Cart 0
Team History Timeline Racial Equity Testimonials Impact Report Press + Publications
Resource Library State Policies Mailing Guide Anti Stigma Social Support Testing Drugs FAQ
Syringe Access Naloxone / Narcan Promotion Privacy
Cart 0
NEXT: Needle EXchange Technology
 
blue and pink trans heart
 

Transgender Day of Visibility Factsheet

Each year on March 31st, the world observes Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) to raise awareness about transgender people. It is a day to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people, while also drawing attention to the poverty, discrimination, and violence the transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) community faces. We recognize that gender is a spectrum. This data includes men, women, non-binary, and other folks within that spectrum.

 
Hand drawn crowd of protesters
 

Transgender Historical Activism

 

Transgender sex workers and people who use drugs have been pivotal to the queer liberation movement.

From the Cooper Do-nuts Riot and the Compton's Cafeteria Riot in California, to the famous Stonewall Riots and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in New York City, TGNC people who use drugs and sex workers are, and always have been, leaders even in harm reduction movements. However, they are often overlooked or excluded from these movements themselves.

Harm reduction services and allies have a responsibility to do better for TGNC populations.

 
 
Presto Crespo

A Statement to Reflect on for TDOV:

“Annually we converge based on shared love between us, and overwhelming hate and violence against us. In harm reduction and advocacy work, it is important to remember the common theme that binds drug users, TGNC, Black, Native and other POC lives together… Our being pushed to the fringes of society with the intention of mass suffering and death. As our rebuttal, we form communities and networks to keep one another alive for just one more day. The lives we lead are not the ones we choose, but they are the ones we are thrusted into. We face abandonment via the state and austere conditions we have become all too familiar with. In claiming our autonomy over our genders and sexualities, we gain just a small inkling of freedom. I have always been this way-even when I did not have the words to explain it… Even when I knew no one else existed like myself. I ask that individuals who engage with NEXT, truly internalize my words when I say that we will not settle for a life of slow, impending death. Not drug users, not TGNC individuals, and especially not those who can check both boxes. We have seen enough suffering and dysphoria, it is time to fight for our lives and for the actual relinquishing of the chains.”

- Presto Crespo, Coordinator of Support Services

 

 Quick Participant Facts

 
 

5.8% of our Distro participants are trans (680 out of 11,646)

7.1% of our Naloxone Participants are trans (8,023 out of 113,395)

 

    • 0.9% of all participants are pregnant

    • 1.8% of all participants are HIV+

    • 15% of all participants are BIPOC

    • 1751% more likely to have HIV

    • 85% more likely to be pregnant

    • 76% more likely to be BIPOC

    • 15% more likely to be homeless or unstably housed

    • 12% more likely to have a mental health disorder

    • 4% more likely to have no/unknown health insurance

    • 0.4% more likely to be on public benefits

    • Our Naloxone participants are 7x higher than national count of trans folks (7.1% vs 1%)

    • Each state's participants are nearly 8x more likely to be trans than national count (avg of 7.7%)

    • 77% of our trans participants live in unfunded states

    • Funded states have an average of 8.7% participants who are trans

    • Unfunded states have an average of 7.6% of participants who are trans

    • Trans participants are 28% more likely to have overdosed in the last year

    • Trans participants are 16% more likely to not have health insurance

    • 12 states have 10% or more of their participants being trans (VT, NM, RI, WA, MN, ND, IL, WI, UT, ME, OR, CO)

    • 52% of our trans participants live in 4 states (PA, OH, CA, MI)

 
 

TGNC people seek NEXT services at 26 times the rate of the US population (7.7% vs 0.3%), showing there is a significant overlap between drug users and the TGNC community. TGNC people have received services from our Distro program in 44 states and from our Naloxone program in 51 states (including DC), showing a national need for resources amongst the TGNC community.

There is also a significant need that our TGNC participants are showing as compared to cis people who utilize NEXT. Compared to cis people seeking services, TGNC participants are 18 times more likely to be living with HIV, 1.8 times more likely to be pregnant, and 1.8 times more likely to be BIPOC. TGNC participants are also 28% more likely to have overdosed in the last year, 16% more likely to not have health insurance, and 15% more likely to be homeless or unstably housed.

 

Need Supplies or Resources?

NEXT offers mail-based harm reduction supplies and downloadable informational materials

 
 
 
 

Recent Anti-Trans Legislation

 

House Bill 4378 (HB 4378) “anyone who attends a drag performance as a minor may bring an action against a person who knowingly promotes, conducts, or participates as a performer in the drag performance that occurs before an audience that includes the minor.”

 
 

[Bill Text] restricts "adult cabaret performances" in public or in the presence of children, and bans them from occurring within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks, or places of worship

 
 

[Bill Text]  Includes a specific clause banning "Drag queen story hour" 

 
 

Gov. Beshear: “Improving access to gender affirming care is an important means of improving health outcomes for the transgender population. Senate Bill 150 will cause an increase in suicide among Kentucky’s youth. For these reasons, I am vetoing Senate Bill 150.”

 
 

Arkansas HB1156 was signed into law by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. This is a school-based bathroom bill which would prohibit transgender and gender diverse students from using bathrooms or sleeping quarters consistent with their gender identity.

 
 

Georgia SB140 was signed into law by Governor Kemp. This is an under-18 gender-affirming healthcare ban.

 

Idaho S1016 passed in the Senate and was sent to the Governor for signature. This is a bathroom bill.

 
 
 

Additional Resources from Them

Everything That Happened in Anti-Trans Legislation This Week: March 20-27