Press Release for Immediate Release
October 25, 2018
Based on news reports over the weekend, the Trump administration is working to dramatically roll back protections for transgender students by narrowing the definitions of sex and gender under Title IX that our courts have used to provide protections for LGBTQ+ people. It is reported that the Department of Health and Human Services is moving towards defining sex as solely male or female based on “immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth.”
The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF) stands with community partners to remind this Administration that they do not get to define or erase a person’s innate humanity. We will fight alongside our transgender family to ensure that their rights are protected from targeted attacks and discrimination. Our transgender friends and family cannot and will not be erased.
SAAF’s Executive Director, Wendell Hicks, offered the following statement: “We are saddened to see more of these attacks from the Administration on the lives and the very humanity of people who do not identify with outdated and narrow definitions of gender. At SAAF we welcome our transgender friends and family. We treat all persons with dignity, respect and love. It is our goal to ensure that the transgender community be welcomed in all corners of society.”
While no administration can ever erase transgender people out of existence, we must take action to reject these continued attacks on the lives of our transgender friends and family. We stand with transgender people. We stand for a “healthy and stigma-free community.”
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About the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF):
The mission of the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF) is to cultivate a healthy and stigma-free society through transformative action. Collectively, through its predecessor agencies, SAAF has served the community for more than 30 years by providing services to enhance the health and quality of life for those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS and to assist people in preventing HIV, substance abuse, hepatitis C, and other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). SAAF continually works to meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, and focuses on evidence-based prevention programs to reach at-risk populations.
Contact:
Wendell Hicks, Executive Director
Travis Craddock, Director of Development
(520) 547-6105 or tcraddock@saaf.org
Thornhill Lopez Center on 4th- James' Story
My name is James. I’m 17 years old. I identify as trans masculine, although sometimes I like to use the word queer. I’m turning 18 in just a few weeks and I’m not sure where I’m going to go or what I’m going to do but I know I can’t live at home with my mother. Her house doesn’t feel like home to me.
My dad died when I was 15 years old. My mom has a hard time accepting me as I am. She also has nine other children to raise which makes me feel pretty much like I’ve raised myself. Sometimes she tells me to get out of the house but when I leave she calls me in as a runaway. I would like to start hormone treatment but she won’t give her consent.
I don’t really feel safe at my school, either. I don’t have many friends there and I can’t be out. There are too many transpho
bic and racist kids there, even those that identify as LGBTQ.
It’s hard being an LGBTQ teen. How you are treated depends on where you go. Some people are welcoming and some are not. A lot of people don’t know the difference between being transgender or lesbian/gay. I get called a lesbian or dyke; I don’t like it. Your privileges are very different depending on who you are, your skin color, your economic class. It changes what resources you can get.
All of this has been hard on my mental health, so my doctor recommended I check out Eon. Eon is different. It’s a really great place to go where I get greeted liked family. I can go there for help with hygiene, food, support. They are helping me apply for Section 8 housing through SAAF, so I will have a place to live when I turn 18, which is only a few weeks away. SAAF is so cool. I don’t want to be homeless and I’m so glad I can get help through SAAF. Since I started coming to Eon my mental health has really improved. I’ve made good friends and good connections to both the kids and the staff.
Eon has definitely played a role in my plans for the future. I want to go to art school and also business school. I participate in the Mapping Q program where I’m learning a lot about art. My artwork is even going to be in a show.
Fourth Avenue is the perfect place for Eon and a new youth center. It’s much more convenient for me and will attract a lot more youth. We need a safe space only for LGBTQ youth where we can find understanding and safety.
The Thornhill Lopez Center on 4th- A SAAF Place for Youth will open in summer 2017 and will provide a safe and affirming gathering place for LGBTQ youth and their allies. SAAF has launched a $1.8 million campaign to raise funds for the Thornhill Lopez Center on 4th and you be a lifeline for youth like James by making your gift today. Plus, all gifts will be matched, dollar-for-dollar. Give today.