Every Thursday in Long Beach, a group of transgender women ranging in age from early 20s to 60s, catch up, swap advice and talk about past traumas.
The meetings provide a needed refuge — a once-a-week respite from the too-long stares of strangers and the heaviness of hyper-vigilance. Transgender women are disproportionately targeted as the victims of hate crimes in L.A. County.
The women walked to chairs arranged in a circle, and Del Rio gave them the week’s theme: hate crimes and suicide in the transgender community. It was the same topic used that week by other chapters of Transgéneros Unidas in Hollywood, El Monte, South L.A. and the San Fernando Valley, all run by Bienestar, a nonprofit focused on health issues affecting Latinos and the LGBTQ community. The support groups — which began in Hollywood in 1997 and now have about 100 regular members in all — each set their own agendas and priorities.
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