Rebuilding Democracy Through Trans Justice: Interview with TENT’s Executive Director, Emmett Schelling

Want to listen to the full interview? Listen below.

This discussion took place back in late Summer before the 2024 Presidential Election. Post election results, TGNC communities are anxiously anticipating more violent policies, more restrictions on gender affirming care and physical harm against trans and gender non-conforming people by this incoming administration and it’s supporters. Now is the time to get our bearings, pull from within and continue to act. When we remember who we are and what we stand for, we have everything we need to collectively survive and thrive.

Inside of this discussion, Transgender Education Network of Texas’ Executive Director, Emmett Schelling highlights issues and conditions facing trans and gender non-conforming people in the U.S. broadly. He also underscores the importance of infrastructure and resources for the trans justice movement to reach equitable conditions, full authentic lives and a route to liberation.

TJFP: Thank you for sharing with us! We are honored to be in this conversation about trans justice and democracy with a deeply-rooted leader on the ground in Texas. To start, can you tell readers more about yourself and TENT?

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His: My name is Emmett Schelling. My pronouns are he/him/his. I’m currently the Executive Director for the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT). TENT is a trans-led statewide policy education and community engagement organization. We’re really proud that throughout our board and our staff we’re also BIPOC trans led majority. We feel like that’s a really important piece to really put into action – what does it mean to center? And where are the people centered in the positions that really hold power within the organization?

And so, with all that, you know, we deal with Texas legislation, which I think is pretty infamous across the nation. And I came in 2016 as a volunteer. Then in 2017, took over as Executive Director. We had $16,000 in the bank in 2017, and we were in the middle of the bathroom bill.

But I’m really proud to say that right now, in 2024, we have 11 full time staffers and 2 part time staff.

We are proud of the work that we’re doing all throughout the State and really proud of the team that we’ve been able to bring together to really fight against what’s happening. But I think more importantly than fighting, is to remind our people of the joy we inherently have because we’ve discovered who we are. In our organizing and in our work, we want that to be centered and continuously reflected as opposed to this idea, that we’re an organization that just has to defend all this bad stuff. We really understand and uphold the value of self-determination.

Like, that’s a trans person. That’s a trans person in the South, too. When you know yourself so innately and so deeply, you are willing to take that step to let the world know and understand what the trade off will be. But also understanding the thing that they can never take away. It’s just this fierce, deep knowledge that we have of ourselves. That’s what’s scary for people.

TJFP: So, our next question for you is on the path to rebuild democracy. Transgender justice work is often not associated with this effort. How is trans justice work tied to rebuilding democracy and reshaping our society?

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His: Your democracy is as strong as the weakest part of it. When you look at the State of Texas right now, and you look at how just blatantly our leadership is tarnishing the ideals of what democracy is. They’re twisting words into something that is completely foreign to what they say that they’re representing, when they say they’re fighting for a democracy. It’s trying to get vouchers to make sure that the ability for free, fair public education to every student is not available anymore. And when people hear things like, school voucher fights, they’re like, ‘It feels overwhelming. It feels like maybe they’re not tied to it.’ But I think, like the simplicity of it, is understanding when we’re talking about needing to rebuild our democracy. We’re understanding that it’s already been harmed. Our courts have been stacked.

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His: All of the things that are scary-like spooky-like boogeyman in the dark monsters. People went through so much trauma back to back to back. And on top of it, we were stuck in our homes for about half of that time. We have to be real about what it really takes for, what I refer to, as the Great Wide Awakening on racism during George Floyd. Because that already happened, and his name was Eric Garner. We didn’t pay attention, and we didn’t listen like we did with George Floyd. People really like to forget the circumstances that we had to be in as a collective nation, to come to an understanding that Black Americans were being deeply and systemically, continuously harmed.

When I think about what rebuilding democracy looks like and thinking about what is trans justice, Monica Roberts used to tell me all the time that “trans people, especially in the South were the canaries in the coal mine of the modern-day Civil Rights movement.” 

