When Graycen Amadeo, 28, who identifies as nonbinary, moved to Los Angeles from Ohio, Amadeo had dreams of starting a new life that would include being accepted, perhaps even welcomed.
Nonbinary is a gender identity under the trans umbrella and usually describes someone who doesn’t identify as a man or a woman. Looking and dressing different means they can’t pass for being straight, resulting in societal barriers.
From June to September, Amadeo, who goes by they and them pronouns, lived on the streets of Long Beach until an outreach worker from LA Metro connected them to TransLatin@ Coalition, a group that helps transgender and nonbinary individuals overcome obstacles to everyday living.
Now Amadeo is living in transitional housing at Hope House, a housing nonprofit.
Transgender and intersex people in liberal-leaning Los Angeles County have experienced discrimination in areas such as finding housing, employment and access to medical services at levels far above other disenfranchised communities, say experts and nonprofit group leaders familiar with the LGBTQ+ community.
These problems have prompted a new program aimed at breaking down barriers for this group, the TGI community, which is part of the larger LGBTQ+ community.
In response to calls for action from the TGI community, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last month approved the Trans, Gender-Expansive, and Intersex (TGI) Wellness and Equity Initiative. It sets aside $7 million over two years to help address barriers to jobs, employment, healthcare and county services for those who identify as transgender or nonbinary.
The pilot program will be run by the county’s Department of Public Health, which will draw up contracts to begin giving grants to LGBTQ+ organizations, particularly those with 60% of their leadership identifying as TGI. The grants aim to provide health, housing and human services.
The program was approved in concept on Nov. 26 and a formal program will come back to the Board for adoption in a few months.
“TGI communities experience some of the greatest inequities in health, housing, and economic opportunity, rooted in systemic discrimination and exclusion. This initiative is our commitment to ensuring that our TGI neighbors have the resources, services, and support they need to live with dignity and thrive,” said the principal author Lindsey Horvath, Third District L.A. County supervisor.
“It’s about creating systems that lift and sustain the most vulnerable among us,” Horvath she added. “We not only stand with the LGBTQ+ community, but we are also giving them the tools to survive.”
Problems will ‘snowball’
LGBTQ+ leaders fear that the problems facing transgender, nonbinary and intersex individuals, collectively known as TGI, will only get worse once the new presidential administration comes into power next month.
President-elect Donald Trump promised during his campaign to help write laws and use his executive powers to go after TGI rights; and 669 anti-trans bills were introduced this year, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker, an independent research organization that tracks bills that impact trans and gender-diverse people in the U.S.
“In our current political climate, trans people are very much under attack, as if we don’t face enough stigma day-to-day,” said Amadeo.
Amadeo said problems snowball and create multiple roadblocks. Just getting a legal name changed, and a gender marker changed, costs $435 in California. This is a burden to many TGI people. Without changing their names and their proper new ID, things like jobs, housing, food stamps and medical treatment can be affected, they said.
“Having more resources is so important from an equity standpoint, because people who are usually pushed to the margins are people who usually aren’t given fair access to certain things that a lot of cisgender people wouldn’t even think of,” Amadeo said.
LGBTQ+ and TGI cohorts struggle
First District Supervisor Hilda Solis highlighted a recent study from the Williams Institute, which researches sexual orientation and gender identity and is affiliated with UCLA School of Law. The study found 17% of TGI people in the county live in her district, which includes the non-foothill portions of the San Gabriel Valley and northeast Los Angeles communities including Silver Lake and Highland Park.
That is second only to District 2 in central L.A. county, with 19% TGI residents. Districts 1 and 2 have the most TGI individuals in the county, according to the study. Los Angeles County has 650,000 LGBTQ+ residents.
She has heard from TGI community members who struggle with getting medical services and cited the study focused on the LGBTQ+ community in the county, saying 46% of respondents had unmet health needs. “Of those transgender and nonbinary adults who visited government offices, many reported having negative experiences because of their trans or nonbinary status,” Solis said.
