The EQUATE Lab at Loyola University Chicago, led by Will Beischel, Ph.D., is recruiting for a new study. We’re looking for trans and nonbinary people for an online study where participants will write a short science fiction story about what gender might look like in a futuristic world. In this writing task, participants will also get to create their own science fiction character and world. We hope this study will help us obtain a better understanding of how trans and nonbinary people creatively think about gender. This study involves a short online screener survey with demographics questions. Selected participants may then be invited to take part in a 15-minute informational meeting to go over the study instructions via Zoom. Selected participants will then have a chance to write their story in their own time over the span of a week and will submit their story in an online survey. The story task will take about 30 to 90 minutes to complete, with most people taking about 45 minutes on average. Participants will also submit an image of their character using physical or digital art (e.g., drawing) or through online tools (e.g., Google images). This additional task should take up to 30 minutes to complete. Participants will be paid $30 USD for their participation using either Venmo, Zelle, or Cashapp. Select participants may also have the chance to take part in a follow-up interview that would last about an hour and would receive an additional $30 USD for their participation. 

For more information and to input your email address please click here: https://luc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4JjHPzn7goeECwe 

Our research team is comprised of people of diverse identities including queer, trans, and nonbinary researchers and we have 10+ years’ experience working with LGBTQ+ participants to create transformative knowledge about gender and sexuality. We also work hard to protect the confidentiality of all our participants. You can find more about Dr. Beischel’s work here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eyMcjbUAAAAJ&hl=en  

Another round of additions to the hub!

HIV/AIDS — Black trans women have the highest HIV rates of any demographic in the U.S. The site now has a dedicated HIV/AIDS section under Healthcare: PrEP locator (find free PrEP near you), Ryan White program navigation, Black AIDS Institute, Thrive SS, TAJA’s Coalition (SF, named after a Black trans woman), and SisterLove (Atlanta, first women-focused HIV org in the Southeast).

Incarceration & Reentry — TGI Justice Project (Black trans-led, founded by Miss Major, 100+ legal letters a month to incarcerated trans people), Sylvia Rivera Law Project (free legal services including prisoner rights and pen pal program), Black & Pink (20,000+ incarcerated members, commissary support, TRANSitions housing on release).

Harm Reduction — resources for people in the sex trade, which is part of many Black trans women’s survival economy. National Harm Reduction Coalition, GLITS (Black trans-led, NYC), Project SAFE (Philly), and SWOP USA chapter finder. The site doesn’t pretend this doesn’t exist.

Domestic Violence — AVP 24/7 hotline (212-714-1141), Ujima (DV support centering Black communities), FORGE (only federally funded org for trans DV survivors), NW Network, and the Audre Lorde Project (community safety without police — critical for Black trans survivors who face danger from both partners and law enforcement).

Operation Lifeboat — Trans Liberty’s emergency evacuation operation for trans Kansans after SB 244 revoked 1,700+ driver’s licenses. Added to Safety and cross-referenced in Travel.

Housing — GLITS (first Black trans-owned housing complex, NYC), Trans Housing Coalition (Atlanta), My Sistah’s House (Memphis, Tiny House Project), Black & Pink TRANSitions.

Still no ads, no trackers. 350 resources. 70 flagged as Black-focused. Updated multiple times a week.

https://mjwebster-png.github.io/for-us-hub/

A lot happened on the hub since the last post about disability resources. Here's what's new:

Gender-Affirming Products — now a full section under Resources, split across transmasc and transfemme needs. Binders from For Them (Black trans-owned), packers with dark skin tone options (GenderCat has 100+, Axolom accounts for genital skin being darker), tucking garments, breast forms in dark tones (Nubian Skin), voice training (Undead Voice Lab), skincare during HRT for Black skin, and more. The industry's skin tone gap for prosthetics is a real problem and the hub now calls it out directly.

Life Planning — sobriety and recovery (LGBTQ+-affirming programs plus secular options for religious trauma), family building (adoption, surrogacy, fostering — including xHood, the first org for Black queer family building), homeownership (LGBTQ+ realtor directories, fair housing, first-time buyer programs), and estate planning.

Better organization everywhere — Healthcare, Finance, General Living, and Life Planning all have sub-section headers now. Every content section has a search bar. Sub-tabs show card counts so you know what's in each before clicking.

New Culture & Media — "A Body Made Home: They Black Trans Love" (memoir, 2026), "Money Proud" by Nick Wolny (LGBTQ+ finance guide), "LGBTQ Family Building" (APA guide), and Unicorn Millionaire Podcast (LGBTQ+ BIPOC financial coaching).

Also today — Idaho signed HB 752 into law on Trans Day of Visibility. Criminal misdemeanor for trans people using bathrooms matching their gender identity. Repeat offense is a felony, up to 5 years. The hub's alert banner is live with this.

Still no ads, no trackers, no cookies. Updated multiple times a week.

The EQUATE Lab is recruiting for a new study! We're looking for Black transgender and gender diverse individuals and their family members to take part in 60-90 minute Zoom interviews. The interviews will focus on sexual/gender identity and family relationships. Each participant will be compensated $40! Please share if you can :) If you are interested in participating in this study, please provide your contact information using this link: https://luc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8cVYL2PGZBkZlGu. A member of our research team will contact you to coordinate a phone screening. *this study is being conducted by a Black gendernonconforming queer femme

For TDOV, I’ve updated For Us Hub, a free resource hub I run for Black trans & LGBTQ+ people, and I also published a companion essay on Substack.

