A collective of organizations and individuals, Pink Haven formed in response to the increasing number of anti-trans bills proposed across the United States in recent years. The coalition is creating networks of safety and aid for “trans beloveds and their families who need to healthcare across state lines, or stay as safe as possible where they are.”
Pink Haven is building a bigger table for trans individuals and their families when so many states are cutting away place settings. Pink Haven staff share that the growing number of fascist legislative threats to trans people “has created a human rights crisis of internally displaced persons fleeing anti-trans states for safer states elsewhere.” 2023 set records for anti-trans legislation, and 2024 has proved just as dangerous, with more than 600 anti-trans bills being considered by federal and state legislators.
Oklahoma, for example, isn’t O.K. While many of their 55 anti-trans bills have been defeated, nine are currently advancing. One bill would impose barriers to providing accurate state IDs. Even more destructive and restrictive is Senate Bill 1530, a deceptively named “women’s bill of rights.” In reality, it will codify gender discrimination into law, enforcing an unscientific binary classification of terms like “female” and “male” according to sex assigned at birth.
In North Carolina, legislation has been carried over and introduced that will force any transgender youth to be outed to their parents if they report experiencing any form of gender dysphoria to a teacher or medical professional. Further legislation in the state is also impacting transgender youth’s ability to access gender affirming healthcare.
And this is just a small sampling of the legislative violence being done to trans and gender expansive people in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking anti-trans legislation in process in 43 states. Additionally, an unprecedented 75 anti-trans bills are being considered at the federal level, up from 53 bills in 2023. These bills, both at the state and federal level, block the right of trans people to receive healthcare, access education, obtain legal recognition, and even exist in public.
This is why Pink Haven’s partnership with UUSC has become so vital. Working as a coalition with UUSC; the Unitarian Universalist Association; progressive Quaker, Jewish, and Christian organizations; local mutual aid groups; care providers; as well as transgender activists and organizations, Pink Haven can safely provide support where it is needed. The network organizes housing and transportation for these “passengers,” the term given to those being helped.
“Pink Haven has saved my daughter’s life, aiding us to flee a state that was no longer safe for us in any way, shape, or form,” explains one Pink Haven passenger. “I’ve been a single mom their (her children’s) whole life, and Pink Haven is the first group of people who has helped us. It brings tears to my eyes. It truly does take a village. It just took us a while to find ours.”
