Kris Hayashi is the executive director of the Transgender Law Center, one of the leading trans civil rights organizations in the country. As more Americans support trans causes, Oakland-based TLC provides legal support for activists across the U.S.
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 1:Method to the madness is next.
Speaker 2:You listening to method to the madness, a weekly public affairs show on k a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay area innovators today, producer Anna Stir La speaks with Chris Hayashi, the executive director of the transgender law center, one [00:00:30] of the largest organizations in the country advancing the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people.
Speaker 1:So welcome to the show, Chris Hayashi. Thank you for having me. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure. I'm Chris Hayashi. I'm the executive director at the transgender law center. Uh, we're based [00:01:00] in Oakland, California, but we also have an office in Atlanta, Georgia. We're a national organization, um, the largest in the country actually advancing the rights of trans and gender nonconforming people through litigation policy advocacy, public education and movement building. And it used to be mostly a California based organization. Right? Right. The organization started back in 2002 as a California focused organization. We actually started as a project of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. And then [00:01:30] the organization has just grown tremendously, um, particularly in the last couple of years. So now we definitely consider ourselves a national organization. We work with Trans and gender nonconforming people all over the country, but particularly prioritizing regions that have, uh, less access to resources, um, like the south, the Midwest and the southwest.
Speaker 1:What are some of your more recent cases? Well, we have a case. Um, we're representing a young transgender boy who lives in Wisconsin. [00:02:00] Um, his name is ash and you know, very similar to the case of Gavin Grimm and other trans boy that has been in the media a lot, um, in the recent period. But, uh, you know, ash, uh, had been going to school, um, you know, using the restroom, uh, the boys room with all the other boys in his school, no problem. And then the school changed the policy, um, and was going to make him use a different restroom than all the other students and they actually took it a step further and [00:02:30] we're going to require all of the trench, gender students in the school to wear green wristbands so they could better monitor and police their bathroom use. So we're representing ash, um, in his case, uh, that was just heard recently.
Speaker 1:Um, and we'll, we should be hearing the outcome of that very soon. [inaudible] and have you had any, uh, I think one thing we want to know is have you had any major victories so far that you've like really been building on? Definitely, definitely. I'm [00:03:00] about, I think it was about a year ago. So we represented to a transgender woman, uh, who were incarcerated, who are one of them who is still incarcerated here in the state of California. And you know, transgender people, uh, face a tremendous amount of discrimination, um, and lack of access to educational opportunities as well as employment. And so as a result, many transgender people end up re relying [00:03:30] on street economies, survival economies to survive, which means that, um, a large number of transgender people, particularly transgender woman, particularly transgender women of color, end up incarcerated, end up in the prison system and in the prison system faced tremendous abuse, violence, and harassment.
Speaker 1:And so the transgender law center, along with, um, other organizations in the state have been fighting for some time for the rights of transgender people who are incarcerated. And we represented two transgender women who [00:04:00] were incarcerated here in California, um, for them to be able to get access to the healthcare that they need, um, the healthcare that they deserve as transgender people. And we were able to, um, successfully win those cases. And, uh, a, the one of the transgender woman was able to get her surgery here in California for the first time ever. Wow. And so one thing I want to know is, you know, obviously anybody could be trans [00:04:30] and so how does your organization kind of overlap with other advocacy works? For example, integration? Right. Definitely. I'm, and I think that is a really good question. Uh, particularly given the times we are in now, the, at the transgender law center for a number of years, we've been fighting for the rights of immigrants for transgender immigrants.
Speaker 1:We've been part of national campaigns like the, not one more campaign. Um, and you know, in the recent period since [00:05:00] Trump was elected to office, uh, you know, we, he ran on a very clear platform of hate against many different communities from people of Color to immigrants, to women, to people with disabilities, to the people in the LGBT community. And so we were very clear, um, that one of the first communities that he would target would be, uh, the immigrant community. And we know that transgender immigrants, um, because many transgender immigrants, [00:05:30] uh, due to lack of access to employment opportunities and income, um, rely on survival and street economies to survive that many transgender immigrants would have criminal records. So it would be among some of the communities, uh, first targeted and most vulnerable under a Trump administration. So we've been working with immigrant rights organizations here in California and across the country to advocate for the rights of all immigrants, but particularly raising up the conditions that transgender immigrants face.
