & Resource Initiative for Vital Empowerment (THRIVE) — aims to eliminate health disparities affecting transgender communities of color by providing support groups, case management, harm reduction training, life skills education, shower facilities, as well as referrals and linkages to substance use treatment programs.
TRANS: THRIVE fills the need left when UCSF TRANS closed its doors in June 2007. After that center’s closing, a year before its grant with the government Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ended, a public outcry from the transgender community prompted the San Francisco Department of Public Health to step in and ask for the remaining funds for the year. TRANS: THRIVE is a collaborative effort between the department, Community Behavioral Health Services and the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center.
Transgender people often experience discrimination and health disparities markedly different from others in the LGBT community. “Trans people are often more visibly queer at a younger age. A gay kid may not be recognized and harassed at home or school, but a trans kid will,” said Luke Woodward, a program coordinator with TRANS: THRIVE. “So it starts often in youth that trans people are harassed and kicked out of their family, and the way that people survive is through sex work.”
Often, male-to-female transgender people, or “M2Fs,” face the harshest experiences. Woodward has met many trans women, M2Fs, who began sex work at the age of 14 or 15. A lot of trans women do sex work for survival, and often along with sex work is violence, trauma and drugs. Homelessness, viruses and/or incarceration often follow drug usage.
Incarceration is particularly traumatic for transgender women because of gender separation in the prison system. Kalani Key, who grew up in a mixed Hawaiian-Chinese-Filipino family in Hawai‘i, where transgender people, or mahu, were traditionally revered, is an advocate for transgender women in prison. Following the elimination of Category B for “effeminate homosexuals” in California prisons, transgender women are now housed in male prisons across the state. According to Key, “We don’t have records of how many trans people are in prison because there is no Category B anymore. But we do know that one in three of us has been incarcerated at some point, because there is a lot of policing and profiling in our communities.”
The transgender community — particularly transgender communities of color — also face extremely high rates of HIV infection. Estimates of the HIV infection rate in the transgender community vary from 15 percent to 60 percent.
Even in queer-friendly San Francisco, transgender people are often left out of traditional gay services in the city. Though his experiences have been positive, Woodward agrees that trans-phobia is prevalent in some gay communities. “San Francisco has a lot more to offer trans people than anywhere else in the world, but a lot of the services are geared toward gay men. Not just services, but also clubs and social events,” said Woodward.
TRANS: THRIVE espouses a sanguine atmosphere and aspires to empower transgender communities of color. A&PI Wellness Center is also enthusiastic about overseeing the new center. “I’m so proud to be a part of this project, and I am confident that A&PI Wellness Center’s experience and expertise will make it a success,” said Carlos Bermudez, director of Health Education at A&PI Wellness Center. With Ate, another A&PI Wellness Center transgender empowerment program, separate from TRANS: THRIVE, A&PI Wellness Center will enjoy housing two distinct transgender empowerment resources.
After an opening event in November that included a traditional Hawaiian ceremonial blessing by hula master Kawika Alfiche, director of Aloha Pumehana ‘O Polynesian Hawaiian Culture Center, TRANS: THRIVE is off to a great start. Despite the difficulties the community faces, the joyful ambiance of the center is striking. It is a great time in history for transgender people who are finally getting their just due, according to Woodward: “Trans people are such amazing survivors.”
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