TransUnited Fund yesterday announced its birth.

After repeated attacks at the state legislative level, a group of transgender and allied individuals are launching a political advocacy organization exclusively focused on advancing the rights of transgender individuals.

Trans United Fund will accomplish their mission by engaging transgender communities and allies in the political process, building political leadership and capacity of transgender people and allies and endorsing candidates with a commitment to transgender equality and a pro-transgender platform. The first-ever transgender focused Presidential Candidate Questionnaire has been developed and will be distributed to all potential candidate as part of the 2016 election cycle, in addition to a legislative scorecard program and efforts related to building political power in the trans communities and educating allies. The organization is looking at key races across the country in the 2016 election cycle to focus resources where they can make the most difference.

Kim Watson is a 52-year-old trans woman living in the Bronx with her husband and adopted daughter. She is cofounder of an organization called Community Kinship Life (CKLife), which provides space for transgender individuals to gather and offers scholarships. Her work has been honored by Bronx elected officials and citywide LGBT groups.

She arrived in the United States on a tourist visa in 1988. When the pass expired, she remained.

The city offered her refuge from persecution she faced over her identity in her homeland, but she continued to struggle with mental illness and substance abuse.

While homeless, she was twice arrested for selling controlled substances in 1997 and 1998. Nazrali said that at the time she was going through a wrenching identity dysphoria that led to the run-ins with the law.

However, more than a decade ago, Watson said she went to rehab and started receiving counseling for PTSD and her other identity issues.

Watson earned a bachelor's degree from Pace University and began grassroots organizing over LGBT issues and HIV status.

Vanessa Baird, co-editor of the New Internationalist. has created a video intended to promote that magazine's October issue. I decided to bogart it for my own purposes, because the video provides a fairly good summary of where the transgender community stands at this particular time.

When numbers were gathered in the National Trans Discrimination Survey in 2010 and the NTDS was published in 2011, we finally had some data to point toward when we brought up the subject of out ill-treatment. And people actually started to listen some.

As discouraging, heartbreaking, and disappointing as some of the numbers were to see, having this information was a game changer. The Survey has been the leading source for data on trans people, shaping advocacy, influencing media, and informing policymakers.

Because of the 2011 Survey, we finally had numbers to back up the reality of our experiences and communicate the urgency and importance of fighting for full trans equality.

We have been able to shape the narrative so that people could no longer ignore us, our agenda, or our movement. Soon, the 2015 U.S. Trans Survey will do the same. And we can’t get there without you.

--Sandy James, NCTE

Because of the study, our voices and stories were heard in a way they never were before.

Three days ago the Girl Scouts of Western Washington (GSWW) refused a donation of $100K because it came with the stipulation that none of the money be used to benefit transgender girls. That's old news by now.

That money would have been one third of the GSWW budget for the year, so GSWW started a campaign on indiegogo in an effort to replace it.

The campaign is called #ForEVERYGirl. In three days so far (28 days left) neearly 6000 donors have donated $286,820.