Matching Monday #003: Trans Lifeline

Week three, and I\’m heartened to see that we\’re still fighting.  My greatest fear is that we will collectively normalize Trump\’s behavior – that we\’ll start acting like this is just the way things are now, rather than continuing to push back against what is already proving to be the most corrupt administration in the history of this country.

Last Week: SPLC

Thanks to donors Maria E., Tina H., Lorna Q., Jami K., and Eric A., we donated a total of $410 to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Steve Bannon\’s honor.  The SPLC has its own matching program going on as well at the moment, including a double match for Giving Tuesday that started sometime last week, so our total impact is somewhere around a thousand dollars.  Let\’s keep it up!

This Week: Trans Lifeline

Transgender people were already at significantly higher risk of suicide than the general population before November 8th, and Trump\’s election has compounded the problem.  In addition to the transphobia and hate crimes that Trump\’s campaign has stoked and emboldened, transgender people now also face threats to their medical treatment, thanks to the Republican promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act; both of these dangers have resulted in a sudden increase in transgender suicides.

Trans Lifeline is a crisis hotline for transgender people.  While their primary focus is on preventing suicide and self-harm, they are open for any transgender person in need.  The line is staffed by transgender people, so callers know they can talk to someone else who understands their experiences.

This week, rather than making donations in honor of one of the transphobes in the upcoming administration, I\’d like to keep the focus on the memories of the loved ones we have lost, and on the experiences of those who remain.  When you forward your donation receipts to matching@pyrlogos.com, if you\’d like to add a sentence or two about the person or people you honored with your donation, I\’ll include your note in next week\’s wrap-up post.  (I\’ll match the first $100 in donations.)

Calls to Action

The spreadsheet I linked last week now has a script for calling to support the protesters in North Dakota who are fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline.  The Army has announced plans to \”close\” the lands the protesters are occupying on December 6th and restrict protests to a \”free speech zone\”, in violation of treaties and the First Amendment, so the tribes gathered at Standing Rock need our support now more than ever.

Beyond that, if you are able, I\’ll ask you to stand up for someone.  If you see someone being abused because of who they are - whether verbally or physically, whether online or off – do what you can to protect them.  Make sure that both the abuser and their target know that electing a hateful bigot and misogynist to the Presidency doesn\’t make harassment and abuse okay.  (This is something I\’m still working on myself, since social anxiety makes confrontation difficult for me – but even just drawing the victim into a more positive conversation can help stop harassment.)