Bali White | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Education | African, Environmental, Gender Studies |
Alma mater | Columbia University |
Occupation(s) | Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health |
Known for | Human Rights Activism |
Awards | see below |
Bali White (born January 10, Indianapolis, Indiana) is a researcher and writer interested in African, environmental, and gender studies. She is currently a Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A trans woman, she is also a community organizer and advocate addressing transgender identity, legal, health care and social concerns at the national, state and local levels. [1] [2] Her research and activist work around transgender advocacy and ballroom community youth has been influential in the field of public health. She previously served on the National Advisory Board for the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health [3] and managed the CDC-funded initiatives for young trans women and MSM in the ballroom community at the Hetrick-Martin Institute.
White received her Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures and a Master of Arts in Climate and Society from Columbia University. During her time at Columbia, she produced a report for the United Nations Environment Programme on international climate change initiatives. White can speak advanced Kiswahili, intermediate Hindi/Urdu and elementary Spanish and French.
White originally moved to New York City on a summer professional ballet scholarship to the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was introduced to the art of Kathak by her Guru Najma Ayashah. While in Rajasthan on a Hindi/Urdu scholarship in 2005, Bali studied with Rm honorific Shashi Sankhla, guru-sister to Najma under Pandit Kundan Lal Gangani of the Jaipur Gharana.
White worked as a Research Consultant for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and assisted in the completion of Transgender Women and HIV Prevention in New York City: A Needs Assessment. [4] [5] White also worked as the Coordinator of Transgender Programming at Housing Works, [6] [7] has been a research assistant for National Development and Research Institutes's Transgender Project [8] and an Assistant Project Director on the House Ball Study (HBS), an ethnographic study of the House/Ball community (a largely NYC queer of color social network) through GMHC.
White works to change the narrative around relationships among transgender women whose sexual partners are often ignored, to the detriment of effective HIV outreach. [9] She fought for a program at Housing Works, where partners come in one night a week. [10] White has also served on the board of directors for the Sylvia Rivera Law Project [11] and has traveled extensively to meet and network with transgender groups abroad including India and East African countries.
White was an invited panelist on "The System. The Reality. The Solution. Honoring and Protecting the Lives of Black Trans Women" during the National Black Justice Coalition's OUT on the Hill event. [12] [13]
Scout, Emilia Lombardi, and Bali White. "Letters to the Editors RE: Butch/Femme, F2M, Pregnant Man, TrannyBoi: Gender Issues in the Lesbian Community." Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health , 14.3 (2010): 257–58. Print. [14]
Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. People of color who are transgender experience discrimination above and beyond that which can be explained as a simple combination of transphobia and racism.
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identity or alleviates gender dysphoria.
Violence against transgender people includes emotional, physical, sexual, or verbal violence targeted towards transgender people. The term has also been applied to hate speech directed at transgender people and at depictions of transgender people in the media that reinforce negative stereotypes about them. Trans and non-binary gender adolescents can experience bashing in the form of bullying and harassment. When compared to their cisgender peers, trans and non-binary gender youth are at increased risk for victimisation and substance abuse.
Sexual attraction to transgender people has been the subject of scientific study and social commentary. Psychologists have researched sexual attraction toward trans women, trans men, cross dressers, non-binary people, and a combination of these. Publications in the field of transgender studies have investigated the attraction transgender individuals can feel for each other. The people who feel this attraction to transgender people name their attraction in different ways.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, commonly called The Center, is a nonprofit organization serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) population of New York City and nearby communities.
Sexuality in transgender individuals encompasses all the issues of sexuality of other groups, including establishing a sexual identity, learning to deal with one's sexual needs, and finding a partner, but may be complicated by issues of gender dysphoria, side effects of surgery, physiological and emotional effects of hormone replacement therapy, psychological aspects of expressing sexuality after medical transition, or social aspects of expressing their gender.
The Audre Lorde Project is a Brooklyn, New York–based organization for LGBTQ people of color. The organization concentrates on community organizing and radical nonviolent activism around progressive issues within New York City, especially relating to LGBTQ communities, AIDS and HIV activism, pro-immigrant activism, prison reform and organizing among youth of color. It is named for the lesbian-feminist poet and activist Audre Lorde and was founded in 1994.
