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Abstract
Transgender/gender non-conforming people of color (TGNC PoC) often experience negative psychological consequences (e.g., depression, anxiety) stemming from systemic socio-economic/political discrimination, ostracism from communities/families, and lack of access to recovery/support programs. A number of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer people of color (LGBTQ PoC) advocacy and support organizations have endeavored to disrupt the cycle of distress by creating structures of support, avenues for human rights advocacy, and psychosocial interventions that provide critical social, educational, and other support services to their members. Yet, despite their innovative and much needed efforts, there is a dearth of research regarding the lives, activities, and motivations of members and leaders within these organizations. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to identify the individual and societal level factors that enable some TGNC PoC to become community-level social change agents/activists in the context of structural oppression.
A review of the relevant literature highlighted the following contributing factors to the development of activism: perceived injustice, strongly politicized identification with one’s low-status group, perceived efficacy with respect to activism, access to necessary resources to engage in activism, social/economic capital, access to empowering contexts, and individual level personality traits and motivations. With respect to contributing factors to activism specifically among LGBTQ PoC, the themes of social support, awareness of oppression, and self-acceptance emerged as critical factors that fostered resilience and agency for LGBTQ PoC. Results of this phenomenological study conducted through semi-structured interviews with ten TGNC PoC community leaders in Los Angeles identified through a purposive sampling method, yielded 15 main factors that enabled participants to become activists. Contributing main factors include particular personality traits/skills, self-efficacy with respect to activism, politicization of identity through development of critical consciousness, and access to the following environments/tools/resources: financial/social capital, empowering formalized group settings, avenues for self-care, informal social support, protective factors that mitigate impact of discrimination, academia, luck/good fortune, individuals who invested in growth of participant, paid activism opportunities, spiritual orientation, and formal education/academic programs. In addition, results identified unique motivational factors for participants. Overall, the study affirmed the continued relevance of contributing factors to activism identified by literature review and found new factors as well.
