Lighthouse Learning Collective
Creating Safer Spaces with LGB/TGNC+ People in New York
In collaboration with LGB/TGNC+ community and harm reduction providers
The Lighthouse Learning Collective offers space for strategy, support, and resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming people (LGB/TGNC+) who use drugs. Bringing together harm reduction groups and organizations that serve the LGB/TGNC+ community, we hope to reimagine what safety and care can look like for queer and trans folks who use drugs.
We leverage the strengths of multiple movements, communities, and organizations to develop resources that can help transform systems of care. Creating this space allows us to work dynamically as a community, thinking about how our lives intersect with accessibility, sex work, immigration, incarceration, and houselessness.
Serving the Needs of LGB/TGNC+ People Who Use Drugs
Queer and trans people use drugs at a proportionally higher rate. They also face higher rates of homelessness, food insecurity, unemployment and underemployment, and inadequate health care.
LGB/TGNC+ people are more than twice as likely to use drugs than those who identify as heterosexual.
The needs of this community are unique and often neither the harm reduction or LGB/TGNC+ support organizations know how to support them.
Enter the Lighthouse Learning Collective. We gather, integrate and support development of collective knowledge around harm reduction care and practices for this community. We are challenging heteronormative assumptions so we can better support LGB/TGNC+ people who use drugs.
Publications
Navigating Access to Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy
This guide blossomed from a conversation during a Lighthouse Learning Collective meeting last year concerning websites scamming folks trying to purchase hormones.
Whether you’ve encountered barriers such as online scams, struggled to find supportive providers, or are seeking legal guidance on GAHT, this resource is tailored to you.
Lighthouse developed this guide in collaboration with the Alyssa Rodriguez Center for Gender Justice, Miss Jai, G Wallner, Sruti Mohan, Ray Stevens, and Dana Fleetham. Special thanks to Han Hamel for formatting and graphics. It’s truly a testament to collective advocacy and support.
Join us for a special webinar launching the guide on May 8th, where we’ll delve into its contents.
View the report via the flipbook to the left. If you’d like to view the report as a pdf, click here.
We are currently working on translating the guide into Spanish, Haitian Creole, and ASL, so we will be sure to share once those are available!
Our Lives, Our Care:
The Report & Recommendations of the Re-Queering Harm Reduction Project
Our Lives, Our Care examines the state of care for queer and trans people who use drugs and/or do sex work (QT-PWUD/SW) in NYC.
We sat down with several QT-PWUD/SW to answer the following questions:
- How do QT-PWUD/SW take care of themselves?
- How can NYC harm reduction and addiction treatment organizations empower, expand, and deepen the embedded care practices of QT-PWUD/SW?
View the report via the flipbook to the left. If you’d like to view the report as a pdf, click here.
Lighthouse Learning Series
Thank you for joining us for our second Lighthouse Learning Series!
The Lighthouse Learning Series is a series of trainings focused on the intersections of queer identity and harm reduction.
You can access previous sessions via our YouTube channel. Although we were unable to record each session, you will be able to access some amazing content on things like chemsex, sex work, and the queer history of harm reduction!
Stay tuned for more information as we plan the next iteration.
Monthly Collective Meetings
The Lighthouse Learning Collective hosts monthly collaboration sessions that bring both harm reduction and LGB/TGNC+ support organizations together to develop strategies, build capacity, and create focused initiatives to address emerging needs within this community.
If you’re part of a harm reduction organization or a group that serves the LGB/TGNC+ community, attend one of these valuable sessions to:
Gain a deeper understanding of the needs of LGB/TGNC+ people and how you can better serve them
Learn about evidence-based harm reduction strategies to support people in this community who use drugs
Develop skills to bring back to your organization that can affect real change around the design and delivery of services
Explore drug-related health issues that disproportionately affect these communities including: accessibility, trauma, violence, sex work, incarceration, and houselessness
Build relationships with people working at different intersections of the same movement
Share your experiences and successes or workshop your challenges with fellow organizers working towards the same goals
Join us for the next meeting to help the collective reimagine safety for LGBQ/TGNC+ people.
All meetings are accessible virtually.
TGNC Harm Reduction Baddies Campaign
The idea behind the campaign began out of the mindset that Trans Day of Visibility, or TDOV for short, is something that needs recognition for more than a day. TDOV is bookended by Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR), a somber day where the trans community grieves those lost to gender-based violence. As each year passes and the numbers continue to increase, it gets more and more difficult to find joy. This campaign is our way of reclaiming our trans, gender nonconforming, and non binary joy.
Each spotlight consists of a recorded interview, social media post, and blog. Click on one of the tiles to view each person’s work!
Connect with The Collective
Resources We Love Created by People We Respect
Some of our partners are creating amazing resources to speak to the intersections of harm reductions and various challenges for LGBQ/TGNC+ people who use drugs.