Our Values

We support all trans identities and trans peoples’ right to self-determination. Gender is ever-changing and our experiences with it are deeply personal and unique. We do not police identities and believe that all trans people deserve the right to live how they want to live without fear of violence, criminalization, ostracization, discrimination, or homelessness.

We are an anti-racist, anti-colonialist, and anti-imperialist organization. Transphobia is deeply intertwined with the legacy of slavery, genocide, colonialism, and white nationalism. We can see the immediate effects of this in the way that our trans siblings of color disproportionately struggle with poverty, violence, policing, health issues, and access to various resources, like housing, food, education, and health care. We resist the weaponization of trans issues to justify the oppression of the Global South and support political autonomy as a right for all oppressed people, trans or not.

We reject patriarchal conceptions and structures. Patriarchy is a social system that bestows political and economic control to men. This is a complicated structure that has developed over the course of thousands of years. As such, we understand that not all men are equal under patriarchy, nor do we believe that there is nothing to be said regarding the way men struggle under patriarchy. However, patriarchy has resulted in incredible violence leveled against women and other gender and sexual minorities and has devalued our contributions to and roles within society. Without patriarchy, we would not see the oppression of women, trans people as a whole, queer people, and children.

We oppose ableism. Ableism and transphobia go hand-in-hand. Trans people have historically been pathologized for our transness and continue to be denied autonomy through allegations that we are unable to make decisions because of diagnoses we may have, such as autism, depression, dissociative disorders, and so on. For millennia, disabled people, regardless of what kind of disability they may have, have been systematically devalued, dismissed, and denied the right to live healthy, safe lives without interference from others. We stand in solidarity with broader disability rights and liberation movements as both disabled people and as allies.

We support the right of all people to access housing, health care, and other necessary resources without barriers. The repercussions of transphobia and other oppression would be significantly decreased if all people were guaranteed the right to shelter, health care, food, education, and community. In the US, the legacy of capitalism and various institutional oppressions has resulted in an astonishingly large wealth gap. The hardships of poverty should not be viewed as an inevitable part of life but rather as something to ferociously combat.

We encourage constructive critique and growing from mistakes. We are all products of our environment and grew up internalizing harmful ideas about ourselves and others. Inevitably, at many points throughout our lives, we must confront these ideas and grow past them. When these moments happen, we encourage constructive critique to ensure that TLC remains a safe and cohesive environment for all trans people and our allies.

We center the needs and desires of the community. TLC started as trans people and our allies coming together in Lawrence to fight back against transphobic legislation. This organization is from the community, for the community. What trans Lawrencians have to say matters to us and what we do.