What I Meant When I Said Faith-Based

& The Future of Sub:Culture Incorporated

I’ve had this post in draft form on my desktop since January. But since it’s #TransGenderDayOfVisibility, it seemed like the perfect time.

No more hiding.

There’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Two years ago, during Pride Month, we posted an encouragement on our social media channels to Black Trans College students. The response and subsequent removal of financial support from concerned donors was not what I expected, and it forced me to think about who we are as an organization, what we will not apologize for, and what it means to us when we say Sub:Culture was founded as a faith-based organization.

I had to do some soul searching.

When I started Sub:Culture in 2018, I’d watched students face significant barriers to their academic success, spiritual, emotional, and social well-being. I identified four main categories of barriers that my students and students across the country seemed to keep encountering.

There were spiritual barriers. Students had a hard time making meaning and sensing the…