12/20/2025
We are here for you. We affirm you. We see you.
FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
TO: Our Trans and Non-Binary Siblings, Our Families, and Our Allies
Our Lives Are Not Up for Debate
I am writing to you today with a heart that is heavy with horror and burning with an absolute, unyielding rage.
The recent federal actions of Mehmet Oz and Robert Kennedy Jr. represent a catastrophic, coordinated assault on the lives of our transgender and non-binary youth. Their explicit goal, to dismantle access to gender-affirming care, is not a"policy debate." It is a targeted, systemic act of violence against the most vulnerable members of our community.
Let us be perfectly clear: We are talking about the survival of our young people. At the Phoenix Center, we see the faces behind these headlines every single day. We see the children whose light is dimming because they are being told by the highest levels of government that their existence is a mistake. We see the terror in the eyes of parents who just want their children to live to see adulthood.
Make no mistake: when you strip away life-saving healthcare, people die. By attempting to ban gender-affirming care, which is endorsed by every major medical association as essential, these leaders are effectively signing death warrants for our youth. This cruelty will fall hardest on our Black and Brown trans siblings, who already navigate a healthcare system built on a foundation of inequity.
I know many of you are terrified. You are exhausted. You are looking at the news and wondering how we can possibly move forward when the ground is shifting beneath us.
First: Your fear is valid. Your rage is an appropriate response to injustice. It is okay to not know what to say. It is okay to feel the weight of this trauma in your bones.We live in a "sanctuary state," but we are not naive. Springfield is the lifeline for gender-affirming care in Illinois and beyond. Federal attacks on funding and medical licensure will reach us here. The walls of our sanctuary are being tested.
But we will not sit in silence while they target our children. We are q***r. We are a community. In times of profound darkness, we do not simply sit by and watch things happen to us. We find strength in the marrow of our q***r family. We resist.We protect. We survive.
I am asking you to channel your fear and rage into immediate action:
1. Protect the Frontlines: Our local gender-affirming clinic workers are under immense pressure and are facing the same fear we are. Take them cupcakes. Send them a card. Drop off a coffee. Show them they have an army of support behind them. They are the ones holding the line for our lives; we must hold them up in return.
2. The "Safety Check" Protocol: Check on your trans and non-binary friends and family - now. Not with a generic "How are you?" but with a meaningful, "I am here, I see the weight you are carrying, and I am standing with you." We must be each other’s psychological safety net.
3. Radical Allyship: If you are a cis-gender ally, this is your time to be the shield. Do not leave the labor of education and resistance to those who are currently being hunted. Have the hard conversations with your neighbors and your families. Be the voice that refuses to let dehumanization go unchallenged.
4. Mutual Aid: If federal funding is pulled from our local facilities, community-funded care will be the only thing left. Prepare now to redirect your resources toward local funds that directly assist youth in accessing care.
We are a community forged in resistance. We have navigated legal erasure and systemic neglect before, and we have always found our way back to each other. Community is not just a word at the Phoenix Center; it is our most potent weapon.We are scared, but we are together. And as long as we are together, we are resilient.
In solidarity and rage,
Teresa & Your Phoenix Center Team
RESOURCE:
The folks at the Trans Youth Emergency Project with the Campaign for Southern Equality are actively assisting families in continuing care plans. Those who need help navigating alternative options should reach out to them.
https://southernequality.org/tyep/