Many retirement issues for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBTQ) and intersex people are unique from their non-LGBTI counterparts and these populations often have to take extra steps addressing their employment, health, legal and housing concerns to ensure their needs are met. Throughout the United States, "2 million people age 50 and older identify as LGBT, and that number is expected to double by 2030", estimated in a study done by the Institute for Multigenerational Health at the University of Washington. In 1969, the Stonewall Riots marked the start of the modern gay rights movement and increasingly LGBTQ+ people have become more visible and accepted into mainstream cultures. LGBTQ+ elders and retirees are still considered a newer phenomenon creating challenges and opportunities as a range of aging issues are becoming more understood as those who live open lives redefine commonly held beliefs and as retirees newly come out of the closet.
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people face difficulties in prison such as increased vulnerability to sexual assault, other kinds of violence, and trouble accessing necessary medical care. While much of the available data on LGBTQ inmates comes from the United States, Amnesty International maintains records of known incidents internationally in which LGBTQ prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have suffered torture, ill-treatment and violence at the hands of fellow inmates as well as prison officials.
Various issues in medicine relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. According to the US Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), besides HIV/AIDS, issues related to LGBT health include breast and cervical cancer, hepatitis, mental health, substance use disorders, alcohol use, tobacco use, depression, access to care for transgender persons, issues surrounding marriage and family recognition, conversion therapy, refusal clause legislation, and laws that are intended to "immunize health care professionals from liability for discriminating against persons of whom they disapprove."
The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health care. A major goal of transgender activism is to allow changes to identification documents to conform with a person's current gender identity without the need for gender-affirming surgery or any medical requirements, which is known as gender self-identification. It is part of the broader LGBT rights movements.
The U.S. state of New York has generally been seen as socially liberal in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) rights. LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". The advocacy movement for LGBT rights in the state has been dated as far back as 1969 during the Stonewall riots in New York City. Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults has been legal since the New York v. Onofre case in 1980. Same-sex marriage has been legal statewide since 2011, with some cities recognizing domestic partnerships between same-sex couples since 1998. Discrimination protections in credit, housing, employment, education, and public accommodation have explicitly included sexual orientation since 2003 and gender identity or expression since 2019. Transgender people in the state legally do not have to undergo sex reassignment surgery to change their sex or gender on official documents since 2014. In addition, both conversion therapy on minors and the gay and trans panic defense have been banned since 2019. Since 2021, commercial surrogacy has been legally available within New York State.
Aisha Diori is an Events Director, Community Mobiliser, HIV/AIDS Preventionist, educator, Talk Show Host, Event MC, Pan-Africanist, and has been named "Iconic Mother" in Ball culture. Her father is Abdoulaye Hamani Diori, a Nigerien political leader and business person, and her mother is Betty Graves, the first Ghanaian / Nigerian woman to own a travel agency in Nigeria.
"Kiki", a term which started in ballroom culture, and was also for decades used in lesbian lingo to refer to a woman who was neither butch nor femme. The use of kiki as a gathering was later made more famous in the 2012 song "Let's Have a Kiki" by the Scissor Sisters, and has recently been brought back to slang by the LGBT community, is loosely defined as a gathering of friends for the purpose of gossiping and chit-chat.
Cecilia Chung is a civil rights leader and activist for LGBT rights, HIV/AIDS awareness, health advocacy, and social justice. She is a trans woman, and her life story was one of four main storylines in the 2017 ABC miniseries When We Rise about LGBT rights in the 1970s and 1980s.
Tiq Milan is an American writer, public speaker, activist, and strategic media consultant. Past positions have included national spokesperson for GLAAD and senior media strategist of national news for GLAAD, and mentor and teacher at the Hetrick-Martin Institute. His advocacy, LGBTQ activism, and journalism has been recognized nationally.
The African-American LGBT community, otherwise referred to as the Black American LGBT community, is part of the overall LGBTQ culture and overall African-American culture. The initialism LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
Queer erasure refers to the tendency to intentionally or unintentionally remove LGBT groups or people from record, or downplay their significance, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.
Many women have been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. The majority of HIV/AIDS cases in women are directly influenced by high-risk sexual activities, injectional drug use, the spread of medical misinformation, and the lack of adequate reproductive health resources in the United States. Women of color, LGBT women, homeless women, women in the sex trade, and women intravenous drug users are at a high-risk for contracting the HIV/AIDS virus. In an article published by the Annual Review of Sociology, Celeste Watkins Hayes, an American sociologist, scholar, and professor wrote, "Women are more likely to be forced into survival-focused behaviors such as transactional sex for money, housing, protection, employment, and other basic needs; power-imbalanced relationships with older men; and other partnerings in which they cannot dictate the terms of condom use, monogamy, or HIV." The largest motivator to become part of the sex trade was addiction, the second largest being basic needs, and the third was to support their children/family.