Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS)

As Founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit whose capacity to create the change I have advocated for over decades of underfunded work for the most marginalized individuals in the TLGBQIA+ community has scaled greatly in the past year, the Elevate Prize would significantly build the capacity of our organization to create long-term change. The opportunity to engage in two years of guided support and coaching, networking opportunities, and media campaigns, will be a game-changer for GLITS because these are precisely the areas in which we seek to build our organizational capacity. Funds will directly benefit the TLGBQIA+ community through GLITS visionary programming including support for long-term housing, education, counseling, capacity building, and for re-entry from incarceration. GLITS offers unique opportunities for community members to holistically heal from trauma and oppression. I use my position as a media advocate to share our experiences more broadly to stymie discrimination at the root, creating change thorugh sharing my own narrative and bridging connections across the globe. The Elevate Prize funds will be directly applied to material needs for programming for clients and for capacity building. The activities of the Elevate Prize will significantly develop the ability of GLITS to sustainably effect change.

I’m Ceyenne Doroshow, the Founder and Executive Director of Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS). My work has broken down barriers for the TLGBQIA+ community. I am a major media advocate, unafraid to tackle global political issues from a place of love and personal vulnerability. My transparency about my own personal and professional struggles is central to my advocacy and is core to the operations of GLITS through a deep understanding of the struggles our clients face every day at the intersection of POC, Black, trans, and queer identities. We recognize housing as a cornerstone of health. We recongize education as a cornerstone of sustainability. From this framework we developed The Leadership Academy, combining healing, housing, and educational services for the TLGBQIA+ community. My vision centers holistic solutions to the health and housing crises faced by TLGBQIA+ individuals experiencing systemic discrimination, racism and criminalization. GLITS is committed to leadership development and is grounded in a multi-generational approach through harm reduction, human rights principles, social justice, community empowerment, centering Black Trans leadership. I am a leader in addressing the disparities in health care and health resilience for the TLGBQIA+ community.

According to the National Center for Transgeder Equity, from July 2020 statistics: “The surge of violence against transgender people in the United States has passed a grim milestone. In just seven months, the number of transgender people suspected of being murdered in 2020 has surpassed the total for all of 2019.” Marginalization and stigmatization of Black and POC TLGBQIA+ individuals have exacerbated the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening housing, education and health prospects, and increasing violence. The scale of the problem we work on is global. GLITS combines hands-on local solutions with international advocacy to solve it.

GLITS mitigates marginalization by providing resources around housing and educational sustainability. We operate housing projects, including an emergency shelter in Manhattan for individuals recently released from jail or prison, and long-term housing in an apartment building purchased in Queens for participants in the Leadership Academy. This housing goes far beyond shelter, offering dignified long-term stability, including continuing education, training, counseling, case management and career development resources. As founder and executive director my advocacy includes media appearances and public speaking through which I shift the mainstream narrative around the TLGBQIA+ community and fight discrimination. 

GLITS initiatives are a transformative space centering Black Trans leadership and wisdom for community development and healing that will lead to economic sustainability, urban infrastructure and social equity. GLITS builds networks of safety and support that uplift marginalized voices as leaders of the community and advocates for social change. GLITS addresses the oppressive intersection of housing insecurity and educational gaps for TLGBQIA+ individuals through work that will serve as a pilot project to exemplify approaches applicable in communities around the world.

GLITS creates holistic solutions to the health and housing crises faced by TLGBQIA+ individuals who are experiencing systemic discrimination at intersecting oppressions impacted by racism and criminalization. GLITS advocacy educates the public about health, wellness and inclusion of TLGBQIA+  people. GLITS interventions holistically address the barriers the TLGBQIA+  community experience. GLITS services provided in our own building include 12 individual apartments offering long term housing paired with case management through leadership, healing and educational services provided as necessary to the personalized growth plan developed in collaboration with each client. GLITS continues to provide immediate transitional housing and educational and leadership development to LGBTQIA+ individuals who are exiting incarceration, as piloted in our Rikers Relief response to Covid-19. Additionally GLITS provides services and legal referrals as well as community support to LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers. As GLITS founder and executive director I am a major media advocate, unafraid to tackle global political issues, from a place of love and personal vulnerability, whose transparency about her personal and professional struggles coupled with advocacy has done much to break down barriers and boundaries for the LGBTQIA+ community.