Member Resources > Transgender Resources
Transgender Awareness Week
Each year between November 13 – 19, people and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise transgender visibility and address issues of prejudice, discrimination and violence that face the community.
The Television Academy is proud to share some resources to help you learn, support, act and advance advocacy for yourself, your co-workers, neighbors, partners, friends or family members who are transgender.
We will keep this page available beyond this week of awareness, so members may continue to access information and know where to find support when needed.
ALSO: Here is a collection of original stories, emmy magazine articles, events, and videos that help raise the visibility about transgender people and address issues members of the community face.
NEW Shop to Support LGBTQ Youth and Other Causes
This holiday season, give a gift that keeps on giving! Through sales of cause-themed socks and sweatshirts (made for comfort, not gender norms), Conscious Step supports an array of non-profit organizations and the communities they serve, including The Trevor Project (see below) and their LGBTQ youth programs.
Conscious Step is committed to lasting social and environmental change, plus ethical and sustainable production with the planet in mind. Shop in support of issues or causes you are passionate about or match each person on your holiday list with a different non-profit that is meaningful to them.
For ways to wear your cause, shop LGBTQ or shop all causes for an opportunity to make a difference monthly.
Organizations Supporting Transgender People And Their Allies
GLAAD has been at the forefront of cultural change, accelerating acceptance for the LGBTQ community for over 30 years. Their site has valuable information on Transgender Awareness Week, as well as a Transgender Resources Page that provides referrals and evolving recommendations for the community. Parents, family and friends can find a glossary of terms to help you better understand the community. A go-to resource for in-depth historical and current information.
Schuyler Bailar shares his first-person experiences as a transgender athlete and activist on his pinkmantaray website. He has written and compiled valuable material, including General Trans FAQs and other issues like mental health, Trans and LGBTQ+ Support Groups, Trans, LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC Organizations and his personal stories, facts and figures on the fiercely debated question about Inclusion of Transgender Athletes.
For 20 years The Trevor Project has been synonymous with advocacy, education and crisis support for LGBTQ youth. Their counselors are trained to answer calls, chat or text 24/7 for those struggling with coming out, LGBTQ identity, depression and suicide. Plus, they created A Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth — and their site provides answers, materials and tools to help you help someone who is struggling.
There are many orgnaizations across this country which support transgender people. This article from the website them details 100 organizations in all 50 states (and Puerto Rico) which you can support.
At Folx Health: LGBTQ+-Affirming Health Care, you can find experienced and knowledgeable LGBTQ medical clinicians able to assist with questions or concerns (in person or via virtual visits), plus a library of articles focused on different aspects of healthcare relevant to the community.
Discover We Create Space, a collective of LGBTQ+ change-makers who empower by providing tools, knowledge and support networks for self-care, personal growth and leadership. Through workshops, retreats and live panel discussions, they focus on helping you become the most impactful and authentic version of yourself possible and strengthening your role as a change-agent within your own community and/or organization. They also specialize in working with organizations to facilitate important conversations and to create space for curiosity, connection and change.
Marsha P. Johnson was an activist, self-identified drag queen, performer and survivor. The Marsha P. Johnson Institute serves to elevate, support and nourish the voices of BLACK trans people, especially those who are resisting, grappling with survival and looking for connection. MJPI seeks to eradicate all types of violence that silences the community from actualizing freedom, joy and safety. Their Fellowship Programs (Artist Fellowships, Community Organizing Fellowships and a Freedom Beyond Imagination Coalition) focus on the arts and community organizing, in honor of Marsha's commitment to human rights. (See below for information about a documentary on the life and enigmatic death of Marsha P. Johnson.)
Arts Organizations With A Focus On Intersectionality And Marginalized Groups
Cuties Los Angeles is a Black-owned and -operated community space offering in-person and virtual events for their queer and trans family. They share Queer and QPOC owned businesses, mental health resources and emergency alternatives to 911. There is an active calendar of events that includes comedy nights, meditations, art classes and other ways to come together — you can also post events you are aware of that would be of interest to the Cuties.
Queer Artists Collab is a community of L.A.-based LGBTQIA2+ artists of all mediums and skill levels, coming together to do what they do best — create. Their goal is to break free from the isolation of the creative process and connect, build leadership and elevate their craft. This peer-led community produces live (and remote) events such as artisan workshops, conversations on thought-provoking issues, open mic and themed story nights, art shares, collabs and other offerings for you to join and enjoy.
NOTE: All the organizations listed (and linked to) are able to perform their important work, in large part, from donations. If you have the means, please consider making a charitable contribution in support of Transgender Awareness Week or in gratitude for their ongoing commitment to the trans community.
Recommended Television, Movies, and Podcasts
NEW Lingua Franca
In this 2019 film set in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, an undocumented Filipina trans woman works as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman struggling with dementia. When she fails to secure a green card through a marriage of convenience, she constantly worries about being detained and deported. Eventually she becomes romantically involved with the grandson of her employer, but he is unaware she is trans. Available on the Criterion Channel.
