Economic Justice & Security

The Challenge

Transgender and gender diverse Americans face an economic crisis that is national in scope and staggering in scale. The U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS, 2015) found that 15% of transgender respondents were unemployed—three times the national rate of 5%. Among trans people of color, that figure rose to 20%, four times the national average. Twenty-nine percent of trans respondents lived in poverty, more than double the U.S. rate of 14%. The earlier National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS, 2011) documented that 15% of trans respondents had household incomes under $10,000 per year—four times the general-population rate.

These are not isolated data points. They describe a systemic pattern of economic exclusion. The USTS found that 27% of respondents had been fired, denied a promotion, or not hired because of their gender identity. The NTDS found that 90% of transgender workers had experienced harassment or discrimination on the job—or had hidden their identity to avoid it. When employment itself is a site of discrimination, economic precarity is not an edge case—it is the baseline condition.

The intersection of race and gender identity deepens the crisis. The USTS documented poverty rates of 43% among Latino/a trans respondents, 41% among American Indian respondents, 40% among multiracial respondents, and 38% among Black trans respondents. These figures expose an economic system that compounds identity-based discrimination at every level—hiring, housing, healthcare, and access to safety-net programs meant to catch people in crisis.

Why This Matters

I know these numbers because I helped produce them. I served on the research committees for both the NTDS (2008–2009, published 2011) and the USTS (2015, published 2016)—the first two national surveys of their kind. That work gave me a research-grounded understanding of how economic exclusion operates across the lives of trans Americans—in employment, housing, healthcare, and every institution that determines whether a person can build a stable life.

I also understand economic crisis from personal experience. In 2020, I was hospitalized with COVID-19 and received a $35,000 bill—without insurance to cover it. That story, covered by TIME and People, resonated because it was not extraordinary. Millions of Americans face the same impossible arithmetic: get the care you need, then figure out how to survive the bill.

That experience crystallized something I had already seen through years of direct service. As executive director of Gender Justice League, I ran the Community Security Program (CSP), a mutual aid initiative providing emergency housing, financial assistance, food support, and resource navigation to 2STGD (Two-Spirit, transgender, gender diverse) survivors of violence. In 2025, CSP served more than 250 people—offering hotel and Airbnb stays of up to three days, direct financial assistance, and connections to longer-term support, with priority given to BIPOC trans community members facing the sharpest intersections of economic and identity-based discrimination. CSP is a model for what community-driven economic support can look like at the national level.

What I’ve Done

My work on economic security spans national research, federal policy, coalition leadership, and direct service. The through line is a commitment to solutions that start with the people closest to the crisis.

• National Trans Survey Research: As noted above, served on the research committees for both the NTDS and the USTS—the landmark studies that documented the scale of economic discrimination against transgender Americans and shaped federal and state policy responses.
• Federal Policy—CARES Act & HERO Act: Worked with the U.S. Senate HELP Committee on the CARES Act and HERO Act during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to legislation that directed economic relief to individuals and communities in crisis. This work drew on my MBA from the University of Washington and my experience as a senior health policy consultant.
• Community Security Program: Designed and ran GJL’s CSP, providing emergency housing (hotel/Airbnb stays up to 3 days), direct financial assistance, food assistance, and resource navigation. In 2025, the program served more than 250 2STGD survivors, with priority given to BIPOC trans community members—a replicable mutual aid model for communities nationwide.
• 45-Organization Healthcare Coalition: Led a coalition of 45 organizations focused on reducing insurance costs and expanding healthcare access—bringing together providers, advocacy groups, and community organizations to address the economic burden of healthcare on marginalized communities.
• Insurance Reform Advocacy: Drawing from my own $35,000 hospital bill and the stories of hundreds of community members, I have pushed for insurance reforms that reduce out-of-pocket costs and close the coverage gaps that leave the most vulnerable people exposed.

Where We Go From Here

The NTDS and USTS made visible what trans communities had always known: economic exclusion is not incidental to being transgender in America—it is structural. Addressing it requires structural solutions at the federal level: comprehensive nondiscrimination protections in employment, housing, and credit; reform of safety-net programs that currently exclude or fail the most marginalized; and investment in community-based economic support models that have proven they work.

The mutual aid model CSP represents is not a replacement for systemic change—but it is a proof of concept. When resources are directed by people who understand the community, they reach those who need them most, faster and more effectively than traditional bureaucratic channels. Scaling these models nationally, and building the public infrastructure to sustain them, should be a policy priority.

Insurance reform remains urgent. The gap between what coverage costs and what it actually covers continues to widen, and the burden falls disproportionately on people with chronic conditions, marginalized communities, and workers whose employers do not offer adequate plans. Closing these gaps requires federal action—the kind of work I contributed to on the CARES Act and HERO Act, and the kind that must continue.

Protecting and expanding the social safety net is not charity—it is economic infrastructure. Every dollar invested in emergency housing, food assistance, and healthcare access prevents downstream costs in emergency rooms, shelters, and the criminal justice system. The question is not whether we can afford to invest in economic security for all Americans—it is whether we can afford not to.