A Guide To QTPoC Organizations In The U.S.

*Updated March 17, 2016*

As a queer POC this election has continued to fuel my frustrations with our government, the way it works, and who it works for. It has frightened me to my core that these homophobic, transphobic, racist, and sexist candidates are making their way to the White House. While I’m deeply frightened for my queer community, in these days following this long election season we must not allow our fears to overshadow the work we have already started and must continue to do. It is even more necessary now.

Few things that are important in times like these, and always, are critical thinking, support, and information. Since I am currently abroad, I’m full of anger that I cannot physically be there to work with you, but I reached out for advice from friends and organizers and with their help we decided to put together a list of grassroots QTPoC organizations that can use our help and attention right now. To my surprise, the Funders for LGBTQ Issues Group created a comprehensive directory of LGBTQ people of color organizations in the U.S. in 2009. It is a great list neatly organized by state that includes links, mission statements, and telephone numbers. I have included a few links below that I found were missing from the list. Please donate, pay a visit, make a call, listen and study the information they share, and most importantly join their rallies. If you’re like me and afraid of what is to come, run to your queer family for the strength and comfort to continue the fight. As always, we must stick together and fight on.

If you are a QTPoC organization or group that is missing from either list, please contact me and I will work to create an updated list. Please refer to this great list by the Funders for LGBTQ Issues Group for additional grassroots organizations through the United States. The LGBTQ Racial Justice Fund is another great resource for organizations in the South.

Alabama

• Grassroots Policy Project (GPP)

Alaska

• The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging - A support group for Alaska Native Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Men, including American Indians and those whose indigenous roots are from Alaska.

Arizona

• Southern Arizona Gender Alliance Tucson - A non-profit organization that supports and advocates for southern Arizona’s community of trans identities: transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, masculine of center, feminine of center, non-binary, two-spirit, butch, femme, gender fluid, intersex, and ALL who are gender fabulous.
• Coalición de Derechos Humanos - A grassroots organization that promotes the human and civil rights of all migrants regardless of their immigration status.
• Mariposas Sin Fronteras - A Tucson, AZ based group that seeks to end the systemic violence and abuse of LGBTQ people held in prison and immigration detention. We envision a society that no longer finds solutions in the system of immigration detention or the prison industrial complex. As we work toward that goal, we support LGBTQ people currently detained in Eloy and Florence, AZ through visits, letters, bond support, advocacy, and housing upon freedom from detention.

Arkansas

• Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition - Their mission is to advance equality, justice and inclusiveness for transgender and gender non-conforming Arkansans through a statewide trans-led organization. Ultimately, improving the lives of all transgender & gender non-binary Arkansans. Site also includes a list of Arkansas LGBTQI organizations.
• GetEQUAL - GetEQUAL’s ‘Rural Out the South’ project supports LGBTQ leaders of color in the U.S. South through cultivating communities of care and grassroots mobilizations; foster collaboration among rural organizers through strategic direct-action campaigns; and develop a cohort of queer and trans leaders of color living in the rural South who can share best practices for organizing, specific to their rural QTPOC experiences.

California

• The Brown Boi Project - Brown Boi Project works to build leadership, economic self sufficiency, and health of young masculine of center womyn, trans men, and queer/straight men of color―pipelining them into the social justice movement.
• National Queer Trans Therapists of Color Network - The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (NQTTCN) is a space for queer, gender non-conforming and trans therapists of color to build, resource, and support one another as clinicians and healers. NQTTCN provides a network of support for queer and trans people of color (QTPoC) seeking transformative mental health resources rooted in social justice and liberation.
• El/La Para TransLatinas - This organization works to build a world where translatinas feel they deserve to protect, love, and develop themselves.
• Center for Third World Organizing (Also in New York) - A racial justice organization dedicated to building a social justice movement led by people of color.
• API Equality - API Equality is committed to working in the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community in California and nationally for equal marriage rights, fair treatment and overall acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
• Hispanics in Philanthropy - HIP works to strengthen movement-building and leadership at the intersection of LGBT rights and racial justice in Latino communities and Latin America.

Colorado

• One Colorado - As stated on their site, “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Coloradans come in all races, and One Colorado is committed to reflecting this diversity as we work to create a fair and just Colorado for all people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, economic class, or race.”

Connecticut

• QPOC Affinity - QPOC Affinity seeks to provide safe spaces for queer people of color to hang out, enjoy each other’s excellence, learn from one another, and collectively build community. It is a work in progress that aims first to bring QPOC folk together within the Yale community and the greater New Haven area.
• Lgbtq+ Youth Kickback - A youth-led, weekly inclusive space for queer, trans & gender nonconforming youth and advocates in Greater New Haven.
• CT Papers Project - A Go Fund Me account created to help many members of CT’s trans community who are frantically trying to get their papers in order(birth certificate, social security cards, passports, marriage certificates, and so on)to reflect their correct name and gender as fast as they can

Florida

• QLatinx - QLatinx seeks to center and empower the most marginalized members of our community, establish affirming and supportivehealing spaces, build a strong and united community, and work towards a society free of fear, violence, and hate. This group was created in response to the PULSE nightclub shootings in Orlando.

Georgia

• SPARK! - SPARK’s mission is to build new leadership, change culture, and advance knowledge in Georgia and the South to ensure individuals and communities have resources and power to make sustainable and liberatory decisions about our bodies, gender, sexualities, and lives.
• Southerners On New Ground (SONG) - Southerners On New Ground (SONG) is a regional Queer Liberation organization made up of people of color, immigrants, undocumented people, people with disabilities, working class and rural and small town, LGBTQ people in the South.

