Joy and resistance are intertwined

The Tenderloin Voice publishes opinion pieces by community members.

Zora Neale Hurston once wrote that “if you are silent about your pain, people will kill you and say you enjoyed it.” Right now, that warning feels apt as history repeats itself, endangering trans and nonbinary people.  

Even in San Francisco, which is known as a beacon of queer activism and liberation, our community lives under fragile protections and constant scrutiny shaped by political discourse that demonizes and scapegoats trans people. We hear this every day from people who walk through the doors of the Transgender District, our organization that represents six blocks in the southeast Tenderloin and south of Market Street, and that provides services to trans and nonbinary people. Many of those whom we serve are being priced out of the city and effectively erased as vital social services, like economic and workforce development programs, are cut. 

Local LGBTQ+ leaders are being asked to do more with fewer resources, as the mayor directs city departments to cut their budgets, which is leading to cuts to community programs. At the same time, more trans and nonbinary people are migrating to San Francisco in search of safety. Holding onto stability is hard and thriving feels like a revolutionary act.

The national push to erase trans people has only worsened. More than eight in 10 trans people have reported negative experiences since the 2025 presidential election. In Kansas, new laws invalidate IDs and birth certificates for transgender residents to effectively block access to work and travel. Meanwhile, ICE continues to target Black and brown communities, disproportionately impacting LGBTQ+ immigrants. What we’re seeing is the amplification of a long-standing pattern of state-sponsored erasure.

Despite it all, our community is doing what we have always done: coming together to push back against harmful policies and showing up in strong opposition to legislation that seeks to erase our communities. The Transgender District is working with the Transgender Law Center to advocate against enforcement of the Kansas ID law and support each other through coalition-building across state lines. 

At the Transgender District, we have designed programs to help our people reclaim power through community. In 2025, we had to shutter our Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program due to lack of funding, despite helping create 60 businesses led by trans entrepreneurs in the Tenderloin. While its impact remains, we continue that work of helping our community reclaim power through self-defense classes and health and wellness experiences like sound healing and gatherings that connect trans families, giving our people the tools to survive this environment. As our program coordinator Carolina Osoria said, “With everything going on, folks have kind of felt jolted and afraid. And the remedy to fear is being in power with other folks.” 

The Transgender District persevered to fund these banners, after the city withheld money it had promised. Photo courtesy Breonna McCree / Transgender District.

That power is found in our joy.

Too often, joy is treated as a luxury or an afterthought. But for Black and brown trans communities, joy is a crucial means to tear down the structures of oppression and build a world that’s truly for us.

“We bear the responsibility to exist and to resist in every way possible, including through the sheer joy of our existence, so that any attempt to erase us becomes utterly impossible,” said Nicole Santamaria, the executive director of local trans-led organization El/La Para Translatinas. “It is also essential to forge healthy alliances, build trust and join forces, in order to confront any attack launched against our very existence.”

We saw our joy in action at our recent TGNC Health and Wellness Fair, where over 200 trans and gender non-conforming community members came together to resource-share and celebrate ballroom culture, a powerful tool and shared experience our communities have leaned on for generations. These spaces offer the communal healing and restoration we need to stay in the fight.

We are fighting for every inch of literal space in the Tenderloin – our home. City funding for our Tenderloin banners and signage highlighting the District was withheld, which stalled their rollout. We secured other funding, and now the banners are proudly up across the Tenderloin. Simply put, we are not waiting for permission to exist. We are moving forward because our presence is the point.

Late last year we launched the Riot Fund, a new multi-year emergency fund designed to address the District’s urgent funding gaps and build long-term financial stability. Since launch, we’ve raised nearly $70,000 to keep our work afloat. In April, we’ll also launch our new mural project, which will feature scenes from our history and showcase the work of local trans and nonbinary artists across the walls of this neighborhood. We are also building an immersive walking tour so our culture and history remain visible and accessible to everyone who walks the streets of the Tenderloin.

The Tenderloin has always been a home for trans and queer joy. You can feel it in the legacy of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots and see it in the meaningful work of the three Black trans women who founded this District. We are the stewards of a history that refuses to be forgotten – and we won’t stop now.

Transgender Day of Visibility reminds us that being visible is a powerful act of resistance. However, being seen is not the same as being safe. Visibility without liberation is just a trap. We must move beyond visibility and work on building a world where trans and nonbinary people can live without fear and feel fully supported. By holding onto our joy and our history, we keep our spirit alive in the face of fascism.