Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to a very special on location episode of Trans Heartbeat. My name is Michelle Matlock, your host, and I encourage the use of all pronouns. I'm here in Washington, D.C. at the Creating Change Conference 2026, one of the largest gatherings of LGBTQ plus changemakers in the country. The Traction team has arrived, energized and ready to connect, share and build.
Speaker: We have Michael Aspin-El and Mia Byrne, including myself, with us on this journey. So this is going to be a little adventure that you get to go on behind the scenes at a Creating Change conference. There's so much to do here at these conferences.
Speaker: Each hour is a different session or gathering from Buddhist meditation to Black activism, to politics, to safety, to cabaret performances. It is an amazing collection of events.
Speaker: And in this episode, we'll also take you inside of Traction's presentation that we did here at the conference, where we shared the powerful story of Project Open Arms, our grassroots trans plus resettlement initiative.
Speaker: And we celebrate the joy and strength of community with our very first Open Arms Transplant L3. So buckle prepare for the ride. Here we go. Day two of creating change, and it was Traction's big day.
Speaker: Our presentation was called From Banish to Belonging, Building Trans Plus Community Power Through Domestic Resettlement. That morning, we did a quick practice run, feeling ready, feeling grounded.
Speaker: Then the room started to fill up with participants. And right before we began, we all got the text message. The main conference event was running over. All workshops delayed 30 minutes.
Speaker: A little moment of, oh no But thank goodness we had Mia Byrne on our team. Mia grabbed her guitar and gave the room an incredible mini performance, turning the delay into something joyful and unforgettable.
Speaker: I'm way too fucking famous be this boy. I'm way too fucking famous to be this boy.
Speaker: And then we launched. I started by introducing Traction, our mission, and the programs we've built to create connection, visibility, and belonging for trans and gender non-conforming people.
Speaker: Michael shared how Project Open Arms was born in response to the growing crisis of anti-trans laws and forced migration. Aspen walked through the real work, volunteers, safety, support, and helping people rebuild their lives.
Speaker: And then El Cree, our very first transplant, featured in our episode six, brought it all home with the truth of what it means to finally not feel alone. We talked challenges, we talked hope, and we left that room reminded of something powerful.
Speaker: This is what community looks like, and this is what belonging sounds like. Day three at Creating Change. And honestly, this was the day we could finally breathe.
Speaker: After the intensity and heart of presentation day, we woke up with something rare at a conference, a little freedom. This was the team's chance to explore, to split up, dive into different sessions, and soak up the brilliance happening all around us.
Speaker: Workshops on community care, safety, joy, organizing, and survival. Every room held people doing real, grounded work for LGBTQ plus communities across the country.
Speaker: But the best part of day three, it wasn't even the sessions. It was the people. What's so powerful about creating change is the sheer diversity of who shows up.
Speaker: Different identities, different regions, different movements, all coming together with the same purpose, to change the world. And that's what you'll hear next.
Speaker: A few of the incredible voices we met along the way.
Speaker: Hey everybody, my name is Hope Giselle Godsey and my pronouns are she, her and Beyonce and yes I do mean that seriously. Family, it's Anna Deshaun, your favorite queer radio personality, pronouns, anything respectful is amazing. Coming from Chicago, Illinois, Southside all day, we bear down all day. my name is Bambi Salcedo and I do have the privilege to be the president and CEO of the Transatinao Coalition, which is a national advocacy organization that is based on Los Angeles.
Speaker: Well, hello, beautiful people. um i am the one and only we Love Latonya. I currently live in Jackson City. I am the founder and executive director of Awakenings Love. My name is Lorelei Arises. My pronouns are she and her.
Speaker: Hi, I'm Joy. I'm once here. I'm Alex Capitan and I'm from Western Massachusetts. It's always great to be in community. It's always great to see beautiful and amazing people who are organizing and strategizing for all of us to have a better world.
Speaker: This is a space where I feel like I get to be a Black trans person unapologetically, despite everything else that's going on in the world. And I get to see like-minded folks that are not always Black. but share a similar lineage, understanding of policy, culture in the world um around me and around us.
Speaker: And I just love it. I love it here. It feels like a family reunion, but I also learn a lot of things every time I walk through these doors. I want to be able to help people tell their stories authentically and in a way that speaks true to their community and the folks that they want to reach most.
