NASHVILLE, TN – When trans activist Ravanna Michelle Menendez talks about seizing power, she means it for her community as well.
Menendez sought care while working at a ride-share company. She shared a story with me about moving to New York in 2019 to start her transition, but she was compelled to take action when her care failed. Upon her return to Nashville, Menendez established access to trans care, also known as the WPATH standards, for all employees at Lyft, her then-employer’s office.
Menendez told GLAAD, “I was scared of standing up to the members of Lyft.” “That’s the most fulfilling experience I’ve ever been able to have, in my opinion.”
Since then, Menendez has received care in Tennessee without incident, but as of 2023, the state has outlawed providing transgender people with life-saving care. Menendez continues to fight. She has placed over 100 transgender people in businesses that provide trans-inclusive care.
According to recent data from the US Trans Survey for 2022, 98% of transgender people receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT) reported feeling “a lot more satisfied” (84%) with their lives (14%).
Menendez remarked, “As transgender people, we can seize opportunities for ourselves rather than waiting around for people to waste time in the government.”
Many others in Tennessee have told GLAAD the same thing during a visit to talk about the situation.
Take Dwayne Jenkins as an example.
Jenkins advised GLAAD, “No one should ever frighten you away from your health and wellness.”
Jenkins has been fighting against the tenacious anti-LGBT and prejudiced tactics in Tennessee.
Jenkins founded the first Black LGBTQ HIV outreach programs (extensions of Nashville CARES) and the Young Brothers United Program in addition to founding Nashville Black Pride and serving as its president. The program’s goals are to “uplift a generation of (Young) African-American Same Gender Loving Males in Nashville” through professional and personal development, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention outreach, awareness, and education.
Jenkins still sees the importance of learning as pressing.
According to GLAAD’s HIV Stigma Report, 80% of Americans support making non-disclosure of HIV status illegal. Additionally, 35 states have criminalized HIV, with significant impacts on the Black community in Tennessee.
With this, Jenkins has set up a number of access points for HIV prevention.
Jenkins remarked, “When I first arrived in Nashville, one thing I noticed was that the voices were present but not amplified.” He moved to Nashville in 1994. He immediately began expanding listservs, mailing newsletters to thousands of people, and other networking methods.
“We quickly built trust with people,” said Jenkins.
The country’s government has sowed mistrust where Jenkins has established trust.
According to HRC, Tennessee has passed 19 anti-LGBT laws since 2015 that judge learning, permit misgendering, deadnaming, deprive trans, gender nonbinary, and genderfluid people of their care, while also allowing forced surgeries on transgender babies and HRT for cisgender people. Governor Tennessee Four of these bills were passed by Bill Lee next month.
Saer Olavarra, a transgender advocate and Tennessean, is frustrated by this.
Experienced martial company Olavarra told GLAAD, “Look at how insane that is.”
According to Planned Parenthood, one in every 100 to 200 babies in the US is trans.
Olavarra remarked, “Yet our medical systems are aware of this, and they force surgeries on infants who did not require any therapies in order to make their parents comfortable or to keep society comfortable.”
Olavarra claims that this is risky. Trans people are aware of themselves. People who “want to make the outside match the inside” are frequently under control and forced to use their bodies against their will.
The effects of parliamentary damage in Tennessee, however, continue to be of utmost importance, even as Jenkins, Menendez, and Olavarra continue fighting for the independence of their communities.
People are working to make Tennessee one of the top 10 states with poverty.
“We provide shelter for young people who are homeless.” Within 200 miles of Nashville, we are also the only emergency house that is LGBTQ+ affirming, according to Corrine Elise, Nashville Launch Pad’s associate director of housing.
There are many real effects on the younger people in our community as a result of bias and the fallout from it, according to Elise.
In 2022, Governor Lee enacted HB 0978, a law that makes homelessness on state-owned property illegal. According to 2019 Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency studies, 15 to 30% of poor and young people living in unsanitary homes in Nashville identify as LGBTQIA.
Elise keeps repeating how many “distractions happening and
many fear tactics” divert attention from civilization. Making civilization the focal point of change is her aim.
Because of this, Jenkins advises people to “remain focused on what you can do,” such as getting tested for HIV and casting their ballots despite the weather.
Visit www.glaad.org/vote to check your voter registration.