NEW Tangerine
It's Christmas Eve in Los Angeles and Sin-Dee, a transgender sex worker, finds out upon her release from prison that her boyfriend — and pimp — has been cheating on her with a cisgender woman. This comedy-drama film follows Sin-Dee and her friends as they search for the pimp who broke her heart. Available on Paramount Plus and Showtime.
NEW Always Jane
This four-part docuseries, set in rural New Jersey, centers around Jane, a transgender high school senior, and her family. As Jane awaits her gender affirming surgery, she tries to balance family, friends, planning for college and her dream of stepping into the world of modeling. Available on Amazon Prime.
NEW I Am Jazz: A Family In Transition
Through archival family footage and first-person interviews, this 2011 documentary special features 11-year-old Jazz, who was diagnosed with gender dysphoria as a child. As the joyful transgendered tween approaches puberty, she and her family grapple with life-altering choices about hormone-blocking therapy, issues related to fertility, discrimination and identity. A reality series entitled I Am Jazz has continued to follow the family for eight seasons on TLC. Available to stream on Max.
Jazz has also written a children's book called I Am Jazz and the memoir https://bookshop.org/p/books/being-jazz-my-life-as-a-transgender-teen-jazz-jennings/11352161?ean=9780399554674.
NEW Little Girl
7-year-old Sasha has always known she is a girl, and her family has recently accepted her gender identity. This French documentary follows the family as they embrace their daughter for who she truly is, as they confront hostility and outdated norms. Ultimately, they find acceptance and affirmation in a small community in rural France. Available with English subtitles on Amazon Prime.
NEW Raising Zoey
In this coming-of-age documentary film, a trans Latina 13-year-old wants nothing more than to go to school, have fun with friends and be a kid. Unfortunately, she is bullied and alienated by both students and school officials at her middle school. With the help of her mother and the ACLU, Zoey begins to speak out about the discrimination and ostracism she faces in her quest for visibility. Zoey emerges as a born activist, conveying her perspective and encouraging others to share theirs in the hope that all can live their authentic lives. Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, and Vudu.
NEW Transhood
The lives of four transgender children (and their families) are chronicled over five years as they navigate growing up in Kansas City. This documentary film reveals the honest and varied experiences of each family and how they cope with rejection, escalating political rhetoric, the cruelty of those hoping to invalidate LGBTQ+ lives and the way the children respond as they grow into the complexity of their identities. Available on Max.
NEW The Trans List
Through the stories of eleven Americans who identify as transgender, this television documentary explores their experiences with identity, family, career, love, struggle and accomplishment. Plus, a look at the variety of terms the trans community uses to self-identify, such as transgender, transsexual, gender-queer, bi-gender and non-binary. Available now on Max.
Of note: since appearing in this documentary, Nicole Maines (now 24) has done a TEDx Talk, starred in the vampire film, Bit, and in 2018 debuted on the CW series Supergirl as Nia Nal (aka Dreamer), the first transgender superhero on television.
NEW Man Enough Podcast
Man Enough Podcast: The Urgent Need for Compassion with non-binary activist and author Alok Vaid-Menon. They also have a book, Beyond The Gender Binary, and a social media presence that is said to be a must-follow. Find out about all this and more by clicking on the podcast link above.
Disclosure
This critically acclaimed 2020 documentary takes an in-depth look at film and television's depiction of transgender people and how that has impacted real transgender lives and American culture. The film features leading trans thinkers and creatives (Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Mj Rodriguez and Chaz Bono) who share their experiences with, and resistance to, some of Hollywood's beloved film moments. Available on Netflix.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
An award-winning documentary in which Victoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 death of Black gay rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. The film uses archival interviews with Johnson and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists and has won awards at multiple film festivals, including L.A. Outfest, Tribeca Film Festival, Sheffield International Documentary Festival and others. Available on Netflix.
Pose
This celebrated, award-winning television drama just concluded its three-season run on FX. It delves into New York City's African-American, Latino, LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming drag ball culture scene. Set during the late '80s and early '90s as the gay and trans community deal with the raging AIDS crisis and capitalism, it stars Billy Porter, Michaela Jaé (Mj) Rodriguez and Indya Moore. Available on Hulu.
Veneno
Based on the memoir by Valeria Vegas, Not A Whore, Not A Saint: The Memories of La Veneno, this 2020 limited series tells the story of one of the most beloved transgender icons of the '90s, Cristina Ortiz (La Veneno). The series follows Valeria, a young Spanish journalist writing a book about La Veneno. As their stories become intertwined, she discovers they have more in common than she realized. Available on Max.
The above is merely a sampling of current public resources. This information is not endorsed or sponsored by the Television Academy but provided solely as a resource for our members.
If you know of a reliable resource, please share it by emailing feedback@televisionacademy.com.
updated 11.19.21
