Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Myles Brady: Howard Brown's first transgender outreach coordinator
by Joe Franco
2014-12-17

This article shared 15506 times since Wed Dec 17, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Myles Brady, a Chicago native from Hyde Park, has been named Howard Brown Health Center's first-ever Transgender Outreach Coordinator. He has taken those first steps to make Howard Brown his home and to reach out to an often marginalized cross-section of the LGBT community.

Windy City Times: As a trans man, when did you first know that you were trans? Is there a "coming out" process for transgender individuals? To those who do not understand what transgenderism is, how would you explain it to them?

Myles Brady:As a very young child, I knew that there was something uniquely different about me. I realized that I wasn't 100-percent male like my brother or female like my sister. I didn't know what "trans" was when I was younger, so I had to learned how to love and accept myself as that third sex.

I lived as a gender-nonconforming child. My parents gave me a lot of freedom and even though they didn't understand it they gave me the space to dress and express myself as I pleased. Coming out as trans is a different process for everyone. I cherish the fact that I got to explore aspects of my transness as a young child and that my parents were supportive in this way. Transgender is not identifying with the sex that you are assigned at birth, and ultimately making a decision and steps to live as the sex that you authentically know that you are.

WCT: What are your duties as the transgender outreach coordinator? Where would you like to see trans relations and outreach go in the future?

Myles Brady:The transgender outreach coordinator at Howard Brown Health Center ( HBHC ) is a new position that HBHC created this year. It's distinctly geared to engage transpeople into three programs that our team runs: our monthly Drop-In called After Hours, and our transgender specific support groups TYRA and T-Time. While I am excited to be collaborating with other organizations on the issues of trans health, my goal is to reach the folks who have never set foot into an LGBTQ medical center due to the years of transphobia and oppression our community has had to endure.

In my time in the field, I have seen a lack of representation and visibility of trans men of color and I felt that I had something more to offer the community in a full-time capacity. I've been mentoring young people in an unofficial capacity for years and definitely see the great need for strong mentors, community outreach on the South and West [sides] of Chicago, [and] HIV prevention and life skills.

My job as the transgender outreach coordinator operates twofold. I oversee community outreach for HBHC Trans services and I also coordinate the TYRA programming at the BYC. I have a passionate approach for working with youth and I also believe in grassroots organizing and community collaboration. I'm excited to use my connections to extend Howard Brown's reach to other parts of the city that are in need of community based resources.

WCT: How large of a population does the Howard Brown transgender outreach program reach? Do you think people of color and other minorities have insufficient access to the kind of health and psychological care necessary to make a safe transition from one gender to another? How do you think Howard Brown can help satisfy that void?

Myles Brady:Our team has set a goal of reaching 175 trans people a month with the hope that of those 175, 100 will be trans women of color. While our programs serve all trans and gender non-conforming people, our goal is to engage as many transwomen of color because they are the most at risk to be living with HIV. Historically in this country, minorities have had insufficient access to health and mental services and care. And even though no agency is without its flaws, Howard Brown's very existence has always been to eliminate the disparities in health care experience through research, education, and the provision of services.

WCT: The trans community, as a whole, is an "at-risk" population, seeing higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse and suicide as well as higher rates of hate crime and bullying. But within the sphere of transgender people, do you think there is a particular group that is even more marginalized or at risk? Why?

Myles Brady:I feel all trans people are a part of the "at-risk" population. I could talk about all the times I have been made to feel unwelcome, physically unsafe, or the constant risk of automatic criminalization just for being Black and male.

However, trans women of color have it particularly rough, they experience higher rates of physical and sexual assault, more likely to be discriminated against during hiring. They are more likely to be fired and denied promotions, are more often affected by HIV. They are also more likely to have a court stop or limit their relationship with their children, are at increased risk of incarceration, serve more time and experience greater physical and sexualized assault from law enforcement and while incarcerated.

WCT: Where do you see yourself in the future?

Myles Brady:I see myself still on the front line doing the work! My community has gain a lot of momentum but we still have a long way to go. And in the next 10 years I see my partner, Precious Davis, and I starting a family and working as spiritual healers and philanthropist within the trans and African-American communities.


This article shared 15506 times since Wed Dec 17, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Nex Benedict's autopsy report released
2024-03-27
The full autopsy report for Nex Benedict (he/they)—a 16-year-old transgender and Indigenous student from Oklahoma's Owasso High School who died in February a day after a school fight—has been released. The Oklahoma Office of the Chie ...


Gay News

An interstate trans healthcare crisis: Illinois prepares for influx of people seeking gender-affirming care
2024-03-26
With hard-won rights, such as access to hormone replacement therapy or permission to use one's chosen pronouns in school, breaking down in states across the country, trans residents of all ages are left with a choice: ...


Gay News

After 30 Under 30: MAP Executive Director Naomi Goldberg
2024-03-25
NOTE: In this series, Windy City Times will profile some of its past 30 Under 30 honorees. Windy City Times started its 30 Under 30 Awards in 2001, presenting them each year through 2019. This year, ...


Gay News

No charges filed in Nex Benedict fight; campaigns call for Walters' removal
2024-03-22
In Oklahoma, Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler announced that no charges will be filed in connection with the fight that happened the day before transgender, nonbinary high school student Nex Benedict died by suicide, NBC ...


Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97
2024-03-22
series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Va. marriage bill, AARP, online counseling, Idaho items, late activist
2024-03-21
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills protecting same-sex marriages at a state level, surprising some, WRIC reported. The bills—passed out of both chambers along mostly party lines—will require clerks ...


Gay News

Almost 8% of U.S. residents identify as LGBTQ+
2024-03-16
The proportion of U.S. adults identifying as LGBTQ+ continues to increase. LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as LGBTQ+, according to the newest Gallup poll results that ...


Gay News

WORLD Leaked messages, Panama action, author dies at 32, Japan court, out athletes
2024-03-15
Hundreds of messages from an internal chat board for an international group of transgender health professionals were leaked in a report and framed as revealing serious health risks associated with gender-affirming care, including cancer, according to ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools
2024-03-15
In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

College athletes sue NCAA over transgender policies
2024-03-15
Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among a group of college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on March 14, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing trans swimmer Lia Thomas ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition'
2024-03-15
Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SPORTS Red Stars prepare to kick off NWSL season against Utah Royals
2024-03-15
It's been a busy winter for the Red Stars, and it's time to put their work to the test. Following a last place finish in the 2023 NWSL season, Chicago has had an active offseason transforming ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ people attacked by mobs in Greece
2024-03-14
Just weeks after a landmark law granted same-sex couples in Greece the right to marry, nearly 200 people dressed in black chased a transgender couple through the town square in Thessaloniki, the country's "second city" and ...


Gay News

Howard Brown experts discuss advocacy and allyship for Chicago's trans community
2024-03-14
By Alec Karam - Howard Brown Health's Trans & Gender Diverse People's Rights & Patient Care panel convened March 12 to discuss both resources for—and opportunities to provide allyship to—the city's trans and gender diverse communities. The event hos ...


Gay News

UPDATE: Nex Benedict's death ruled a suicide; family responds
2024-03-13
A medical examiner's report concluded that the cause of death of Oklahoma student Nex Benedict (he/they) was suicide, media reports confirmed. Benedict—a 16-year-old transgender student—died Feb. 8, a day after ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.