Meet the kit-builders who protect trans rights

The Harm Reduction Toolkit (HRT) Project—which involves Distribute Aid sourcing bulk quantities of medical supplies for gender-affirming healthcare, and our partners assembling the supplies into kits before distributing them to trans communities—has been one of our main focuses since Donald Trump returned to power with a vow to erase trans people from the United States. 

Prioritizing this issue is a matter of both principle and necessity. The flood of discriminatory laws and statements has been so constant that “persecution of trans people under the second Trump administration” now has its own Wikipedia page.

Like most of Trump’s policies, though, anti-trans bigotry is being fiercely opposed by ordinary people across the country. And today we’d like to share the words of one grassroots group that’s directly improving the lives of their trans neighbors, friends, and loved ones.

Community Solidarity Project (CSP) is a mutual aid group in Los Angeles, and a longtime partner of Distribute Aid. They’ve also been some of the busiest builders of HRT toolkits so far: CSP has already created 234 kits for their community. Each kit contains 301 items—like syringes, disinfectant wipes, and a sharps disposal container—which means they’ve put 70,434 health care supplies directly into the hands of people who need them.

And they’re doing it with style. “We like to make it a party,” says CSP. “We put music on, we dance, we have snacks and beverages for volunteers.” Emma Goldman would probably approve (even if she never actually said that famous line about dancing and revolution). 

The festive atmosphere also serves a practical purpose. “It’s important to enjoy the process because this work can get very heavy,” says CSP. “Adding fun and levity into the assembly keeps our spirits up and helps us remember that trans joy is the whole point.”

Here are more of CSP’s takeaways from their involvement in Distribute Aid’s HRT toolkit project:

This interview has been lightly edited for concision.

1. Why did your group decide to participate in the HRT toolkit project?

We are a queer-led mutual aid nonprofit, so supporting our trans siblings is very important to us as part of our mission and our commitment to our community members.

2. How did you coordinate the kit assembly days (e.g. timing, location, roles)?

We picked a date that both of our organizational leads could do, and hosted the assembly day at our community center. We put out a call to partner orgs and other groups to join us.

3. What was the biggest unexpected roadblock you faced?

[It] was how much space the kits took up. Since they are supplies meant to last people for a year, they physically occupy more space than we had anticipated.

4. How did you overcome it?

We worked to source bigger storage bags and also to get the kits out the door and into the hands of community faster, so that we would not run out of spaces to store them.

5. What supplies or strategies do you think would be useful for other groups doing similar work?

It is useful to have a lot of people helping and forming an assembly line-style system. Putting the kits together requires counting out all the items and then putting them into batches with the other parts of the kits. To save time and work efficiently, it helps to have each person playing a specific role.

6. What was the most satisfying part of building the kits?

[Seeing] how excited the volunteers were to assemble the kits. We are living in a time of uncertainty and fear within the trans community. It is a huge morale boost to be able to directly support folks who need access to medical supplies in order to continue with their gender-affirming healthcare.

Quick hits

Here are a few more things you might find interesting:

• The ocean current that makes agriculture possible in much of Europe, Africa, and the Americas is at risk of collapse, which seems like it should be much bigger news.

• “[We] need something other than paeans to resilience.” Sarah Jaffe’s dismantling of the feel nothing-keep the revenue flowing cult of disaster capitalism is a must-read.

• A rare, much-needed W for trans healthcare in the United States: a federal judge halted Trump Administration investigations of two trans healthcare organizations based on “wafer-thin justifications.”