Speaker 1:So, [00:06:00] um, one thing that we know is that for transgender immigrant to be in detention means facing horrendous abuse, violence, and harassment while transgender women make up one in 500, uh, transgender. Uh, one in 500, uh, people in detention, they make up one in five reported cases of sexual assault. Um, and those are only the ones that are reported. Only the ones that we know about. We also know that for a transgender immigrant [00:06:30] to face deportation, um, you know, in many cases means returning to her home country that they had originally fled facing violence. Um, you know, and in some cases even possible death. So for the transgender law center, particularly in the recent period, uh, it has been a real priority to focus on the needs of transgender immigrants. So we actually just this January launched a project called the transgender immigrant defense effort, uh, tied for shorts.
Speaker 1:And [00:07:00] how has the sort of new age of Trump, how has that affected your organization, you know, and how you approach advocacy? Definitely. Um, you know, we have been hearing from transgender people across the country, uh, non binary gender nonconforming people. Uh, you know, similar to many other communities that are being targeted by this administration. That there is just an incredible amount of fear about [00:07:30] what is happening and what will happen under this administration. And we've already heard about increases in hate, violence and harassment that our community is facing across the country. And you know, for the transgender community, for gender nonconforming people, even before the Trump administration, our community was already in crisis already facing incredible violence, um, harassment and hate all across the country. 2016 [00:08:00] we saw the most reported cases of transgender murders that we've seen. And those are only the ones that we know about.
Speaker 1:And you know, we're only, what, a couple months into 2017 and there have already been eight murders of transgender woman, um, all transgender woman of color. So, you know, our community was already facing incredible violence and discrimination and under a Trump administration, we have just seen that grow and increase and know that moving forward, [00:08:30] um, we're likely to see more of that as he rolls out more and more policies that are really rooted in, um, in hate and, uh, discrimination. You know, there's kind of been more attention paid to transgender issues, but then there's also kind of been that same push back. So how has it been kind of being an advocate for the trans community, a legal advocate during this time? Um, yeah. I mean the increase in visibility that has happened over the last couple of years, uh, is really [00:09:00] unprecedented. You know, I, 10 years ago would not have thought there would be a moment where we had have Laverne Cox on the cover of Time magazine, you know, or Janet mock on the bestseller list that was not even anywhere in anyone's thoughts about what would happen with the Trans Movement.
Speaker 1:And so all of that has been incredible and just raise the visibility for transgender people and for the issues we face. However, the other reality of that is that while there's been this increase in visible and in popular culture [00:09:30] that the majority of transgender people, the majority of transgender young foreign people of color continue to struggle to survive on a daily basis. You know, we have four times the poverty rate of the general population. That's even more so for transgender people of color. Um, high rates of unemployment, lack of access to health care. The reality is that our community has already been in crisis. And then in 2016 we saw this [00:10:00] onslaught of anti-trans legislation in a way that we had not seen before in the form of these, uh, bathroom ban bills, which really are about criminalizing transgender people simply for trying to use the bathroom.
Speaker 1:And we saw that in states across the country in ways we just hadn't seen before. And we were successful in defeating almost all of those. I mean, many people have heard about HB two in North Carolina and that particular piece of legislation that moved forward. But [00:10:30] you know, the other piece of it is that while we've had this increase in visibility and wall, our community continues to struggle on a daily basis. What is also true is that there are incredible trans and gender nonconforming leaders all across the country who have been organizing for decades to fight for the rights of transgender people, to create safe spaces within communities where people are able to access healthcare, able to access [00:11:00] services or even just like build community with each other and have that type of support from transgender people in North Carolina to trans and gender nonconforming youth, um, all across the country who have been really advocating speaking out and fighting for it rights.
