The California Trans, Gender Nonconforming, Intersex Policy Alliance (CTPA) is a coalition of Trans, Gender Nonconforming and Intersex (TGI) community members, collectives, and nonprofit organizations that serve other TGI communities across California. Since the beginning of this year, we have been working with the LGBT Caucus about our advocacy and legislative platform to bring systemic change in the California Legislature to better serve the TGI community as it relates to Healthcare, Wellness and Reentry Services which the community is greatly impacted by.

This year, we have advocated for two different budget requests and yesterday we learned that both of our budget requests, the Reentry and the Trans Wellness and Equity Fund (TWEF) were "slashed" or rejected. We are greatly disappointed and frustrated with the state’s budget committee for the outright ignorance of the discrimination that we constantly face and the lack of attention to the estimated 218,400 TGI Californians across the state.https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Trans-Adults-US-Aug-2016.pdf

We demand that our voices be heard and that appropriate resources and funding be made available to the TGI community in California as we are disproportionately impacted by the lack of access to healthcare, food, housing, reentry services, and discrimination. It is not possible that there can be a surplus of $68 billion in the state of California and no consideration for life saving and life changing funding for critical services that we need.  

We demand that Governor Gavin Newsom think of the 218,400 TGI people living in California who continue to be impacted by social and systemic oppression. We are discriminated from jobs, traumatized and beaten by society, pushed to underground economies, targeted by police, imprisoned unjustly, raped in incarceration, released like animals with nothing but a little hope to keep living and left out to fend for ourselves while these cycles repeat! These issues are exacerbated if you are not a citizen, if you seek asylum from the violence you experienced in your home country. California is a beacon of hope across the nation for its progressive politics – do not let this be a stain on a long list of crimes against TGI folk that we are fighting to fix. We demand that this oppression STOPS! and that funding be made available so that we can provide our community with the support for Reentry Services and Health Care and Wellness. 

We demand that the Budget Committee of California vote in favor of both the Reentry and TWEF Budget Requests. Governor Gavin Newsom, do the right thing and pick up the Reentry and TWEF Budget Requests, put them on your desk and sign them, NOW! 

We believed in you and still do, do the right thing! 

Sincerely, 

The California Trans, Gender Nonconforming, Intersex Policy Alliance