A peer-based service for transgender Mainers has provided a lifeline during months of COVID-19 social isolation. The well-timed expansion of a digital support system meant MaineTransNet could adapt more quickly to ensure members weren’t alone, says Executive Director Quinn Gormley.
One component that proved critical: a social organizing network that provides a safe gathering place for trans Mainers of all ages. MaineTransNet set up two digital platforms, one for membership and a second for the youth program. The latter network, active 24/7, provides a range of programs, many of them suggested by teen members. A Dungeons and Dragons Club, board games, and a weekly movie night are among the offerings, “to say nothing of being able to hop on to group voice chats so that youth members can support each other directly,” says Gormley.
For a community that already felt the effects of isolation, the new and anonymous network provides a protected space for transitioned and transitioning youth. A number of members say access to the server has allowed them to feel less alone, to get support when they’re in crisis. Says one youth member, “I’ve made a few really awesome friends who support me and don’t judge me for being uncertain with my journey through self-discovery and self-love.” Gormley believes that the online network is one reason the rate of suicide has dropped in Maine’s trans community this year.
SAGE Maine, an advocacy and service organization for older Maine LGBTQ+ adults, also adapted to the shutdown. After merging with EqualityMaine last year, the group switched to a completely virtual and phone-driven program. Highlights of pandemic offerings include an intergenerational online Thanksgiving; an “Empowerment Self-Defense” course to practice setting boundaries, learn physical self-defense skills, and build community; and “SAGE Maine Calling,” where trained volunteers called hundreds of SAGE Maine community members across the state to check in to see if they needed any help accessing support and to offer weekly return calls to help combat social isolation.
Lin LaRochelle, a SAGE Maine community member, recalls how few friends she had when she moved back to Bangor a few years ago. “A local pastor suggested I stop by the SAGE booth at the Bangor Pride Festival and it totally changed my life.” Friendships and connections have made a huge difference, especially during the pandemic, says LaRochelle.
MaineTransNet and EqualityMaine received support in 2020 from MaineCF’s Equity Fund, which is advised by a group of individuals committed to strengthening LGBTQ+ organizations and supporting initiatives that work toward inclusive, diverse, prejudice-free communities for all people in Maine. Among their goals: to reduce health and race-based disparities or barriers to opportunities, reduce violence and/or harassment, and promote respect and understanding.
“As long as there are LGBTQ+ folks in Maine doing work to uplift the LGBTQ+ community, at any scale, there is a place for the Equity Fund to provide support for that work,” says Equity Fund advisor Olivia Orr. She hopes the fund will continue to increase in the future: “It would be amazing to see the funding grow alongside the number of LGBTQ+ folks in Maine doing amazing work for their communities.”
To learn more about the Equity Fund and how you can contribute to its mission, contact Senior Program Officer Gloria Aponte C. at gaponteclarke@mainecf.org or (207) 761-2440. The full interview with Olivia Orr is available here.
Photo: MaineTransNet banner designed by Suzanna Lasker and produced by ARRT!, the Artists’ Rapid Response Team. Photo courtesy ARRT!
An ‘LGBTQ Community Chest’
Brenda Buchanan, an early advisor to MaineCF’s Equity Fund, reflects on its history – and continued relevance – as it marks 25 years of grantmaking.
When I joined the Equity Fund Advisory Committee in the spring of 2003, I was drawn in by [MaineCF board member] David Becker’s vision to create and sustain what he termed an “LGBTQ community chest.” The Maine LGBTQ+ community had, of necessity, built effective political organizations to advocate for non-discrimination laws and sound AIDS policies. The Equity Fund, with its focus on building the capacity of community groups to help LGBTQ+ folks live rich, connected lives, was an essential counterbalance to that political work.
Through grants for a wide variety of initiatives – including support groups for LGBTQ+ youth and elders, innovative arts programming, and efforts to improve health care access – the Equity Fund aims to ease isolation in the most rural parts of the state and help make the lives of LGBTQ+ people across Maine better and safer. On the agenda for one of my first advisory committee meetings I jotted in the margin a note that still resonates: “We make gifts no other Maine funder would make.” That was true then, and remains largely true today, especially as small nonprofits struggle with pandemic-related challenges.
Over the years, through nearly 200 grants to nonprofit organizations in all 16 counties, the Equity Fund has invested more than $1.2 million in our community. The need is still there, and so is David’s brilliant vision.
Attorney and crime novelist Brenda Buchanan lives in Portland.
