Imara Jones (left) and Miss Mojo (right) at TransLash’s TDOR event on November 20, 2019.
Hi TransLash Family:
After getting through the longest month in memory, I thought this would be a good time to talk about our plans over the next year. I believe that all of our viewers, followers, content creators, supporters, and partners are stakeholders in our TransLash community. Consequently, this seems as good a time as any talk about TransLash’s plans over the next year.
2020 is already pushing us to new heights and new frontiers. TransLash was nominated last week by Queerty for Best Digital Series! The amazing company we’re in through this category shows, despite the tremendous pressure in the wider world, that trans and gender non-conforming people are continuing to use our voices to pushback. The simple reason is that the times we live in demand it.
That’s why my team and I refuse to rest on our early successes, because the job of saving trans lives by telling trans stories is far from over. In fact, 2020 is a consequential year for the trans and gender non conforming community.
As we all know, trans and gender non-conforming lives are literally on the ballot through initiatives in states and localities across the country, not to mention through the national general election where candidates are actively advocating the dissolution of our access to health, education, and equal opportunity.
But it is also a time where we continue to create, build, thrive and break new ground. Just days ago, New York Governor Mario Cuomo announced the creation of the nation’s first state park named in honor of Marsha P. Johnson.
All of this means that TransLash, both as a project and community, must grow to match the size of the challenges and opportunities we face. That’s why TransLash has plans to:
- Produce three new short documentaries which will roll out over the next six months to explore what a trans future looks like, the growing links between the anti-trans backlash and the alt right, and ways that trans people create romantic relationships as an antidote to hate;
- Launch videos and events to focus on the civic engagement of our community in the critical policy and legal debates that directly impact trans and gender non-conforming lives throughout the year;
- Expand our Lives At Stake discussion series to new platforms, and venues;
- Form new partnerships to leverage our mission and take it to new audiences within and beyond our community ;
- Commit to a VR educational series for use in high schools across the country; and
- Deepen our relationship with you on social media, digital platforms and through our newsletter including new guest voices with different perspectives.
The bottom line is that there is so much more for us to do. And we will be in active dialogue with you about all of these areas every step of the way.
In the meantime please go to Queerty’s website and vote for TransLash! And send us an email to info@translash.org with your thoughts about what you would like to see from us in 2020.
One last thought. We know that this is going to be a crazy year so please let’s hang on, hang tight, and make sure that we love each other through the process.
– Imara
Leave a Reply