Research as a Practice of Collective Care and Resistance: A Roundtable Conversation with Transmasculine Health Justice: Los Angeles

Abstract

Transmasculine Health Justice: Los Angeles (TMHJ:LA) is an initiative of Gender Justice Los Angeles, a grassroots organization led by and for trans, gender nonconforming, two-spirit, Black, Indigenous, People of Color. The organization's mission includes resisting oppression, developing community responses to violence, and healing from present and historical trauma. TMHJ:LA was created in 2016 to use cultural arts and participatory action research to combat the erasure and invisibility of trans men and transmasculine people in public health planning and services in Los Angeles County. We began, and have since organized, as a majority transmasculine, queer, and Black, Indigenous, People of Color team of researchers, educators, community organizers, artists, and cultural workers.In the past five years, we have witnessed the increased politicization and monetization of “transgender health care” and a surge of transgender health-related research. Most public funding for research related to transgender health goes to efforts that are initiated and led by people without lived experience and with limited ties to trans-led social change organizing. TMHJ:LA started as a community-initiated organizing effort, situated within the leadership of a social movement organization with a broad vision for health justice. In the following roundtable conversation, held in May 2021, a few of the creators of TMHJ:LA reflect on the work and some of the tensions and opportunities for organizing data projects on the principles of research justice and collective care.To learn more or connect with TMHJ:LA organizing team, visit: tmhealthstudyla.org.