When I started at Transgender Law Center almost 4 years ago, I said that one of my goals was to “support work that seeks to transform this moment into a movement”.
We had a staff of about 15 and a budget of around $2 million dollars with our Oakland Headquarters and our Southern Regional office in partnership with Southerners on New Ground (SONG) in Atlanta. Since then, TLC has grown into the largest national trans-led organization, with 30 staff members, a $5 million budget, the addition of our Brooklyn office, and staff all over the country.
Despite ongoing and increasingly difficult conditions, TLC has not faltered in its pursuit to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people “alive, thriving, and fighting” for liberation. I am honored to have been a part of advancing that future. In this organization, I found my political home, my name, and a family.
It is with a heavy and full heart that I leave Transgender Law Center, however I have far exceeded what I came to TLC to do and believe in the importance of making room for new leadership. My goals are to continue resourcing and building movements. The systemic change needed to get us closer to liberation must include philanthropy and sustainable visions.
When we are able to redistribute resources to Black trans women, we are centering the most marginal, while shifting the hearts and minds of people towards what we already know. That trans people hold the knowledge, power, and joy to create a future where we can all not only survive but thrive.
This is my passion, this is my charge, and as I move forward from TLC, I recommit to that vision. Won’t you join me by pledging your support for the Trans Agenda and making a gift today to continue this work?
A heartfelt thank you to my coworkers, partners, clients, and my family! You can reach me at my website here.
Onward,
Ace Xavier
Ace Xavier is the outgoing Director of Leadership, Gifts, and Sustainability but will forever remain a member of the TLC family. Ace has dedicated their life to education, social justice, youth, and overall intersectional equality. Ace truly believes that philanthropy is vital to our collective liberation.