Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender Resource Center

Trans Resources

This page was created as a set of supportive resources for trans people and SOFFAs (Significant Others, Friends, Family and Allies).

The event around which this page is publicized, the Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is not a happy occasion. What is being remembered is the many people who have been murdered because who they were did not match the gender role expected of them.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

These sites are not easy on the emotions. Most people who identify as LBGT, and not a few allies, have been teased, bullied and beat up at some point in their lives, but trans people seem to be at particular risk for being killed because of who they are. Some of the names here are familiar–Brandon Teena, Gwen Araujo, Tyra Hunter–many are not. As long as the list is, we know it includes only a fraction of the trans people who have lost their lives for trying to be who they are.

• Day of Remembrance website
• Remembering our Dead website
• TDOR Webcomics Project
• HateCrime.org

Understanding "trans"

Trans, transgender, transgendered, transexual, transsexual; what does it all mean?

• T-VOX – a support and community website for transsexual, intersex and genderqueer people; anyone questioning their gender identity and anyone with any other gender identity issues
• The transsexual person in your life
• GenderTalk Radio and web resources
• Transgender Issues page on the gsa-network site
• Raven Kaldera's Letter to Would-Be Transsexuals

Trans Resources

Organizations concerned with trans and gender identity issues.

• Phi Tau Mu - MSU student trans organization
• Gender identity issues at MSU
• Unisex bathrooms at MSU
• TransGender Michigan (TGMI)
• Trans Youth Family Allies (TYFA)
• TransFamily of Cleveland
• PFLAG's Transgender Network
• Safe2pee.org - awesome online directory
• National organizations

Suggested readings

• NGLTF publication: Opening the Door to the Inclusion of Transgender People; the nine keys to making lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations fully transgender-inclusive (PDF, local copy)
• An overview of transgender identities in United States and cross-cultural contexts appears in: Analysis of LBGT Identity Development Models and Implications for Practice, by Brent Bilodeau and Kristen Renn. (New Directions for Student Services, Number 111, Fall 2005: Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation: Research, Policy, and Personal Perspectives.) Recently a group of MSU trans students provided consultation and support on two studies of transgender college students authored by Brent: Beyond the Gender Binary (2005) and Genderism in Higher Education (pending). Contact Dr. Bilodeau for more information.
• Fragments of Gender is a collection of articles, essays and short fiction written from the trans point of view by Lisa Lees. Much of this was published in the latter half of the 1990's in Clique, Q*News and on the web and/or Triang-l. Portions of Fragments of Gender are available as a PDF on Lisa's Lulu.com pages. (Her two young adult novels, containing one of the few intersex characters in a YA novel, also have previews available on Lulu, and are continuing as a web comic.)