On October 21, 2018, the New York Times released an article about a leaked memo detailing the Department of Health and Human Services efforts to establish a new legal definition of “sex” under Title IX of the federal civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex/gender. The memo, currently being pursued by…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Milwaukee, WI – To increase FORGE’s capacity to provide services and supports to Wisconsin’s transgender and non-binary communities, FORGE is pleased to announce the addition of Shelley Gregory to our staff. Gregory (pronouns: any or they/them/theirs) will fill the newly created position of Strategic Project Coordinator. Working in partnership with Ashley Altadonna,…

In the last two years we should all have learned elections have consequences! Lately those consequences have fallen hard on trans/non-binary people (and immigrants, Muslims, sexual assault survivors, and and and…) You, however, have one very powerful tool for helping shape your own and our collective future: your vote. Don’t surrender it!  Use it!  But…

They say the wheels of justice turn slowly, and often it feels as if that turn is nearly imperceptible. So how can we gauge whether our society and our communities are becoming more just? One way to measure this progress is through the Human Rights Campaign and the Equality Federation Institute’s Municipal Equality Index. The…

You’ve probably heard of the TIME’S UP legal defense fund. It was founded and promoted largely by women in Hollywood responding to pervasive sexual harassment and assault they and their colleagues had experienced. The TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund is specifically aimed at helping low-wage workers who experience workplace assault, harassment, abuse and related retaliation…

Dezjorn Gauthier has been busy. Since graduating from Marquette University in 2013 with a degree in Criminology Law Studies and Sociology, he began his physical transition in 2014, and became an award winning model, including being one of seventeen featured trans models in the well-known Barney’s New York campaign. He was featured in the documentary…

The human voice is infinite in variety and unique to each person. When we communicate through speech, for those of us who do, we use our voices to give us power and help express our feelings. Our voices can feel like they betray us sometimes, too, like when they reveal emotion we don’t want them…

FORGE is involved in two national efforts: PrideStudy (https://pridestudy.org/) is an LGBTQ-led, longitudinal study that is building a database and assisting researchers in using it (or sponsoring their own studies) to create more high-quality research on LGBTQ health. This is an extraordinarily sensitive and thoughtful project that includes a nationwide, very active advisory board (which…

1. Can you tell FORGE a little a bit about yourself, your background, and what you do as the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center\’s Transgender Resource Coordinator? I’ve been employed at the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center since November 2016 as the Transgender Resource Coordinator. The Center obtained funding in 2016 to devote a full-time staff member…

Milwaukee’s Fire & Police Commission voted unanimously last Friday afternoon to pass new, and improved guidelines for MPD interactions with folks from the transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex communities. The vote comes in the same month that the Trump administration rolled back Obama-era federal guidance, giving protections to transgender people in prisons.  Despite evidence that…