Speaker 1:And can you talk a little bit about yourself and your activist journey? How, how did, how did you arrive to your place today? Sure. Um, you know, I actually, uh, [00:11:30] so, you know, I grew up in Seattle, Washington. I was always this very gender nonconforming, um, Asian kid and definitely, um, I mean this would have been in the like, you know, eighties or so, um, faced a good amount of harassment in school, um, for being gender nonconforming. Um, and you know, so for, from a very young age, I understood that the world was not set up for me to survive. So I've always carried that experience into [00:12:00] my organizing and into my activism. And I first really got involved in organizing here in California, uh, in the probably early nineties, um, as a part of a lot of the youth, uh, particularly youth of color organizing that was happening at that time around, uh, prop one 87, which was an anti-immigrant initiative prop 21, which was an anti youth initiative. And there was just this incredible, um, upswell of particularly [00:12:30] youth led, uh, organizing that was happening in that period in response to the types of attacks that were happening here in the state. And felt very fortunate to be a part of that and really took from that, uh, real belief in bias force organizing in that when organizing around injustices that young people are facing, that young people need to be, um, leading those, those campaigns, leading those fights and have really taken that by us for us, principal [00:13:00] into all of my work.
Speaker 3:Ever since then.
Speaker 2:If you're just tuning in, you're listening to method to the madness, a weekly public affairs show on k a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay area innovators today. And a sterling is speaking with the executive director of the transgender law center. Chris [inaudible],
Speaker 1:[00:13:30] you yourself a lawyer? I am not a lawyer actually. I do work with a lot of lawyers, but I'm not a lawyer. Um, you know, which all speaks to the work of the trench under law center. Um, you know, we definitely are a legal organization, but we also do policy advocacy and we do movement building and leadership development. Um, you know, really pulling from a wide range of strategies to address the needs, um, and fight for the rights of our community. [00:14:00] And then as part of that also like outreach and education so that folks are informed of what rights they actually have. Definitely. Definitely. Actually this past year, um, in California, we partnered with, uh, equality California oh, as well as a number of other organizations here in the state, like the GSA network, which is also based here in the bay area. Um, to launch a public education campaign called Transform California.
Speaker 1:Um, which was really about raising public understanding [00:14:30] and consciousness about trans and gender nonconforming people here in the state. Um, and really building up, uh, a statewide infrastructure infrastructure that would advocate and fight for the rights of Trans and gender nonconforming people. Particularly in a time when we were seeing, um, other states, uh, launch anti-trans initiatives and campaigns, um, that here California, we would seek to model, um, you know, model something different. And how has the transgender law center then, you know, we talked a little [00:15:00] bit about how it was founded and how, uh, it's gone national, but how has kind of its own mission and what it does day to day kind of changed since it was founded? Sure. Um, you know, when the transgender law center first started, uh, you know, it was with I think, two paid staff and a handful of volunteers and you know, out, it was at a time where we had nowhere near the legal protections that [00:15:30] we have in place now or the policy wins that we have, particularly here in California.
Speaker 1:And the organization was really about like, how do we, uh, when some legal rights for the Trans Community, particularly here in California, um, but also started from a place of doing some community organizing and, uh, movement building here in the state. So bringing Trans Gender people together to say what are the needs of the communities facing and did like a needs assessment and a survey. Um, [00:16:00] and really offered also access to legal services to transgender people. We, um, from the beginning and still have a helpline, um, where transgender people can reach out to us and get access to legal information and resources. Um, you know, so started as a really small shop, California based, really focused on focusing on advancing the rights of transgender people here in California at a time. Um, when we, you know, honestly had made very little progress as far as [00:16:30] legal and policy rights.
Speaker 1:You know, I mean this was a, you know, 15 years ago. Um, you know, fast forward to now when, you know, as a result of the work of the transgender law center and other organizations here in the state, you know, we're in a place and nationally we're in a place where we have, um, have made advances as far as the legal rights of transgender people. Um, for example, the transgender law center, uh, won the case of Mia Macy, which was one of the first times that it was, [00:17:00] uh, made clear that transgender people are protected under title seven from employment discrimination. Um, you know, there have been cases across the country that have made clear that we are protected, uh, under title nine that transgender students are protected from discrimination, um, in schools and in education systems. And you know, here in California there are strong policies around access to health care for transgender people.
