Black Trans Women Leaders Share Love, Strength at Detroit Conference
Black Trans Circles event centers powerful women who are often overlooked
The 28 women who gathered in Detroit from across the country for Black Trans Circles (BTC) came to the leadership conference in early July for education — wisdom gleaned from experts and from listening to one another’s stories. But most of all, they came to the gathering, created in collaboration with the Transgender Law Center, for affirmation and a reminder of their strength as individuals and their collective power when they work together. Black Trans Circles facilitator Jeynce Poindexter, local trans advocate, co-executive director of Trans Sistas of Color Project and Ruth Ellis Center case manager, came to pour love into women who, as she knows firsthand, are frequently decentered, overlooked or targeted by people seeking to harm them.
“These women thrive outside the box and broader societal expectations,” she tells Pride Source. “We wanted to recognize their survival as Black trans women or trans women of color at a time when the life expectancy of this group is only 35 due to the murder rate and violence.”
In some ways, BTC embraces foundational tenets of the Pride movement, which, Poindexter acknowledges, began as a form of protest. “I wanted to host this in the middle of our Black Pride season because Pride, from the start, was a resistance,” she says. “It was pushing back against discrimination, against profiling, against harassment and physical harm by the police in and around Christopher Street and the Village in New York. And it was two trans women of color who said, ‘Fuck this. No more,’ and literally picked up rocks and started stoning the police. And today, oftentimes at Prides, the trans women are left out.”
“Honestly,” Poindexter says, “You rarely see trans women being honored. We’re thanked. But name one trans woman of color, one Black trans woman, who has been awarded, highlighted, put up on a pedestal. No, we are thanked for our innovation and our tactics, for the way in which we get things done. But we’re never having awards named after us. And so, Black Trans Circles is meant to do just that for those four days.”
During the BTC event, organizers take care of every small detail, from transportation to food and accommodations. “We love on these girls,” she says. “It is intentional that we take all the barriers away from them even making it to the convening. The girls get stipends, food, snacks. I don’t want them worrying about what they will eat all day or anything that can take them away from focusing on what’s going on. We wanted it to be easy, and we wanted to make sure that they felt the love from the invitation to the email follow-up to every part of the event until it was over and the last lady was on their plane back home.” Several speakers and guests were in attendance, including Michigan ACLU staff attorney Jay Kaplan, who was there in support of the Trans Sistas of Color Project. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was unable to attend, but sent along a video message, in which she said, "Thank you for showing up as you are. Thank you for always sharing your stories, and thank you for always fighting for everyone."
One participant, Ciera Dior Malone, a 20-year performer and local pageant title winner, says she was drawn to the BTC convening because it was an opportunity to be in the company of women she doesn’t get to regularly connect with as well as women she’d meet for the first time. She says it was transformative to listen to stories that were similar to hers, but that she rarely gets to talk about. “It’s hard in everyday life, kind of a prideful feeling,” she explains. “Because I don’t want to feel like a burden to anybody, but I didn’t feel like a burden with these ladies.”
“From the beginning to the end, the experience was just going up and up, and the more I was around them, the more I felt like the ladies was uplifting each other,” Malone recalls. “It just happened where we would really just encourage each other on different things, aspects like whether they like our work clothing or really anything.”
Mariah Moore, director of policy and programs at the Transgender Law Center, says the BTC program centers on leadership development for Black trans women and femmes through the “creation of healing justice spaces to work through oppression-based trauma and incubate community organizing efforts to address acts of anti-trans violence.”
Moore says BTC was created in response to the rise in violence and murder of Black trans women and femmes and has hosted convenings in New Orleans, Houston and Atlanta in addition to the recent event in Detroit.
“Transgender Law Center (TLC) hosted our recent gathering in Detroit because we immediately saw the value in building relationships with Jeynce Poindexter and Harmony Harris. After learning about the incredible initiatives in Detroit, such as the Trans Sistas of Color Project and the support provided by the Ruth Ellis Center, we are confident that offering BTC’s ongoing leadership development programming, guided by TLC’s political framework, the Trans Agenda for Liberation, will empower these leaders to sharpen their skills, obtain necessary tools and fearlessly advocate against anti-trans violence and hate, ultimately leading to positive change and safer communities for all people,” Moore says.
Poindexter says that at one point, national trans advocate and TRANScending Women Executive Director Wendi Cooper, who traveled from New Orleans, shared her story with the group. Cooper, who frequently speaks about her life experience, was at one point a registered sex offender because she was caught performing sex work in Louisiana, where there is a “crimes against nature” statute on the books. Poindexter says LGBTQ+ people throughout the state, including Cooper, have been targeted by police through entrapment and wind up with identification that lists them as sex offenders, which can become a major barrier to employment and housing.
Poindexter says the women in attendance were awestruck while learning about Cooper’s story and to find out that gay and trans panic defenses are still in place in several states, including Michigan (Gov. Whitmer is set to sign a ban on these defenses in the coming days). “It was very vulnerable to hear her speak about her experiences,” Poindexter says. “But also inspiring. She’s been able to get herself off the registry and now she helps people. She has taken the situation that was meant to take her out — that was meant to subjugate her — and not only did she survive and thrive through it, but now she’s helping other people in Louisiana.”
“The stories give me chills and they reinforce the importance of faith and keeping hope and believing in yourself,” Poindexter adds. “It instantly helps to bring you together.”
Other women shared stories about surviving the criminal justice system, getting out of sex work, losing their families, battling substance abuse and more. “And me, too. I’ve been there. I’ve needed forgiveness and deliverance. I’ve been to jail. I’ve done sex work and I once was homeless,” Poindexter shares. “I once was disconnected and ostracized from my family and I didn’t have community, and so all of the traumas and the things that have impacted a lot of the ladies, I can share my story and stand in that space of looking back and saying, ‘Wow, what I’ve overcome, in spite of being a Black trans woman, in spite of being in Michigan where it was hard to get our humanity recognized.’”
It’s that kind of open dialogue that Poindexter says is so powerful. There’s much to be gained by sharing authentically, even when it’s painful — or perhaps, especially when it is. “I wanted them to know that it is an achievement to even be here over the age of 35. That is an achievement in and of itself, and so many of them have came up on the mean streets of Detroit, and have been able to make it — and thrive,” she says. “You’re happy. You’re in your right mind, navigating life, and now you can reach back and collectively help other people. I think that’s a beautiful thing, and the fact that the strength and the hope and the resilience didn’t get tarnished by the trauma or the pain or the violence.”
“It takes a certain level of tenacity, strength, focus and will to push through. And these ladies have that. That’s why they are leaders, and why we pour as much love into them as we can.”
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