By Katie Willingham
I attended a workshop at USCHA called "Supporting Trans Leadership in Cis-Led Organizations" and it was very interesting and insightful. It was led by three women from the Transgender Strategy Center; I'll withhold their names for their privacy. They talked about some common challenges and barriers to trans people advancing through the ranks in their organizations, such as tokenism, biases, microaggressions, and just plain hateful discrimination. Here are some points discussed in the session:
Unaddressed biases can dictate engagement from both sides, where tokenism of trans people is used to serve an organization's image rather than those individuals being fully embraced and empowered. Intentional mentorship and support systems for cis and trans people are scarce, and microaggressions only perpetuate harm and abuse.
There are "glass ceiling barriers" where trans people often face unseen limits to advancement, and vague "culture-fit" metrics disguise bias and suppress internal advancement.
Devaluation of lived experience is another issue. College degrees are often prioritized over lived experiences and developed survival skills, creativity, and resilience; being subject matter experts isn't always respected.
Yet another concern is unequal opportunities for professional development. Those with established networks are often favored for opportunities; this prevents trans staff from accessing mentorship opportunities and specialized workshops. Because of rigid paid time off policies, trans people often must use all their personal time to account for their healing needs.
I learned a lot about tokenism in this workshop. At the end of the workshop, before we were dismissed, the presenters split the room into two groups to discuss a hypothetical scenario from different perspectives. As I listened to them speak about this topic, I thought about the organizations that I am affiliated with. I thought about how they measure up in comparison to the hypothetical situation in the example the speakers were presenting to us. I thought about times that I had felt tokenized myself and considered my own part in this. Was I allowing the tokenization of me because either I didn't recognize it as such at the time, or I accepted it feeling like I was at least at the table? I figured if you're at the table, you're not on the menu – but I could be wrong, not for the first time.
But for the most part, I feel really fortunate to be with the organizations that I work with because they do not make me feel like I'm there for nothing other than as a seat warmer and a checkmark on their inclusion list.
The Well Project, for example, has never tokenized my participation with them. They care deeply for trans women and nurture them, giving opportunities for us to work with our own communities and to be treated exactly like our counterparts in the organization, and offered the same opportunities.
Other organizations I work with are much the same, though not always perfect; but for the most part, I feel really fortunate to be part of the community and organizations that I work with.
There were some great points made around the room, and I learned a lot from everyone's differing views. I tried to take notes but I'm horrible at taking notes so I can't remember what everyone said, but I don't think that's what's important. I came away with a knowledge that I didn't understand before and is important for me to know as a woman of transgender experience who has been and can be tokenized. But with this knowledge under my belt, I will not be tokenized again.
More from The Well Project on the 2026 United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA 2026)
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