Speaker 1:Um, so there have been these major wins. And so also [00:17:30] tlcs work in the last, you know, I would say five years is years or so. One has grown to be national, so has moved beyond California. Um, and also has really looked, uh, much more strongly than before at how do we really raise up and prioritize the communities that are most vulnerable, that are most targeted by discrimination, harassment and violence. And so [00:18:00] that's led us to open our first office in Atlanta, Georgia in partnership with a group called southerners on new ground. It's led us to launch our detention project with spe, which specifically focuses on transgender people who are incarcerated, whether it's in immigration detention or prisons and jails. It's let us so launch a project called truth, which we do in partnership with the GSE network, um, which is a trans and gender nonconforming youth led movement building and storytelling [00:18:30] project, um, based nationally and also does work here in California.
Speaker 1:So it's led us to really launch some projects that specifically raise up the visibility, leadership and analysis of particular communities within the transgender community. Is there anything else like the transgender law center elsewhere in the u s so we are, we are definitely the largest, uh, transgender, uh, organization. Um, and as far as focus specifically on legal rights, [00:19:00] uh, that is specifically focused on the transgender community. Um, you know, probably the closest is our, our, uh, sister organization in DC, the national center for transgender equality. Um, they also do a, some amount of legal work, uh, but they also do a lot of policy, uh, federal policy in particular. And then a lot of the larger legal organizations, uh, like the ACLU, Lambda legal, uh, they do, they have specific kind of focuses [00:19:30] on transgender rights. Um, but as far as an organization that's specifically focused on illegal rights of transgender people, um, we are one of very few, actually.
Speaker 1:There's, there's an organization in New York City, um, called Tilda, the transgender legal defense and education fund that also specifically focuses on, um, transgender legal rights. So, you know, it's not, it's not a lot. Um, though, I mean, I do think it's important to raise up that wall. There's only, probably a handful [00:20:00] of like larger trans focused organizations that there are hundreds of smaller grassroots trans groups and organizations that are led by transgender people led by transgender people of color. Uh, you know, that most often like don't have paid staff, um, don't have a lot of resource, but have been a building community and organizing for the rights for, for many, many years. Looking forward towards the future, what achievements, what [00:20:30] goals do you hope for the community? Yeah, that's a great question. Um, you know, so I'll answer that in two ways. One is, is very long term.
Speaker 1:I mean, ultimately we are fighting for a world in which everyone, um, is able to live, survive and thrive, has access to healthcare and housing and food and education. Um, you know, ultimately we are looking for a world looking [00:21:00] towards a world where, uh, we all have what we need, um, to thrive. And you know, that is probably a very, very, a longterm goal, uh, particularly given the times we are in right now. But that's ultimately what we're, we're fighting for. And then in the more immediate, uh, for the transgender law center, you know, for, for many, many years, the transgender community has been under-resourced, um, [00:21:30] has had lack of access to, um, whether it's funding or um, you know, organizational infrastructure. And so, you know, we are really looking to build up a national movement led by Trans and gender nonconforming people who are fighting for our rights across the country, whether it's in South Dakota or Atlanta, Georgia or here in the bay area that is really, uh, led [00:22:00] by Trans and gender nonconforming people and center is the most vulnerable and most targeted members of our community. What would you say to a young person now who's considering going into law school going into advocacy work? What would you, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I, I would say to a young person looking to get part of looking to be part of movement, a movement work that, you know, um, [00:22:30] I, I feel like w what I, the kind of most important experiences and lessons I've learned have just been from doing it have just been from getting involved in organizing has been from getting involved in organizations that I believed in, that I was passionate about, that were about fighting for the rights and safety of my community, [00:23:00] my family. Um, you know, people that I love and care about. And it's from actually that, uh, involvement and engagement that I've learned, um, learned the most important lessons, um, in, in movement work. If there's a, a young person who's facing harassment, um, whether it's in their school or, um, by their, at their job, uh, you know, that it's important, particularly here in California, in the bay area, there are so many incredible organizations [00:23:30] that have resources and support.