The Transgender and Nonbinary Survey in L.A. County, a separate but related study, heard from 322 respondents. The top two concerns from that survey were the cost of living and housing. About 74% were burdened by housing costs, a percentage researchers said was much higher than in the general county population.
About 29% of the transgender and nonbinary respondents said they were denied housing, the county survey found.
Solis said investing the $7 million will help open doors to TGI people. “During a time when we are seeing a rise in anti-trans rhetoric, we need to build capacity in organizations serving this community,” Solis said.
Nonprofit LGBTQ+ groups seek funding
Meanwhile, Pomona Valley Pride has already begun offering TGI programs, operating under a $158,000 state grant, said Frank Guzman, founder and chief executive officer. But that money runs out in June, so he’s hoping the county TGI initiative can help fill in the gap.
“We intend on applying for some of those funds once they get it available,” he said on Monday, Dec. 9.
The state money is used for helping trans individuals obtain binders and gender-affirming underwear. A monthly “TGI Fridays” event to discuss the rights of the trans community in California and other states is part of Pomona Valley Pride’s regular programming.
“We have open discussions and we do advocacy work,” Guzman said.
The group runs a “Beyond The Binary” program and conducts discussions and workshops on health and social issues.
“The trans community faces a lot more discrimination than other groups,” he said. “We operate a grant specific to trans females, because the suicide rate on them is higher as well,” Guzman said.
In the past, the group has advocated for TGI students at Chino Valley Unified schools. The district had a policy to inform parents if a child was identifying as a gender other than the one given at birth.
That was struck down by the courts, but the school board has since passed a related policy that requires teachers and staff to be completely “forthcoming” when they speak to parents about the health, safety and education of their child.
The district also banned all flags except American flags to be displayed in classrooms, something many allies say is a veiled way of stopping teachers and students from displaying Pride flags.
“Students have been beat on campus because they are gay or trans; they are not being protected on school campuses,” Guzman said.
In the San Fernando Valley, Somos Familia Valle began a TGI program four months ago, said Kevin Perez, president and co-founder. It recently moved into a space and created a full-fledged community center in Sun Valley, at 12411 Sheldon Street, No.3.
The TGI support group now has about 20 members, including those from Santa Clarita, Perez said. He said he hopes to acquire and use the grant money to pay facilitators and hire career and mental health counselors.
“We want to make sure the county invests in TGI folks. And we’ve got to make sure the Valley is included,” Perez said. “There are a lot of TGI folks in the San Fernando Valley and they all have needs, such as housing, health support and immigration support.”
He said the center, 10-years-old, did not provide TGI support previously.
In June 2023, a protest was held by parents and right-wing organizations against a library program at Saticoy School in North Hollywood. Books being protested included a book on families read to elementary school children at an assembly — including multi-cultural families and those with same-sex parents.
A transgender teacher at the school was in the middle of the protest. Her Pride flag outside her classroom was burned, and it was considered a hate crime by LAPD. The transgender woman teacher was protected by Somos Familia Valle and LAUSD moved the teacher to a different school, where she currently teaches and is safe, Perez said.
Perez advocated for smaller LGBTQ+ community centers to receive the grants to create safe spaces, especially for trans and nonbinary residents.
“We are allowed to be teachers, be safe in our neighborhoods and live our authentic selves,” he said.
Yet, many still struggle, Perez said.
“A lot of these folks don’t have the means to survive. This can lead to doing sex work, and that might lead to incarceration, drug addictions or being homeless,” he said.
The county’s grant program will get some review from the newly created LGBTQ+ Commission of Los Angeles County, said Hector Plascencia, the commission chair. He said the supervisors asked the commission to lend its expertise and experiences to the fledgling program.
“We are mindful we are at a heightened state of attack,” he said. “And people are responding to the larger call needed to protect and create access for our trans and queer community.”
