Post by Ayla on Mar 25, 2016 8:38:37 GMT 8
www.nytimes.com/2016/03/21/nyregion/for-transgender-new-yorkers-a-center-of-their-own-in-the-bronx.html?_r=0
Eli Berry cannot go to stores or restaurants without being asked if he is a man or a woman. A mall security guard once demanded that he show identification to use a public men’s room.
But soon Mr. Berry will have a space of his own: a center for transgender people.
The Bronx Trans Collective, the new drop-in center near Yankee Stadium, will aim to bring together people who are often overlooked or disconnected even in New York City, which is considered to be the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. The center will help transgender people get surgeries, hormone treatments, mental health counseling and assistance with legal name changes and job searches, among other services. It will also host regular support groups, youth counseling, meditation and yoga classes and cookouts on its back terrace.
“The center is important for me because it is going to give me convenience, safety and a sense of community,” said Mr. Berry, 28, a Consolidated Edison worker who plans to stop by the center every week.
The Bronx Trans Collective will be the city’s first major multiservice center dedicated specifically to transgender people, offering programs and services that were previously scattered across different sites. It is the result of a partnership between Councilman Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat, and a coalition of six community organizations to address what many see as scant attention to the needs of transgender people, especially in poor and minority neighborhoods outside Manhattan.
“Transgender New Yorkers of color living in poverty face a level of discrimination most of us will never know,” Mr. Torres said. “We’re creating a model for the rest of the city to follow.”
The Bronx center will open next month, at a time when the challenges and the concerns faced by transgender people have gained national attention. Though they have traditionally been part of the larger gay rights movement — often identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender — transgender people and their advocates have pointed out that their needs tend to be different because their experience is primarily about gender identity, while the others focus on sexual orientation.
Photo
Alisha King, 31, with her son Liam, 2, in the courtyard. Ms. King used to take two trains to a Manhattan clinic for hormone therapy and mental health counseling. The new center in the Bronx will offer multiple services in one location. Credit Richard Perry/The New York Times
“When you talk about L.G.B.T., the T is often left off, or lowercase — it’s not really included,” said Mister Cris, the executive director of Community Kinship Life, an advocacy group based in the Bronx that is part of the coalition. “This will be putting the T back into the forefront of the services of the community.”
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, signed an executive order this month to allow people to use a single-sex bathroom or a locker room consistent with the gender they identify with at public parks, city agency offices and other municipal properties. One of his administration’s signature programs, the municipal identification card known as IDNYC, already allows people to designate their own gender.
Mr. de Blasio, who established a commission on gender equity last year, said in his State of the City address last month that the IDNYC card had provided a transgender woman with the identification required to pick up her nephews from school.
Though an accurate count is difficult to establish, city officials estimate that there are roughly 25,000 transgender residents across the five boroughs. Many live in the Bronx, where services can be limited or not well publicized. Some transgender people said they would go to a center in Manhattan to find out about services in the Bronx.
Alisha King, 31, a single mother in the Bronx, used to take two trains to a Manhattan clinic for hormone therapy and mental health counseling. But with the help of Community Kinship Life, she was able to find treatments closer to home last year. Ms. King said the Bronx center would bring more opportunities.
“I’m excited,” she said. “We need a safe space — a nonjudgmental space — where we can be ourselves and get to know each other.”
Though the center will focus primarily on reaching residents of the borough, it will serve anyone who walks in, its organizers said.
D’jamel Young, 29, in the office space on Summit Avenue that will become a room at the Bronx Trans Collective. Credit Richard Perry/The New York Times
The Bronx Trans Collective will be housed in a basement office at 937 Summit Avenue, which typically rents for about $1,200 a month. For the center’s first year, the space is being donated — along with utilities and some computer equipment — by the building’s managing agent, Community Outreach Consulting Firm, which is affiliated with the Bronx Parent Housing Network.
“I’m a community member, and I believe in equality for all people,” said Victor Rivera, the chief executive of both organizations, who is a friend of Mr. Torres’.
Mr. Torres allocated $20,000 in city funds to finance the center’s start-up costs, and other organizations in the coalition also chipped in. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center provided desks, tables and chairs. Destination Tomorrow paid $600 for the intercom security system. The Internet and phone bills will be split among the groups. In addition to Community Kinship Life, the other coalition members are Islan Nettles Community Project, Princess Janae Place and Translatina Network.
Sean Coleman, the executive director of Destination Tomorrow, said the organizations were aiming to raise at least $65,000 to pay for operations, as well as to supply meals and MetroCards to people who use the center. So far, the members of the coalition have worked well together, he said.
“We all understand this is bigger than us,” Mr. Coleman said. “There won’t be any fighting. We understand what’s at stake. How often do we get this opportunity?”
D’Jamel Young, 29, a massage therapist who lives in the Bronx, says he plans to go to the center for as many services as possible to cut down on travel and to save time and money.
“It’s frustrating and discouraging because you feel like, ‘Oh, what next?’” he said. “It becomes tedious, and it can get very expensive going to different locations.”
