Digital Transgender Archive

Interview with LaSaia Wade

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An interview with LaSaia Wade, an Afro-Puerto Rican indigenous trans woman, activist, and community organizer based in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of this oral history interview, she was the Director of Brave Space Alliance, the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ center located on the South Side of Chicago, dedicated to creating and providing resources, programming, and services for LGBTQ individuals on the South and West sides of the city. She was additionally a member of the Black Trans Gender Nonconforming Collective, and the founder of the TNTJ Tennessee Trans Journey Project, an organization dedicated to providing services and support to trans-identified individuals in Wade's home state of Tennessee. In this oral history interview, Wade discusses her background and initial foray into Black trans organizing, the beginnings of the Black Trans Gender Non-conforming Coalition and Brave Space Alliance in Chicago, her thoughts on Black trans politics, and her perspective on the past and future of trans organizing. Specifically, she discusses her experience of employment discrimination, her introduction into organizing among other Black transgender women, the intersectional organizing philosophy of Brave Space Alliance, the negative impacts of trans visibility and assimilationist politics, the changes she's seen in the past decade, and her visions of a better future for Black trans people.

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