Trans Resource and Referral Guide (TRRG) Project Coordinator Mattie Mooney lifts up the importance of the King County Trans Resource and Referral Guide in a Seattle Gay News (SGN) op-ed this week.
Check out the full article HERE!
RSVP for the TRRG launch Party HERE!
As Transgender people across the country face escalating attacks in the areas of healthcare access, legal recognition, education, and public life, Washington has become both a refuge and a frontline.
Recently, the Seattle LGBTQ Commission called on the City of Seattle to declare a civil emergency in response to increasing pressures facing LGBTQIA+ communities, particularly Transgender people seeking safety, stability, and support in Washington state. The proposal also reflects concerns that housing, healthcare, food assistance, legal services, and mental health resources are struggling to keep pace with growing demand.
The challenge isn’t just a lack of resources. Whether or not the city ultimately declares an emergency, the conversation itself highlights a reality many organizations have been navigating for years: people cannot access resources they do not know exist.
Transgender and gender-diverse people also continue to encounter systems that were not built with our experiences, needs, or safety in mind. As a result, they are often forced to navigate a patchwork of underfunded services, disconnected information, and siloed organizations while trying to meet basic needs.
My critique is that too many organizations, collectives, community members, etc., are doing that work in isolation from one another, without the infrastructure needed to consistently share information, coordinate support, identify gaps, and collectively respond to emerging needs.
Resource guide
That is why the return of the 2026 King County Trans Resource & Referral Guide matters. For nearly a decade, it has served as one of the few centralized collections of resources created specifically for Transgender, Nonbinary, and gender-diverse people in our region.
Funded through a King County grant, the guide builds upon previous editions in 2014 and 2017. The project is led by the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, which is currently supporting this work alongside a Transgender community advisory board composed of Trans and gender-diverse people, helping shape the guide’s priorities, content, and direction.
This guide has been — and continues to be — part of a broader effort to strengthen the infrastructure of care that Transgender and gender-diverse communities need to survive and thrive. It represents a collective investment in the idea that access to information, community knowledge, and coordinated support are essential components of safety, health, and liberation.
The guide arrives amid growing public discussion about how local governments, service providers, and community organizations can better respond to the changing needs of Transgender and gender-diverse residents. Questions about coordination, capacity, accessibility, and long-term investment in community support systems are increasingly shaping policy conversations across the region. These questions become even more pressing as Transgender and gender-diverse people across the country face increasing political attacks.
Across many states, lawmakers and policymakers have introduced or enacted measures that restrict access to healthcare, limit participation in public life, censor educational content, and undermine legal recognition and protections. These efforts create uncertainty, deepen existing barriers to care and support, and place additional burdens on individuals, families, and community organizations working to meet urgent needs.
Historically, Transgender and gender-diverse communities have responded to institutional barriers by creating mutual aid networks, informal housing programs, health education efforts, resource lists, support groups, transportation networks, emergency funds, and safety plans. We shared information with one another, because we understood that survival often depended on it.
The 2026 King County Trans Resource & Referral Guide is part of that legacy. This year’s guide is designed to meet people where they are.
Rather than relying on a single format, the project combines a traditional printed guide with a security-enhanced online platform intended to increase accessibility, flexibility, and safety. Users will be able to access resources through QR cards, magnets, stickers, and a portable quick-reference guide designed to be carried and shared throughout King County.
The website has been developed with enhanced privacy and security measures in recognition of the increasingly hostile climate many Transgender and gender-diverse people face.
Check out the full article HERE!