The new center, Mr. Young added, is a way of recognizing “that trans lives matter.”
Eli Berry cannot go to stores or restaurants without being asked if he is a man or a woman. A mall security guard once demanded that he show identification to use a public men’s room.
But soon Mr. Berry will have a space of his own: a center for transgender people.
The Bronx Trans Collective, the new drop-in center near Yankee Stadium, will aim to bring together people who are often overlooked or disconnected even in New York City, which is considered to be the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. The center will help transgender people get surgeries, hormone treatments, mental health counseling and assistance with legal name changes and job searches, among other services. It will also host regular support groups, youth counseling, meditation and yoga classes and cookouts on its back terrace.
“The center is important for me because it is going to give me convenience, safety and a sense of community,” said Mr. Berry, 28, a Consolidated Edison worker who plans to stop by the center every week.
The Bronx Trans Collective will be the city’s first major multiservice center dedicated specifically to transgender people, offering programs and services that were previously scattered across different sites. It is the result of a partnership between Councilman Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat, and a coalition of six community organizations to address what many see as scant attention to the needs of transgender people, especially in poor and minority neighborhoods outside Manhattan.
“Transgender New Yorkers of color living in poverty face a level of discrimination most of us will never know,” Mr. Torres said. “We’re creating a model for the rest of the city to follow.”
The Bronx center will open next month, at a time when the challenges and the concerns faced by transgender people have gained national attention. Though they have traditionally been part of the larger gay rights movement — often identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender — transgender people and their advocates have pointed out that their needs tend to be different because their experience is primarily about gender identity, while the others focus on sexual orientation.
Photo
Alisha King, 31, with her son Liam, 2, in the courtyard. Ms. King used to take two trains to a Manhattan clinic for hormone therapy and mental health counseling. The new center in the Bronx will offer multiple services in one location. Credit Richard Perry/The New York Times
“When you talk about L.G.B.T., the T is often left off, or lowercase — it’s not really included,” said Mister Cris, the executive director of Community Kinship Life, an advocacy group based in the Bronx that is part of the coalition. “This will be putting the T back into the forefront of the services of the community.”
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, signed an executive order this month to allow people to use a single-sex bathroom or a locker room consistent with the gender they identify with at public parks, city agency offices and other municipal properties. One of his administration’s signature programs, the municipal identification card known as IDNYC, already allows people to designate their own gender.
Mr. de Blasio, who established a commission on gender equity last year, said in his State of the City address last month that the IDNYC card had provided a transgender woman with the identification required to pick up her nephews from school.
Though an accurate count is difficult to establish, city officials estimate that there are roughly 25,000 transgender residents across the five boroughs. Many live in the Bronx, where services can be limited or not well publicized. Some transgender people said they would go to a center in Manhattan to find out about services in the Bronx.
Alisha King, 31, a single mother in the Bronx, used to take two trains to a Manhattan clinic for hormone therapy and mental health counseling. But with the help of Community Kinship Life, she was able to find treatments closer to home last year. Ms. King said the Bronx center would bring more opportunities.
“I’m excited,” she said. “We need a safe space — a nonjudgmental space — where we can be ourselves and get to know each other.”
Though the center will focus primarily on reaching residents of the borough, it will serve anyone who walks in, its organizers said.
D’jamel Young, 29, in the office space on Summit Avenue that will become a room at the Bronx Trans Collective. Credit Richard Perry/The New York Times
The Bronx Trans Collective will be housed in a basement office at 937 Summit Avenue, which typically rents for about $1,200 a month. For the center’s first year, the space is being donated — along with utilities and some computer equipment — by the building’s managing agent, Community Outreach Consulting Firm, which is affiliated with the Bronx Parent Housing Network.
“I’m a community member, and I believe in equality for all people,” said Victor Rivera, the chief executive of both organizations, who is a friend of Mr. Torres’.
Mr. Torres allocated $20,000 in city funds to finance the center’s start-up costs, and other organizations in the coalition also chipped in. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center provided desks, tables and chairs. Destination Tomorrow paid $600 for the intercom security system. The Internet and phone bills will be split among the groups. In addition to Community Kinship Life, the other coalition members are Islan Nettles Community Project, Princess Janae Place and Translatina Network.
Sean Coleman, the executive director of Destination Tomorrow, said the organizations were aiming to raise at least $65,000 to pay for operations, as well as to supply meals and MetroCards to people who use the center. So far, the members of the coalition have worked well together, he said.
“We all understand this is bigger than us,” Mr. Coleman said. “There won’t be any fighting. We understand what’s at stake. How often do we get this opportunity?”
D’Jamel Young, 29, a massage therapist who lives in the Bronx, says he plans to go to the center for as many services as possible to cut down on travel and to save time and money.
“It’s frustrating and discouraging because you feel like, ‘Oh, what next?’” he said. “It becomes tedious, and it can get very expensive going to different locations.”
The new center, Mr. Young added, is a way of recognizing “that trans lives matter.”