Over the next few weeks, I’ll be bringing you up to date on everything related to our Rainbow Village SRQ/Pink Haven project. I’ll try to explain the difference between RV-SRQ and Pink Haven and why the RV-SRQ program began. Then, I’ll share a bit about the types of people who have asked for support and how the team provides that support. Later, I’ll tell you about the team and how we support each other as we do this important work in very difficult times. Lastly, I’ll tell you about the times we didn’t quite get it right on the first try and how we continuously monitor and adjust our work to meet the needs of our beloved kin, along with some dreams and plans for the future. Questions or comments? Email us at [email protected].
Pink Haven (PinkHaven.org) is the fake name for a nation-wide network of people who support the Two-Spirit, Trans, and Gender-Expansive community. Their main goals are to work with folx who want to relocate from legislatively unsafe states to safer ones, and/or to travel for gender-affirming healthcare. We communicate – using fake names – on secure apps and encrypted drives. While our team knows one another, none of us knows anyone from other parts of the state or country. We don’t even know where those other people are located. For the most part, Pink Haven is passed along by word-of-mouth.
When our team began listening to the people who reached out to us, we discovered that many had a third type of request: to get connected to the local trans community – to stay and thrive. We developed Rainbow Village SRQ to meet this unique need – to be able to actively reach out to the larger community with offers for support, to have an email address, to use our real names.
We’ve been doing this work for nearly 1½ years. By creating our own program, we’ve been visible at Trans Day of Visibility and Senior Pride. We plan to be at Sarasota Pride in October. We attend PFLAG meetings, webinars, and trans-related programs offered in the larger community. We carefully and safely ensure that other organizations in the area are aware of RV-SRQ and as a result, many of our referrals come from those organizations.
Next time, I’ll share the kinds of support we’ve been able to offer.
In community,
Suzie Brucklacher
Pink Haven (PinkHaven.org) is the fake name for a nation-wide network of people who support the Two-Spirit, Trans, and Gender-Expansive community. Their main goals are to work with folx who want to relocate from legislatively unsafe states to safer ones, and/or to travel for gender-affirming healthcare. We communicate – using fake names – on secure apps and encrypted drives. While our team knows one another, none of us knows anyone from other parts of the state or country. We don’t even know where those other people are located. For the most part, Pink Haven is passed along by word-of-mouth.
When our team began listening to the people who reached out to us, we discovered that many had a third type of request: to get connected to the local trans community – to stay and thrive. We developed Rainbow Village SRQ to meet this unique need – to be able to actively reach out to the larger community with offers for support, to have an email address, to use our real names.
We’ve been doing this work for nearly 1½ years. By creating our own program, we’ve been visible at Trans Day of Visibility and Senior Pride. We plan to be at Sarasota Pride in October. We attend PFLAG meetings, webinars, and trans-related programs offered in the larger community. We carefully and safely ensure that other organizations in the area are aware of RV-SRQ and as a result, many of our referrals come from those organizations.
Next time, I’ll share the kinds of support we’ve been able to offer.
In community,
Suzie Brucklacher
