Educating about the necessity of prioritizing the well-being & self-determination of trans sex workers

BLACK TRANS LIVES MATTER

Coalition Against Trans Antagonism’s work is conducted on the ancestral, traditional and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, which include the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), & Səl̓ílwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations (colonially known as Vancouver, Canada). CATA seeks to work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples in the journey for autonomy and self-determination.

We are a group comprised of trans women, trans femmes, nonbinary people, and cisgender women. Our core organizing team has members who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, and white; and we are led by trans women and trans femmes with sex work experience and prison experience. We embody various political identities that include anarchism, socialism, communism and others. Between the organizing committee and solidarity committee, most of us are neurodivergent, some of us are disabled, and our incomes range from poor, low-income, working class to middle class. We also have a non-profit coalition which comprises of organizations whose mandates serve LGBTQ2S+ communities, trans communities, and sex working communities.

Our mission is to identify and challenge oppressive ideologies and practices within (and not limited to) governmental bodies, non-profits, academia, unions, community organizations, and individuals, to confront, reduce, and eliminate the harms experienced by trans and trans sex worker communities.

We envision a world where there is safety, support, acceptance, dignity, autonomy and self-determination for trans people, especially those directly affected by transmisogyny (including but not limited to trans women and non-binary transfeminine people) and sex worker antagonism.

Transmisogyny is the intersection of trans antagonism and misogyny; the oppressions faced by trans women and those society perceives as trans women. Although others may be indirectly affected by transmisogyny, its targets are exclusively those expected to perform a masculine role due to their assigned sex, whose gender identity and/or expression is feminine or perceived as feminine.

We are working together with the message that until community organizing efforts in metro Vancouver and beyond center and prioritize the wellbeing and self-determination of trans sex workers, liberatory struggles will continue to reproduce the very systemic and structural violence that they seek to end.

Our Basis of Unity:

We assert that sex work is work and commit to the fight for safer workplace conditions and ending the stigma and criminalization of labour which people of many genders partake in, the majority of whom are women.

We oppose human trafficking and sex slavery and seek to center and support victims of these oppressive practices and realities.

We assert that trans women are women and understand that trans women of colour, particularly Black and Indigenous trans women, are disproportionately affected by violence and oppression.

We understand that the gender binary is a colonial construct and affirm the diversity of gender identity and gender expression of people around the world, especially those who are reclaiming identities and roles lost, erased and vilified due to colonization.

We reject the mandatory medicalization of transness and recognize that the concept of “transgender” is inherently anglocentric and colonial in nature. We support and embrace individuals and cultures who affirm their own living experiences on their own terms.