Our Mission & Values
At the Trans Affirmative Action Guild (TAAG), our journey is guided by a clear purpose. We believe that achieving true collective transformation and liberation is as much about the path we take to get there as it is about the destination.
Our Mission
The mission of the Trans Affirmative Action Guild (TAAG) is to provide an open, safe, and inclusive space and community committed to a continued process of understanding and challenging all forms of oppression, primarily focusing on underrepresented trans expressions of one’s sex, gender, and sexuality.
Our Vision
We envision a space where trans-binary and trans-non-binary community members—regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, class, caste, religion, belief, sex, gender, language, sexual orientation*, gender identity, sex characteristics, age, health, or other status—are welcomed, celebrated, and free to find healing, connection, self-exploration, and education.
We build systems of care and liberation collaboratively with our community and partners. We see critical dialogue and feedback as opportunities for growth , and we envision an environment filled with the sounds of joy, laughter, conversation, and vibrant community art that showcases and affirms our diverse beauty.
*We intentionally use the word “orientations” to encompass all sexual, non-sexual, romantic, and non-romantic orientations, recognizing that orientations can be fluid at various points in one’s life.
Our Core Values
Our YAVU—our purpose and spirit—is woven into five foundational values that guide our movement and shape how we care for our community. Our approach to fighting against the oppression of trans-binary and trans-non-binary people will always include an examination and addressing of all forms of oppression. Grounded in Intersectionality, our practices are continually informed by the understanding that community members who hold multiple marginalized identities are exponentially impacted by multiple overlapping systems of oppression. To counter these systems, we engage in our work utilizing a Critical Love ethic informed by bell hooks’ definition of love as the extension of oneself and actions to nurture the holistic growth of another and the interconnectedness between us. We understand that centering love in our work invites each person to be completely themselves, which requires a thoughtful balance of compassion, accountability, challenge, and support.
We also deeply embrace Interdependence, recognizing that we each bring different strengths and lived experiences to collectively tackle complex problems. Guided by disability and economic justice, we engage in intentional resource sharing and actively disrupt oppressive, colonial notions of professionalism, productivity, and individualism. In the context of a world that has historically allowed little space for many of us to exist, we center Affirmation & Agency to foster an environment where each of us is empowered to fully exist as complex, multifaceted, and whole individuals. Finally, we practice Dynamic Adaptation by remaining continuously open to changing the way we think and work as the needs and desires of our communities evolve. We anchor this agility in the wisdom of adrienne maree brown, who reminds us that “Change is a constant condition of this universe, [therefore] it becomes important that we learn to be in right relationship with change.”