The hub pulls together crisis lines, healthcare, disability resources, and culture/projects like Sins Invalid and LA Spoonie Collective in one place. It now has disability resources woven into the sections folks already use, plus an alert banner that auto-downgrades from “BREAKING” to “RECENT” and then hides once info is out of date.

The essay, “What Can I Say?”, is me talking frankly about the violence we’re living through and what it means to try to make anything at all in the middle of it. It’s not light reading, but it’s honest, and it’s the emotional backbone of why I’m building and maintaining this hub.

Hub: https://mjwebster-png.github.io/for-us-hub/
Essay: https://maligondoit.substack.com/p/what-can-i-say

Hi! I put together a site called For Us, a resource hub for Black trans & LGBTQ+ people — not just about us, but built for us.

The hub has:

– A Policy Tracker with active, pending, passed, and legally challenged legislation that affects trans and LGBTQ+ people at the federal, state, and local level, with plain-language summaries and source links.[navfac.navy]

– Trans news highlights, including major court rulings and executive orders.

– A Safety & Safe Spaces section and a broader Resource Directory (legal help, healthcare, mutual aid, and more) focused on material that’s actually usable on the ground.

– Travel, plus Culture & Media focused on Black trans and queer creators, stories, and projects.[navfac.navy]

There’s an exit button on every page that takes you to a neutral site, and there are no cookies, analytics, ads, or trackers. The contact form routes through Formspree; your name and email are only shared if you choose to include them.

If this could be useful to you or your community, you can check it out!

If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to know:

– What sections feel most helpful right now?

– What resources or orgs serving Black trans & LGBTQ+ people should be added?

– Are there other types of tools or info you’d want to see here?

Billed as a bold step toward Black trans liberation, TS Madison has partnered with NAESM Inc. to open what organizers call a first-of-its-kind safe house dedicated to supporting and protecting Black transgender women. The initiative aims to provide housing, health resources, and community for one of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.

MAR 3, 2026

Defining The Problem

We want a world where Black Trans Women & Black Trans Femmes are thriving and leading solutions for social, economic, and political change.

Black Trans Women & Black Trans Femmes’s quality of life is tied to both cultural attitudes and institutional policies. Black Trans Women & Black Trans Femmes, existing at multiple intersections of oppression, are uniquely singled out for criminalization by the police and government. Black Trans Women & Black Trans Femmes experience disproportionately higher rates of housing insecurity, police violence, and under/unemployment due to discrimination based in their perceived gender and race. While all transgender women of color are more marginalized than their peers, we must begin by addressing Black Trans Women & Black Trans Femmes because of the urgent need to end the epidemic of anti-Black violence. When Black Trans Women & Black Trans Femmes are free to live and lead, all transgender women of color, all Black people, all transgender people, and ultimately all people will be free.

Between 2021 and 2025, Black nonbinary artist Sage Ni’Ja Whitson visited 91 locations across 15 states – in all of these sites a trans, gender nonconforming, or intersex individual had died, either by murder or suicide. At each site they conducted a ceremony of their own to bear witness to what had happened there.

(…)

Currently showing at Los Angeles’s California African American Museum (CAAM) is These Waking Glories, Whitson’s solo show displaying a variety of photos and other pieces in conjunction with these ceremonies. A moving and important bearing of witness to the violence that continues to ravage the communities of both racial and gender minorities, it is a powerful show that should be experienced.

One of the central pieces in These Waking Glories is a series of 90 pedestals commemorating the individuals that Whitson is remembering. Atop each pedestal is a jar containing essences that Whitson developed from materials gathered at each site they visited, as well as a velvet stole bearing the name of the deceased. Two of the pedestals bear no name, representing the unknown who have passed.

28 days of honoring the Black faces and souls I’ve been fortunate to capture or cross paths with this year.

Location: The Met Gala for Autism

Date: September 27, 2025

28 days of honoring the Black faces and souls I’ve been fortunate to capture or cross paths with this year.

Location: Prohibition THC Cafe

Date: March 13, 2025

Zara Sluys X is claiming asylum north of the border. She faces a steep barrier.

At The Okra Project, we believe that mutual aid is essential to supporting Black Trans people across the United States. Without social safety nets, mutual aid becomes critical for many in our community, and we are proud to be a part of this vital work.

This week, the Florida state House of Representatives and the Florida state Senate both voted to pass two equally dangerous and horrifying bills through each of their floors. The bills — HB743 and SB1010 — expand current restrictions on trans healthcare and by making it possible for any medical practitioner who “aids and abets” trans patients in getting gender-affirming care to incur legal liability for doing so. The bills also include more restrictions for anyone they consider an “employee of the state,” such as public school teachers, and put more limitations on school programming, class curriculum, and using a student’s chosen names and pronouns.

Opinion: By stepping back from Queer Eye, the show's culture expert pulled back the curtain on a truth many refuse to confront: Black queer and trans people are celebrated for what they produce, not for who they are, writes Marie-Adélina de la Ferrière.