Speaker: I own two media companies out of Chicago, E3 Radio and The Cube. E3 Radio is our radio station. We're playing queer music all day long. All right, and I'm hosting our award-winning queer news podcast, five or six queer news stories every Monday morning, wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker: Tap in, okay? I know you'll find stories that you do not hear anywhere else. And then we've got The Cube, Q-U-B-E. We're building the largest database of black and brown podcasts so you can find the content you have been desperately searching for. so we out here just trying to solve problems. and making solutions. That's all we hear. And we're doing it for you. So tap in.
Speaker: So Awake and Love is an organization that we aid trans and non-binary people with abilities of self-determination. We just opened the very first trans drop-in center in Jackson, Mississippi. We're making his history. And of course we want to bring you on that ride. So we will love you to reach out to us anywhere you can. um Look us up on any of our social media that's going to be Awakening Love Mississippi. Awakening Love Mississippi. We will love to hear from you, connect with you, collaborate with you. We have had each other's backs for generations and generations, way before anyone even wanted to admit that we existed. So this current political moment is really tough and it's not everything. It doesn't define you.
Speaker: It can't stop you from being who you are. And we got each other. Transitioning is the best thing i ever did for myself. It made me a better person. It gave me these amazing perspectives on the world. It let me meet all kinds of wonderful people. And most importantly, it let me be myself. If I could go back and choose again, i would making exactly the same choice. I would transition again with everything I know, even today, yeah in a heartbeat.
Speaker: There is a path forward that is open for you. Okay? So please know that you are loved and the world is better with you in it.
Speaker: I just want to say for the beautiful, amazing, incredible young people to remember that you do have power, that individually and as a community have power, that you are a divine creation and they bring your light everywhere, anywhere.
Speaker: Don't be apologetic about who you are. Always be you. We're here to do the work. We're here to love on trans people. And we're here to love on you because we need our allies as well. So thank you so much for just being you and thriving and moving forward towards our community because you matter too. And we love you. Love.
Speaker: Mwah.
Speaker: Day four at Creating Change, our final day. And wow, we went out with a bang. The conference actually had to wrap early because a massive snowstorm was rolling into the East Coast.
Speaker: And we knew we had to get out of DC fast if we didn't want to get snowed in. But even with the early goodbye, day four did not disappoint because that night,
Speaker: We stepped into the agents of change ball. And I mean a real ball. Think Paris is burning. Think pose, runway categories, costumes, judges, trophies, giving face, giving realness, giving excellence. And just a quick note.
Speaker: Ballroom culture was created by Black and Latino LGBTQ plus communities, building house and ball spaces for survival, artistry, and chosen family.
Speaker: And it's shaped dance, fashion, and culture for generations. The room was electric. We even ran into the magnificent Rio Antone. Yes, our episode four icon who absolutely brought the house down during the songbird competition.
Speaker: And then the moment. Guest judge Dominique Jackson, Electra Abundance Evangelista herself, walked the runway and reminded everyone in the room of our power, our beauty, and our legacy.
Speaker: This honor is not just for me because I am not the only advocate for change. As a Black trans woman, as a Caribbean immigrant, I've been scared. I've been very scared. And when I look to people to help me, they turn their backs because they thought I was star.
Speaker: So I had to remember that I am a star.
Speaker: And remembering that I a star, I had to remember that it is each and every one of you that got me here. It is each and every one of your stories that helped me. It each and every one of you that said to me, here's a drink at the bar, you're going through it, going to help you.
Speaker: It's to those of you who said, I love you, I support you. So this award, Advocacy for Change, does not belong to me. It belongs to each and every one of you in this room and to each and every advocate that I name.
Speaker: Thank you all so very much.
Speaker: We're beautiful. Yes, we're beautiful.
Speaker: free. What way to close creating change. In joy, in glamour, in community. Ballroom, baby. That's a wrap from Creating Change 2026. We came to DC with open hearts and left with new friends, powerful partnerships, and renewed hope for the future of our trans plus communities.
Speaker: The energy in these rooms reminded us that we are not alone and that when we come together, we build the world we deserve. Until next time, keep your heart open and your joy loud.
