Transgender Awareness Week Feature: Special Interview with Daniel Delaney, Transitions Foundation

The Geller Law Group has had the privilege of working with the Transitions Foundation this past year on a pro-bono basis to help establish the non-profit. The Transitions Foundation provides funding and resources for transgender people who are relocating from unsafe communities. This work is increasingly important with the rise in hate crimes and anti-trans legislation. In honor of Transgender Awareness Week — November 13th-19th, 2024 — we spoke with Daniel Delaney, one of the organizers of the new foundation.

What are the core missions and goals of the Transitions Foundation?

“The center of our mission is to create communities that uplift and celebrate the trans community. Whether that is through helping people leave areas that don’t feel safe for them and find new places with resources they need or through creating educational materials for people less familiar with the community to help them better support their trans friends and neighbors. Community looks like a lot of things, but right now, a lot of trans people feel isolated and alone because of the violent politicization of their lives and the very real acts of violence they experience from people around them. Creating connections, increasing mobility, ensuring access to resources, and reducing stigma will all help better protect my trans and nonbinary siblings nationwide.”

How do you see the Transitions Foundation evolving to meet the changing needs of the trans community in the future?

“As certain states make laws that make living as a trans person more difficult — whether that involves removing access to gender-affirming care, denying people the right to change their name or gender markers, restricting their access to public spaces, or even separating families as punishment for a parent or child’s desire to transition — The Transitions Foundation wants to provide opportunities for people to move to more accepting communities. This can involve micro-grants to ease the process of moving in the short-term, but in the long-term, it would also include educating people on how to access local resources, contacts in different states that could help them find friendly doctors and affirming care, and more. We can also share educational resources for the family, partners, and friends of trans people to show them how they can truly be allies to the trans people they care about.“

In what ways can individuals and allies support the Transitions Foundation and the broader trans community?

“As with any marginalized group, there are big and small ways you can start demonstrating greater allyship to the trans community. I think the first step is doing some research into what being transgender and nonbinary means — ideally using resources that were made by trans people. Recognize that identities and terms have shifted over time, so if you are starting with older resources, some of the information may be a bit outdated.

The next step is to make it clear to people in your life that you won’t put up with transphobia happening around you. When you can, call out your friends when they say transphobic things; if one of your friends misgenders someone, cis or trans, make sure you correct them.

When you start making the spaces around you safer for trans people, you may start noticing that more trans people are in them!

Finally, when you meet trans people, do your best to respect their identities. Don’t ask invasive questions — if you would feel uncomfortable if someone asked you the same question, they might too! If they correct you on something, try not to get defensive — just approach the correction as a learning opportunity. Be respectful, kind, and curious, and you will learn a lot. And if you have the means, donate to organizations supporting trans people nationwide. Whether that is summer camps for trans kids or homeless shelters for trans teens and adults, great organizations are doing incredible work. Look into your local community, and you might even find groups doing this work on the local level just down the street! See how you can get involved and take it from there.” 

What message do you want to send to trans individuals who are finding their way or facing challenges?

“Even if it does not feel like it right now, you are not alone! There are people out there who know what you are going through and they are so excited to see the person you become — whoever that is. And that person will be just as deserving of love and support as the person you are now. There is no shortage of people in this world who will love you — if you let them.” 

How will the recognition of Transgender Awareness Week impact the visibility and advocacy efforts of the Transitions Foundation?

“People are afraid of what they don’t know. And right now, people in positions of power are using the general public’s lack of knowledge about trans people to demonize us. We are a convenient tool for political rhetoric, where if you stoke enough fear, you can pass other types of limiting and restrictive policies that hurt everyone but those who create them.

Transgender Awareness Week has the power to do tremendous good in the coming years because it can introduce people to the very reality of what being trans is for so many people. It’s an exploration of identity and community, of one’s relationship to one’s own body, of bodily autonomy and free will.

But more than anything, I think it’s important to realize that trans people as a group are not radical or revolutionary— on the whole, we are just regular, everyday people. We live in your communities, drive buses, work at the local fast food place, skate at the local rink, hang out with our friends at bars, have relationships, have kids — we are just people on a different life journey, but one ultimately not that different from any cisgender person’s journey.

I think Transgender Awareness Week can open people’s eyes to that, and hopefully, long-term, make the whole point of The Transitions Project disappear. If we can build safe communities where we are, we won’t need to move people somewhere else to keep them safe and healthy. They can stay in the places they grew up with, with the people they have always known and loved, and find community, support, and appreciation for who they are right there.”