Trans Continental Pipeline: Getting LGBTQIA+ Individuals to Safety
With Colorado continuing to protect and pass LGBTQ+-friendly legislation, the state is a haven for queer folks (especially transgender individuals) looking for legal protections and safety. Trans Continental Pipeline, a recently founded nonprofit, aims to support the increasing demand and supply resources as more LGBTQ+ people move to the state.
The Trans Continental Pipeline (TCP) is a grassroots mutual aid network that recently made the shift to a nonprofit. TCP is currently looking to expand outreach for LGBTQ+ individuals moving to Colorado to escape unsafe or unsupportive living situations.
OFM had the pleasure of talking with TCP’s Executive Director Keira Richards about the organization’s goals and the needs of this up-and-coming nonprofit.
Being born in Colorado and attending college at CU Denver, Richards has a personal connection to the area. She also brings her knowledge as a prior state government employee and her experiences as a transwoman to the organization.
“I feel like a lot of people in Colorado specifically see these attacks in states outside of our community and just feel like their hands are tied. We don’t really have a fight in Colorado, luckily. But we also don’t know how to help people. And so I’m trying to give our community an avenue for outreach, like a way that we can actually physically, tangibly help these people in the states where our rights are being questioned.
“I’m really just the organizer. I’m pulling all of these pieces together and making the connections. I am doing this full time. I quit my job with the government, and this is all I’ve been doing. So I’m sort of in charge, but this is really a community organization.”
With the current uptick in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the country, specifically against trans folks, Richards notes, “We can only live in a third of the U.S. states without worrying about our basic human dignity.”
Richards has witnessed the challenges facing folks moving to the state. She has been working with TCP since its start as a grassroots organization.
“Talking to these new transplants, I heard horror stories about trying to get to Colorado, like one-way tickets, getting to DIA, and having no idea what to do after that. Moving to Colorado Springs because it looked like it was close to Denver and it was cheaper, and just not doing well with the community down there … Just hearing how getting here at all was awful for these people, I realized that if we could help them get here, if we could create this pipeline from these red states, it would be such a benefit with the queer community. And it would also help grow our queer community.”
She also lays out some of the aims of the organization and the current need for funding to provide essential resources for a community often faced with discrimination and violence.
“We have a four-step program to get them from there to here. The first step is just decision resources, do you want to move here? Where do you want to move? etc.
The second one is where we really need the funding—It’s the moving. The biggest barrier to getting here is the cost of the move. To move a studio apartment cross-country is one to two grand, which a lot of people just don’t have to throw at a move. And that’s really where the money is going to come in handy—the transportation resources and temporary housing. We’re trying to build out a temporary housing network.
“We’ve got local volunteers—most of them are trans so far—that have reached out where they got a house; they got empty bedrooms, and we’re working on a matching process right now to get them here. ”
Richards says the best way to help is, “sort of a cliche answer, but funding more than anything right now. We need the money. These moves are expensive. And, you know, the more money we have, the more we can help these people.”
She also says, if people “want to join our peer network, if they want to join our temporary housing network, donate, help us table pride, whatever they want to do … the more support we have from the community, the easier it’s going to be to get these people out here.”
With the queer community, especially transgender folks, already at a higher risk for discrimination and physical violence, providing these resources is essential and can be life-saving.
According to the Williams Institute, “Transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization.”
The National Library of of Medicine also reports, “gender-based victimization, discrimination, bullying, violence, being rejected by the family, friends, and community; harassment by intimate partner, family members, police and public; discrimination and ill treatment at health-care system” are the major risk factors that negatively impact transgender individuals.
With societal pressures already taking an toll on those in the LGBTQ+ community—especially transgender people—financial security, stable housing, and a supportive community should not be an added barrier for people seeking safety.
You can find more information on TCP’s website, Instagram, and Facebook. Keep an eye out for TCP this upcoming June—They will also be tabling booths at Broomfield, Thornton, and Boulder Pride.
If you have the means, your donations can offer so much to those displaced and in need. You can donate here.
Photo courtesy of TCP
