Mutual aid is a catalyst for collective liberation. With the continuation of a daunting political landscape, and many LGBTQ+ folks pivoting their lives for safety, trying to make sense of the puzzle, there is still so much to look forward to. There is also so much work that white cisgender queer-led organizations have to do in the process of supporting BIPOC queer and trans folks. 

Alexander Griggs (he/they) is a Louisville Native and defines mutual aid within the context of helping people who need help, or in other words, “Stone soup. Everyone brings something to a pot, and everyone is benefiting from that pot.”

In a lot of senses, mutual aid has been a hot topic, but inherently it is the backbone of activism, abolition, and collective wellness since way before LGBTQ+ liberation movements began.

By conceptualizing mutual aid in a much bigger picture, Trans Health Coordinator for Kentucky Health Justice Network, Jaz Williams (he/they), talked to Queer Kentucky about how the concept of the village has changed over the last five to ten years. 

“For me growing up, it was about today I help you, tomorrow you help me,” he says.
 Our cultural traditions in America have been to focus on isolating folks from one another, instead of leaning in to lift people out of the mud.

“It can be isolating for someone who is a trans woman in Somerset, and it can be equally isolating to be a trans man in Louisville,” Williams said.

Mutual aid may sound simple, and it can be as simple as sending a few dollars to a friend or even providing a family meal for the community. Yet, when initiatives are run by majority white cisgender-led organizations, many people are disjointed by the same isolating benefactors from capitalist-supremacist structures. Then, as a collective, if someone goes without, folks are demonized for being without basic necessities, and it becomes the problem that leans solely on the individual.

“The needs of multiple marginalized intersections differ greatly from our white counterparts, for sure,” Griggs says. “So we have to prioritize things differently and approach things differently. It looks like making sure that the most marginalized person in the room is centered.”

In this sense, it is the responsibility of white queer-led organizations to take part in mutual aid and work towards more liberating futures by prioritizing the needs of BIPOC trans folks in their communities. On the flip, organizations like Louisville Pride Foundation, Wandering Tree-House are led by Black LGBTQ+ leaders, who are consistently aiming to take care of BIPOC LGBTQ+ folks, while also maintaining equitable structures through events, spaces, and much more. 

Still, there are a large number of organizations throughout the state that don’t even have a Black LGBTQ+ leader in sight on their boards, in their working environments, and in their media spaces.

By understanding proximity to privilege, especially in times when living is in flux for so many Black trans folks across the state, Griggs states that the most significant challenges that are faced in securing resources compared to white cisgender-led initiatives are that even acknowledging their privilege in spaces is important to recognize. 

Regarding receiving equitable visibility and recognition within Kentucky, Williams says, “Impact is large, but the fanfare is not the same. If we had more DEI, we would have more access to our rights and problem-solving. With white cis gay men at the orgs – we can only get so far. Our communities are in crisis – we need to develop young leaders. I want to see more black trans interns.”

When we think back to the activism of our ancestors, Marsha P. Johnson, James Baldwin, W.E.B. DuBois, and many others, we can understand that mutual aid is about interactional solidarity. Many parallel systems correspond through ethnic community centers and faith-based networks, and organizations across the state. They directly addressed the immediate needs and long-term empowerment while concurrently resisting structural racism, oppression, and power complexes.

There are many ways in which we can combine all of our forces to radically care for one another and to make movements focus on the right to living, rather than becoming power-hungry with elitist ideologies that continually “other” folks in the LGBTQ+ community, because of their experiences having lower socioeconomic standings. The narrative of white cisgender organizations does need to change, based on the support that is needed when the most marginalized of the community (BIPOC Trans folks) are not at the center of conversations, event structures, or in leadership roles at well-known organizations across the state.

It comes down to full-scope dismantling and transforming organizations that are rooted in care, and rooted in ensuring that no one is thrown to the side just because they are different, even in the sense of personal philosophy. 

______________________________________________________KHJN relies on donations to support Kentuckians in need of reproductive and gender affriming healthcare. You can donate here: https://www.kentuckyhealthjusticenetwork.org/donate.html

Support Alexander and their partner during this time by donating to their GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/e9d277e21