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When Tristan Martin, a licensed therapist and assistant teaching professor, joined Syracuse University’s Marriage and Family Therapy department in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics in 2022, his leadership became crucial in reimagining Trans Support Day.

Since its inception, Martin and the rest of the Transgender Affirmative Support Team, who run the initiative, have significantly increased the number of transgender support services available at the event, he said. This year’s Trans Support Day will feature 19 local gender-affirming care providers, which Martin said is the most in its history.

“(Trans Support Day) is really a safe space that connects trans people with vital gender-affirming resources,” Martin said. “From my clinical practice, I’ve learned not a lot of people know about the resources here.”

Trans Support Day will be held on March 23 from 12 to 4 p.m. in Peck Hall. The event will host free hair and makeup stations and lawyers knowledgeable in legal name changes, Martin said. It will also feature local healthcare providers, including gender-affirming surgeons, voice coaches, nutritionists and hormone providers.

Located in SU’s Couple and Family Therapy Center, TAST — a team with resources available to transgender and gender-diverse individuals throughout the Syracuse community — trains SU students interested in gaining “specialized training and experience” in gender-affirming care, according to its website.

The day of celebration is not a pride event, but rather aims to support trans people and their families by making them aware of resources available across the city of Syracuse, said Deborah Coolhart, TAST’s founder and an associate professor in the MFT department. She also said the event works to combat the “mistreatment” of trans youth across the United States.

In 2023, the American Civil Liberties Union tracked 510 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in the U.S. — over half of which specifically targeted transgender youth and put them at risk of losing access to gender-affirmative care, the ability to participate in school sports and the use of bathrooms aligning with their gender identity, according to the Williams Institute.

In November, over 60 people protested an event hosting Sara Stockton — a local marriage and family therapist whom SU’s College Republicans labeled a “gender expert” — at Drumlins Country Club in Syracuse. Before the talk, Syracuse community members were concerned about the event, citing Stockton’s opposition to gender-affirming care for children and anti-trans statements on social media.

“(Transgender) rights are under attack across the country, so having a space where they’re really affirmed and welcomed and supported, feels especially important now,” Coolhart said.

Coolhart also said she hopes this year’s event will continue to create an “affirmative space” for trans individuals across the community.

Trans Support Day takes place annually but “started small” in 2018, Martin said. He said the event recently saw significant growth compared to previous years with over 250 participants last year.

Kirsten Mathieson and Gabrielle Presutti, MFT master’s students and the president and vice president of TAST, respectively, described the initiative as an ongoing “labor of love.” This year, TAST sought to have a broader reach with Trans Support Day.

“We wanted to provide bespoke medical providers that would maybe be difficult for people to access normally,” Mathieson said.

Along with supporting trans individuals themselves, Trans Support Day aims to connect their family members with support services, Mathieson said. TAST therapists help families understand the process of transitioning and gender exploration by providing general therapy services and medical transition support letters, which are often required to be considered for gender-affirming procedures, according to its website.

“There (are) so many families that came last year where it was a trans teens’ first time out with their parents,” Mathieson said. “We want their parents to have a chance to understand the resources better too.”

Martin said SU has supported Falk’s trans support initiatives and hopes the university will introduce similar events in the future.

The university offers year-round trans and gender-affirming services through the Barnes Center at The Arch, including the monitoring of hormone injections, mental health services and gender-affirming health supplies. SU’s LGBTQ Resource Center provides additional events and resources dedicated to supporting LGBTQ university students.

“It’s really just a space to welcome and support trans people, particularly in the current times when their rights are being attacked,” Coolhart said. “It’s important they have a space that feels like it’s theirs.”

Published on March 21, 2024 at 12:54 am