Legalize Trans Campaign Launches

A new public education campaign, Legalize Trans, has launched with the goal of drawing increased attention to transgender people and their issues.

The campaign, created by activists Asher Kolieboi and Brian Murphy, is selling T-shirts, buttons, and other merchandise bearing the message "Legalize Trans," a response to what they see as a lack of trans inclusion in American Apparel's Legalize Gay campaign and in the gay rights movement generally, says Kolieboi, who earlier this year was codirector of the Soulforce Q Equality Ride and one of the young activists featured in The Advocate's Forty Under 40 issue.

In addition to raising visibility, merchandise sales are intended to generate funds for trans people's gender-transition costs, Kolieboi says. He is funding his own transition in this manner, and other trans-focused organizations and individuals can become Legalize Trans affiliates and sell the goods to raise money for medical expenses and trans activism.

In the near future Legalize Trans will add a blog and resource page to its website to help people "navigate the legal, medical, and social parts of transition," Kolieboi tells The Advocate. Find out more about Legalize Trans and its efforts at https://www.legalizetrans.com.