TRANS JUSTICE UNIT
2021 Trans Latinx March. Photo by @cidrobertsphotography
After six years of advocacy, visibility campaigns, and support for New York’s Caribbean LGBTQ+ population, the Caribbean Equality Project (CEP) launched its Trans Justice Unit in 2021. The mission of the Trans Justice Unit (TJU) is to unite and empower diverse groups of trans-identified and non-binary people of Caribbean descent in solidarity. This is done as an act of preservation – of our respective cultures’ legacies of resistance against oppression in all its forms. The TJU mobilizes and supports Caribbean trans people through advocacy, trans-affirming healthcare, HIV care, housing and economic justice, workforce development, and immigration resources for asylum seekers.
The organization’s Trans Justice Unit is led by and for trans, queer, and gender non-conforming (GNC) Caribbean immigrants in NYC. Tiffany Jade Munroe is our Trans Justice Coordinator & Sai serves as our Trans Justice Organizer. The TJU is grounded in three pillars of action on behalf of the community, addressing three different but related aspects of trans disenfranchisement. The first pillar is legislative advocacy to continue challenging transphobia, anti-trans legislation, and systemic violence. The second pillar is oral history and storytelling by creating historical records of the stories and experiences of multiple generations of trans-identified people of Caribbean descent, in order to highlight and preserve their triumphs and struggles that have been forgotten or erased. The third pillar is creating a peer support system, beginning with a mentorship program whereby Caribbean people of trans experience can impart the hard-won wisdom and social connections developed to those most need it.
Caribbean Equality Project centers the power and visibility of its TJU leaders and members – through campaigns, art exhibitions, and social activations – thereby uplifting Afro and Indo-Caribbean trans voices in the Caribbean diaspora. The Trans Justice Unit amplifies the intersectionality and Caribbeaness of our TGNC leaders – while celebrating the mundane joys, accomplishments, challenges, and camaraderie – which TGNC Caribbean people in NYC build to foster liberation.
In honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility 2021, the Caribbean Equality Project's Trans Justice Unit launched a resource guide to facilitate a name change for New York State residents and immigrants from the Caribbean. To view the name change resource guide, click here.
The content for the name change resource guide was researched by Sai and edited by Mohamed Q. Amin and Kadeem Robinson of the Caribbean Equality Project. This guide was put together by transgender immigrants for transgender immigrants and would not be possible without Jojo Brown (@jojobrwn) and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund @translegaldefense).
LGBTQ+ Caribbean immigrants, including undocumented people and asylum seekers, can access this resource by visiting: www.caribbeanequalityproject.org/name-change.
Project Design: Reshma Persaud, Alfred Landecker Democracy Fellow via Humanity in Action
Please note that the countries named in this resource guide do not reflect all Caribbean countries. The content in this resource guide is pro se legal information and is subject to future periodical updates.
On April 1, 2023, we joined our partners at The New Pride Agenda for a “Rally to Victory!” ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈✨
Our rights are on the chopping block across the country, and our lives are on the line. Even here in New York State, there's still so much to do to advance justice, safety, and equity for those most marginalized within our diverse LGBTQ+ communities. As the first anti-trans bill is introduced in New York State, we are rallying together to push forward the Trans Safe Haven Bill.
On April 25, 2023, the first TGNCNBI (Transgender, Gender Non-conforming, Non-binary, and Intersex) Advocacy Day will be held in Albany, NY. Tiffany will join the NEW Pride Agenda to stand up, fight back and call attention to our 2023 LGBTQ+ Community Agenda!
Laidback In Heels: Caribbean Transfemme Joy, Empowerment, and Visibility
In 2022, Caribbean Equality Project’s Trans Justice Unit hosted "Laidback In Heels: Caribbean Transfemme Joy, Empowerment, and Visibility," - a one-night virtual conversation to commemorate Transgender Day of Visibility. The program featured CEP's Afro and Indo-Caribbean Trans and Gender Non-Conforming leadership for a living-room-style discussion centering on the value of lived experiences in today's world through a racial justice lens.
Host: Kadeem Robinson (they/them), CEP Policy Advocate and Co-host of Stush an’ Bush Podcast
Panelists:
Tiffany jade Munroe, Trans Justice Coordinator, Caribbean Equality Project
Sai, Unchained Facilitator and Trans Justice Unit Organizer, Caribbean Equality Project
Diahann B. Browne, Mental Health Outreach Specialist, Caribbean Equality Project
Xoë Sazzle, Communications and Digital Content Creator
Twinkle A. Paul, Policy Advocate, Caribbean Equality Project
The Caribbean Equality Project has spent more than six years advocating for and supporting New York's LGBTQ+ Caribbean population. Through leadership development and capacity building, the organization has cultivated a core group of talented and committed leaders, community organizers, and activists from the very same service population in NYC. Year-round, the intergenerational and racially diverse Queer and Trans leaders organize mutual aid efforts such as culturally-responsive food pantries and economic relief for undocumented low-income LGBTQ+ immigrants in Caribbean-centric neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn, and The Bronx. From providing peer and professional-led support groups and creating multimedia pride and visibility campaigns to legislative advocacy and leading culture-specific congruent services, the Caribbean Equality Project's leadership has been on the frontlines fighting for equity and collective liberation.
On November 19, 2022, Caribbean Equality Project, in partnership with The Blasian March, proudly presented “Transgender Day of Remembrance: Centering Trans Joy, Resilience, and Power” at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center- Crown Heights. Community members joined us for an afternoon of storytelling and performances to honor trans community members lost to transphobic violence and to celebrate the trans lives around us. Our observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance centered the joys, achievements, and contributions of trans people to the fabric of our community and collective liberation movement.
“Today and every day, we remember all our transgender and non-binary siblings taken from us due to transphobia, police brutality, gun violence, suicide, and systemic oppression. The list of trans futures, talent, beauty, and possibilities robbed continues to grow longer and longer with no end in sight. The violence and deaths must be stopped; we deserve to live and thrive. This Trans Day of Remembrance, we unite in unity to celebrate our love, strength, resilience, and power,” said Tiffany Jade Munroe, Caribbean Equality Project’s Trans Justice Unit Coordinator.
The event honored the work of pioneering Puerto Rican Trans Icon Victoria Cruz, an advocate and retired Intimate Partner Violence, Counselor. In 2022, Cruz made history as the first transgender Grand Marshal of the annual West Indian Day American Parade. The program featured inspirational affirmations by Black and Brown trans and nonbinary community leaders and performance art to pay tribute to those lost to anti-transgender violence.
2021 Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil: Queens Borough President's Office
2022 Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil: Queens Borough President's Office