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, from the, the GSA network, which is here in the bay area and work specifically with, uh, LGBT young people to, uh, you know, the Pacific Center here in Berkeley to the SF LGBT center. There's incredible infrastructure here in California for anyone who's needing support. And so I think the most important thing would be to reach out, whether it's to one of these organizations, whether it's to a friend or, um, [00:24:00] you know, someone who is supportive in this, their school or job and really getting connected to, to resources and support. Any contact info that we can share. Sure. Um, if you're looking to get, find out more information about the transgender law center, you can go to our website. It's transgender law center.org. That's probably the best way. And then closing philosophy. Uh, what is your philosophy in life? Um, yeah, that's a, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:[00:24:30] Um, you know, I have been part of movements for racial and economic justice probably since I was about 19. So at that point, it's over 20 years ago. And for me it's always been about, uh, uh, deeply felt a need to fight for a world in which [00:25:00] I could live and survive and thrive and which, uh, other people that I care about and other people that I'm in community with, um, you know, also also can do so. And so for me, uh, a lot of that has been about, um, keeping strong to that disbelief. And in that we can build, uh, a world that is different and a world in which, uh, [00:25:30] you know, we all have what we need, but in which we also can, uh, can do more than just survive but also thrive. Um, you know, so one of the things that I, I haven't spoken about that I think is important to raise up is that transgender people in this country face incredibly high rates of HIV and aids.
Speaker 1:And it's something that actually doesn't get talked about a lot and doesn't get a lot of visibility. The reality is actually that for [00:26:00] a black transgender woman, the lifetime risk of HIV is one and two. So a couple of years ago, largely through the leadership of our senior strategist, Cecilia Chung, who is a longtime leader here in the trench gender community in the bay area, as well as nationally launched a project called positively trans, which is led by and for transgender people living with HIV. Uh, the majority of the folks in leadership are transgender [00:26:30] woman of color or transgender people of color. And so there's a national advisory board that, uh, launched and implemented a national needs assessment. Um, one of the first of its kind to really raise up the needs of transgender people living with HIV. And what I think has been incredible about that project is that they then took that data and have gone to national, uh, strategy sessions to national meetings, setting HIV [00:27:00] policy and have raised up the needs of transgender people and have really been able to inform and shift, um, national HIV policy to better meet the needs of transgender people here in the u s um, you know, and one of the other things that I didn't, uh, speak as much about is also so, you know, because over the past in 2016, we saw this onslaught of anti-trans legislation across the country.
Speaker 1:Um, what we saw [00:27:30] again and again in, in states facing, uh, anti-trans legislation is that there would be a transgender leaders in that state who'd been there forever, like small groups without a lot of resources. And they would be fighting to get a seat at the table, um, in leader leading campaigns to fight back against these anti-trans bills that were about their lives and their communities. So one of the things that we did at the transgender law center in partnership with, [00:28:00] uh, a couple of different organizations including the ACLU and a project called the trend justice funding project and GSA network, is we launched this National Training Institute, um, where Trans and gender nonconforming leaders, particularly from the Midwest, the south and the southwest, uh, were able to come and get training on organizing, on speaking to the media, on communications, um, on coalition building. And we were able to train up a cohort of about 60 trans and gender nonconforming leaders [00:28:30] from around the country, all of whom are really on the front lines of fighting back against, um, anti-trans campaigns in the state, their states, whether it's legislative or ballot initiatives. Um, and what we saw again and again is that for so many of the leaders who came to the trains, it was the first time they've ever had access to any type of organizing or comms or media training, which I think really just speaks to the lack of resource, the lack of investment that has happened [00:29:00] for many, many years as far as the, the Trans and gender nonconforming community, uh, here in the u s thank you so much for stopping by Chris. Yes. Great. Thank you.
Speaker 3:[inaudible]
Speaker 2:you've been listening to method to the madness, a weekly public affairs show on k a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay [00:29:30] area innovators. You can find all of our podcasts on iTunes university. Tune in next Friday. Okay.
Speaker 3:[inaudible].
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