Transgender Coaliton of Pennsylvania

Mission
The Transgender Coalition of Pennsylvania is a State social justice coalition devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on state issues of importance to transgender people. By empowering transgender people and our allies to educate and influence policymakers and others, TCOP facilitates a strong and clear voice for transgender equality in the state of Pennsylvania 

Values
We understand oppression to be an imbalance of power intrinsically linked to the privileges bestowed on some at the expense of others, based on but not limited to: race, ethnicity, gender expression and identity, class, disability, sexuality, religion, citizenship status, age, language capacity, and history of incarceration and court involvement.

Vision
We envision a world where persons of all genders are treated with respect and fully participate in all areas of society, free from fear, harassment, or violence based on their gender identity and/or expression.

Impact 
This Coalition is important to disrupt a cycle of institutional marginalization of the transgender community. If we think about vulnerabilities that need to be corrected, the transgender community is the most vulnerable among minority groups for a number of reasons. Pennsylvania is a state that also has countless transgender deaths with a predominance of transgender people of color being targeted by these hate crimes. One of the reasons for it is that transgender people are usually abandoned by their families, by their schools and by a job market that leaves them out. So 90 percent of the transgender population is living in the streets and working as sex workers. It is a vicious cycle that the Transgender Coalition of Pennsylvania wants to break by offering formal education, vocational training, and mediating the relationship between transgender employees and public and private companies the project urges to absorb that transgender workforce.

Programs 
TCOP will be working on a variety of policy issues of significance to the transgender community. These include state policy agendas; hate crimes and violence; employment non-discrimination; advocating for transgender parents and families of transgender people; health care access; access to homeless and emergency shelters; immigration reform; open military service; criminal justice reform; racial and economic justice; state research surveys and the Census; travel security procedures and bodily privacy; voting rights; and protections for transgender students from bullying, discrimination, and accommodations exclusions.

Offering a formal education, vocational training, and mediating the relationships between transgender employees and public and private companies the project urges to absorb the transgender workforce

We will also have a huge focus on breaking cisgender colonization and healing our trans communities with affirming education, conferences, healing retreats while also providing spaces our transgender youth can thrive in the state.

In addition to these programs, TCOP maintains a community center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Center will offer a constantly updated database of state and county-based policies regarding name and gender change procedures so that transgender individuals can more easily navigate these complex legal processes in partnership with The Name Change Project - TDLEF and Reed Smith LLP. The Coalition will continue to partner with organizations that offer advice, technical support, and legal resources to transgender individuals, many of which undertake pro bono projects.

 

The Coalition will partner with transLED or directed 501c3 organizations around the state of Pennsylvania that will act as ambassadors for the coalition. These Ambassador