Illinois

• Civil Rights and Social Justice Advocacy for African-American Same Gender Loving Black LGBTQ People - CJR is a Chicago-based civil rights organization dedicate to the education, empowerment, freedom, and liberation of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. From the picket line to the church, CJR continues to fight for political, educational, social, and economic justice for black people.

Iowa

• POCQAT - A safe space for queer POC in Iowa.

Louisiana

• Louisiana Trans Advocates - Their mission is to strengthen and support trans and allied communities across the state through social support, education, empowerment and advocacy. We work to advance the core human rights of self-determination and expression for all trans, gender non-conforming and gender variant people.
• Equality Louisiana - EL advocates for policy and legislative change to achieve full legal and lived equality for all LGBT people and to create a more fair and just Louisiana.

Massachusetts

• Hispanic Black Gay Coalition (HBGC) is one of few non-profit organizations in Boston dedicated to the unique and complex needs of the Black, Hispanic and Latin@ LGBTQ community.
• Keshet - Keshet is a national organization that works for full LGBTQ equality and inclusion in Jewish life. Led and supported by LGBTQ Jews and straight allies, Keshet cultivates the spirit and practice of inclusion in all parts of the Jewish community.
• New England Professional Queer WoMen of Color (PQWOC) - This organization began as social group in November 2012 for queer women of color living in New England who were interested in meeting with other sisters to share laughs, tell stories and support one another.
• Grassroots Policy Project (GPP)

Minnesota

• Shades of Yellow (SOY) - SOY is the first and only Hmong Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) nonprofit organization in the world that works to provide support, education, advocacy, and leadership development to Hmong/Asian Pacific Islander (HAPI) LGBTQ and allies.

Nebraska

• QPoC Nebraska - Facebook community providing links and information to local and national queer POC organizations, news, and events.
• Nebraskans For Equality - Facebook community aligned with racial justice groups spreading positive and important info daily.

New Mexico

• Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico - TGRCNM is dedicated to serving the transgender communities in the state of New Mexico and strives to exist as a clearing house for resources which can support, assist, educate, and advocate for the transgender and gender non conforming population of this state and their families and loved ones.

New York

• FIERCE! - FIERCE is an LGBTQ youth of color-led organization. They build the leadership, political consciousness, and organizing skills of LGBTQ youth. In New York City, they organize local grassroots campaigns to fight police harassment and violence and increased access to safe public space for LGBTQ youth.
• Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) - In 1986, Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) was conceptualized in New York City, a result of the vision of founder, The Reverend Charles Angel who, together with a few of his closest friends, embarked on a mission to empower black gay men.
• Princess Janae Place - A housing facility for people of Trans experience. Providing shelter, mental health, medical, legal, job placement, and general support services. As they transition from homeless to independent living.
• Trans Women of Color Collective - Their mission is to uplift the narratives, lived experiences and leadership of trans and gender non-conforming people of color, our families and comrades as we build towards collective liberation for all oppressed people.

North Carolina

• Queer People of Color Collective - QPOCC is committed to intergenerational community building and promoting conversations across the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation and gender identity.
• Campaign for Southern Equality - The Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) is based in Asheville, North Carolina, and works across the South to promote full LGBT equality.
• Southern Vision Alliance - SVA supports leadership development and base-building work for social, racial, and environmental justice, along with gender equity, LGBTQ rights, and education justice in the US South

Oregon

• Basic Rights Oregon - Basic Rights Oregon’s Racial Justice and Alliance Building program has three main goals: Centralize the experiences and leadership of LGBTQ people of color. Take action as an organizational ally to do racial justice work. Educate Basic Rights Oregon’s base on the intersection(s) of LGBTQ equality and racial justice issues.
• Sankofa Collective Northwest - A home for Portland’s Black LGBTQ community. Their mission is to bring together our communities so that people living at the intersections of these important identities are free to be their full selves.
• Portland Two Spirit Society - A social group for LGBTQI Indigenous and Native American/Alaska Natives and their families and allies to come together and share, connect, reclaim and restore culture, community and the traditional roles of Two Spirit people.

Pennsylvania

• Trans Masculine Advocacy Network - A grassroots organization that dedicates itself to uplift people of color along the trans-masculine spectrum.
• Elements - Their vision is to continue to build a group of empowered LGBTQ womyn of color who break the silence, become more consciously engaged in one another’s herstory and foster connections in order to become a network of resources and support.

Texas

• Allgo - Allgo works to create and sustain queer people of color activists, groups, organizations, and allies through artistic expression, promoting wellness, and grassroots organizing.
• Black Transmen - Their mission is to ensure that all transgender men and SLGBTQI individuals are acknowledged, provided equal access and protection under the law to contribute to a productive society. They accomplish this mission of equality, advocacy and empowerment for our greater social community, through education.

Washington

• Seattle Young People’s Project - Seattle Young People’s Project is a 24-year-old grassroots community-based organization creating space for anti-racist youth-led community organizing with an emphasis on youth from historically oppressed communities. We are based in the Beacon Hill neighborhood out of the Black Power EPICenter Cooperative, a collective space ran by People of Color-led community groups. SYPP fosters opportunities for youth to meet each other and adult mentors, form friendships, develop community organizing campaigns, and work in our community garden, Nurturing Roots.

Washington DC

• National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition (NBGMAC) - The National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition (NBGMAC) is committed to improving the health and well-being of black gay men through advocacy that is focused on research, policy, education and training.
• National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) - The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is a federation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations.

Online

• Progressive Exchange
• Banyan Tree
• DESI LGBTQ Hotline for South Asians

If you are a QTPoC organization or group that is missing from either list, please contact me and I will work to create an updated list.