ABOVE: The inaugural class of Equality Florida’s TransAction Leadership Academy. Photo courtesy Gina Duncan.
ST. PETERSBURG | Equality Florida’s transgender inclusion initiative TransAction Florida has announced the inaugural class of its TransAction Leadership Academy.
The academy is designed to train and develop the next generation of transgender or gender nonbinary (enby) leaders in the areas of advocacy, policy and management. Participants range from ages 18-30 and were required to live in St. Petersburg, commit to attending all classes and present a final dissertation to be considered.
Equality Florida announced July 10 that nine leaders were chosen for its inaugural class, which began June 20 by outlining TransAction Florida’s history, structure and mission. Future sessions will focus on topics like safe and healthy schools, HIV/AIDS, equality in the world of business, message and media advocacy training, facilitation skills and more. Courses will culminate Dec. 19 with a graduation ceremony featuring Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith and Director of Transgender Equality Gina Duncan.
“In my opinion, nothing is more important than growing future leaders and providing a platform for their voices to be heard,” Duncan says. “Now, more than ever, we must support the future leaders of the trans/enby movement and ensure that the progress we have fought so hard to achieve, continues until all Floridians are treated fairly and equally under the law.”
Duncan says that the program stems from a statewide leadership conference held in St. Petersburg two years ago. A diverse array of leaders came together to formulate a plan to strengthen the transgender and nonbinary communities, discovering a generational division between activists of varying ages in the process.
“We knew there was a need for bridging this divide,” Duncan recalls. “We wanted to start growing young leaders and providing them with the tools to find and elevate their voices to be effective advocates for our community. This seemed like a natural way to accomplish that.”
Duncan says that the inaugural class’ authenticity and their commitment to supporting the LGBTQ community at large has been an inspiration. “They have no hidden agendas,” she says, “just a pure desire to support the community and to promote equality.”
While the inaugural class is developing leaders in St. Petersburg, a second will be held in Orlando next January. A third will follow in Jacksonville and a fourth will take place in Fort Lauderdale, dates forthcoming.
“We know our fight for social equality is a marathon, not a sprint, and we need leaders to whom we can pass the torch,” Duncan stresses. “Let the next generation progress further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation.”
For more information about Equality Florida, visit EQFL.org. For more information about TransAction Florida and its leadership academy, visit EQFL.org/TransActionFL.
