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If LGBTQ+ history has taught us anything, it’s that our community is our family, and we take care of our own. This Women’s History Month, we want to celebrate that legacy and tradition of strength and love. 

LGBTQ+ Women Caring For Our Community 

For decades, Black trans house mothers have opened their arms and their doors to children and chosen families who didn’t have the role models or support systems they deserved. At the same time, older lesbians helped younger ones find and navigate lesbian bars and their own sexuality.  Activists stepped up as leaders in the community, like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who started Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970 to provide shelter and mutual aid for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness.  

The community has stepped up in response to other crises as well; in response to the AIDS epidemic LGBTQ+ women across the country donated blood, started food banks, and stepped forward to care for men who were rejected by their families and treated without sympathy by the medical system.  

LGBTQ+ women have a long history of solidarity, support, and mutual aid. Part of celebrating this heritage is recognizing the women whom history remembers; equally, we must recognize the countless women whose names and faces history has forgotten, but whose impact remains.  

Celebration in Action 

Today, women in our community are being threatened. We are facing an epidemic of violence against trans women of color. Rising anti-trans sentiment is becoming more common in mainstream media. Explicitly anti-trans legislation is being introduced across the country.  

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 48% of transgender elders lived at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Nearly 1 in 4 transgender people report having to teach their health care provider about transgender issues in order to receive appropriate care, and 15% report being asked invasive or unnecessary questions unrelated to the health care they are seeking at the time. 23% of transgender individuals report having experienced some form of housing discrimination in the past year. 

It is time for us to come together in support and mutual aid once more. To be loud and out in front like Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and so many other trans women who revolutionized the movement for equality that we all benefit from. The SAGE Action Squad is a group of dedicated activists across generations passionate about using their voices and actions to create positive change. If you’d like to receive action alerts with news, resources, and tangible steps for moving your local community and our country towards greater justice, join us!

This Women’s History Month, the Action Squad and the entire SAGE community will be following in the footsteps of the women who came before us. We will be celebrating all women, in addition to highlighting the transgender mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and daughters who continue to give back to the people and communities they love. 

If you or a loved one knows an LGBTQ+ woman who exemplifies these community values, get in touch! We will be sharing stories, experiences, and resources all month long, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and tag us if you’re sharing stories of your own!