Institute for Public Strategies Embraces the Transgender Community

The Institute for Public Strategies (IPS) stands firmly in solidarity with transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming individuals and communities. We celebrate your strength, your resilience, and your full humanity. You are indispensable to our collective life–neighbors, leaders, caregivers, thinkers, creators, and change-makers. We center your voices, not sideline them.

Legal, political, and social arenas increasingly attack transgender rights and safety. Recent executive and judicial orders restrict transgender rights and create an environment rife with uncertainty, fear, and harm. These policies do not simply affect distant ideologies. They directly imperil the well-being of our staff, organizational partners, and the individuals, families, and communities we want to uplift.

Our Binding Commitment

Aligned with our mission to cultivate safe, healthy, and equitable communities, IPS commits to acting with integrity, courage, and persistence:

• Elevating voices and visibility. To trans community members: You are incredible. You are valid. No law, court, or government pronouncement can erase your identity or worth. We will amplify your stories, your brilliance, and your vital light.
• Defending rights and dignity. We will advocate for the civil, health, and human rights of transgender individuals, ensuring full access to healthcare, safety, expression, and opportunity.
• Centering trans leadership. We will engage trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people to lead and guide the work that affects them—from design to implementation to evaluation.
• Affirming identity without question. At IPS, we will never ask anyone to justify their identity, pronouns, or existence. We treat respect and dignity as nonnegotiables.
• Transforming systems. We will leverage our approaches in community organizing, media advocacy, policy development, research, and capacity building to dismantle injustice and build institutions rooted in equity and power.
• Holding ourselves accountable. This is not a one-time declaration but a lasting covenant. We will track our progress, solicit feedback from trans communities, adapt where needed, and never shy away from internal and external accountability.

About IPS

For decades, the Institute for Public Strategies has worked alongside communities to build power, challenge systemic inequities, protect health, and improve quality of life. Through partnerships at local, state, and national levels, IPS advances prevention, health equity, and change initiatives that strengthen community well-being. Our vision is of safe, secure, and vibrant communities where all people can thrive—regardless of race, gender identity, or background.