Responding to the attacks on transgender youth and their families

In support of Texas transgender youth and their families, Texas Pride Impact Funds (TPIF) in partnership with the Equality Texas Foundation announce that $42,000 of rapid response funding has been recently awarded to grassroots non-profits across our state. These organizations, their staff and volunteers are under compounding strain and stress due to increased demand for support - sometimes literally lifesaving support.

In addition, the two organizations have launched a joint fundraising campaign titled the Queer Texas Crisis Fund (QTCF) 2022, scheduled to run for two months. The campaign will provide supplemental funds later this summer via rapid response funding to trans-serving organizations in greatest need.

The politically driven orders in Texas to ban lifesaving and affirming care for trans youth and the directives to pursue abuse charges for parents and families providing such care have resulted in severe, life-threatening consequences. Trans-supportive organizations across Texas have seen:

• increased demand for mental health services for trans kids and parents alike
• skyrocketing requests of gender marker and name correction services
• parents retreating from trusted online support groups in this climate of parental investigations
• new financial burdens on families for legal defense and the cost of maintaining lifesaving care at significant distances from home

In response to these accelerating, political attacks on trans youth and their parents, TPIF’s Pride Month has focused on honoring people of transgender, non-binary and genderqueer experience through fundraising. The initiative is intended to bring desperately needed resources to non-profit organizations already working with minimal resources and now experiencing compounding duress due to the politically driven assaults.

“Age-appropriate and individualized medical treatments for trans youth are supported by the state and nation’s largest physicians’ groups including the American and Texas Medical Associations,” said TPIF Executive Director Ron Guillard. “These organizations also oppose Texas’ abuse investigations and other efforts to block or alter gender-affirming care for minors. Sadly, this is just another example of the pattern of some government leaders continuing to deny science, claiming false narratives for political gain. With our QTCF 2022 fundraising we are committed to face the urgency to deliver more support to families of trans youth and the non-profits supporting them.”

QTCF originally launched in the summer of 2020 as a successful, innovative partnership between the two organizations to raise money during the COVID-19 pandemic to support LGBTQ+ serving nonprofit organizations providing emergency relief to communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. This unique partnership brings together complementary strengths of the two organizations and their collective access to resources. Texas Pride Impact Funds is an LGBTQ+ community foundation focused on providing direct resources to smaller nonprofits serving the diverse communities of Queer and Trans Texans. Equality Texas is a nonpartisan statewide political advocacy organization working for the elimination of discrimination targeting the LGTBQ+ community.

“With Equality Texas, we have high hopes for QTCF 2022 fundraising based on donation patterns and donor activism over the past few months. A February Twitter post singling out TPIF’s work in support of the trans community across Texas resulted in a cycle of donations from around the globe. A generous contribution by the Laughing Gull Foundation, Durham NC, to TPIF for our rapid response support of organizations in crisis, cemented our commitment to act against the rising threats of politically driven motives. As a community foundation, Texas Pride Impact Funds is eager to leverage our influence and networks to access more resources, whether given to us for regranting initiatives or where we recommend direct funding needs, as we continually strive to stay abreast of - and help meet - the greatest needs within LGBTQ+ communities across our large state.”

By giving today, donors from around the US and the world are aligning to protect trans kids and their families across Texas, all the while working to build a stronger and mightier ecosystem of actors working on LGBTQ+ equality in our state. Please visit www.txpif.org/qtcf/ to learn more and donate today.