I don’t think I appreciated that wisdom [then] as fully as I continue to day by day. As things continue to evolve down here in the State of Texas. I realize that piece [while] looking back through like the decade I’ve been doing this now. When I like flagged, while we were talking about bathrooms, ‘What are we gonna say when they start talking about locker rooms?’ The more established organizations looked at me and laughed, and said, “Oh, well look at the paranoid trans person.”

Two years ago, when I flagged, we had good knowledge and intel that the State was aggregating a comprehensive list of trans people in the State of Texas. Organizations were like, Oh, ha, ha! Okay, there’s wackadoodle trans Emmett. And what do you know? The State literally admitted and confirmed that they are doing that. And so time and time again, when I think about it, do we want a strong democracy? Trans people must be a part of that. Because if we are not, democracy is not strong. Because we know that, we are indicators of voter ID restrictive laws. We know that we are indicators of the socioeconomic health of a community.

TJFP: There is a really big opportunity for allies and supporters to understand their role as a cisgender person or a person has loved ones that are trans and gender non-conforming, or even identifies, as queer and as a part of the larger LGBT community, but may not understand what their role is to flank and support trans justice at large. How can allies and supporters amplify the voice of the trans justice movement and invest in trans communities specifically?

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His: Yeah, I think one of the biggest ways funders can put an end to some of the nonsense that’s been happening, is by asking organizations that are not trans-specific orgs that are doing trans specific work: What trans organizations are they partnering with? And how is that partnership looking? Like really actually make them explain it. Because then you’ll understand, are they partnering because they need a check mark? Because they need a token? Or are they partnering because they’re really actually trying to get wisdom? They’re trying to partner. They’re trying to come learn and also educate. It has to be reciprocity within any relationship, even within equity.

In understanding that, those are the questions that funders can ask and find out really, really easily. Unfortunately, we know, organizations like TENT, we are literally like the only one of our kind in many senses, and by far the largest state policy organization. In terms of funding Texas, you have cis, LGB organizations or other partner organizations doing this work, and you have an organization like TENT in your backyard. How are you partnering? What’s going on?What does that work look like? How long has that work gone on?

And, that will tell you, pretty clearly and resolutely, where an organization is with their commitment to trans people, with their commitment to trans justice, with their commitment to seeing that we live in a state that is safe and healthy for all of us. Not just cis[gender] gay people, who have been afforded professional opportunities to be your big fancy donors and do your big fancy things. But how are you showing up?

TJFP: The hope and the dream is for trans and gender non-conforming  people to live their most authentic safe lives freely. What does a trans liberated future look like? How can we resource and support our communities to get there?

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His: Yeah, a trans liberated future looks like not just trans people feeling liberated to express fully who they are, their gender expression, or how they show up, or who they understand themselves innately to be. It’s everybody having that freedom. It’s everybody feeling that kind of liberation that they exist in a society that recognizes their humanity.

Regardless of how different my experience is than this other person’s experiences, both of us deserve dignity. Both of us deserve respect. Both of us deserve agency to live and to be self-determined in who we are, and how our lives play out. At the end of it, that’s what it looks like.

Emmett Schelling: How do we resource it? I mean, oof. Trans-led organizations [are] still getting 4 cents to every $1 dollar that’s coming to philanthropy is one thing. I’m gonna do a little bit of a shameless plug here for TJFP because that was my 1st grant. I came into this work so atypically, and I knew nothing literally about nonprofits because I never ever planned to be [in] a nonprofit, because it’s literally called nonprofit. Like how am I gonna pay my rent? I’m just saying.

When I got the notice, it was a big deal. Because it felt like, what am I doing? What did I take on? Here I am not being paid for the 1st 3 years and like essentially resourcing this organization to like build power for trans folks in the State of Texas because we understood that a fight was brewing.

When I got that [TJFP grant], I remember the importance of it being from my people was huge. It was more than even the dollar amount. It was something I deeply needed at that point to say, your people see you. They see what you’re trying to do. They’re supporting you. They’re cheering you on. Here’s some money to help with this work that you’re trying to execute. We believe in your vision and we believe in you.

I think at the heart of it. We think about, what does it mean to be trans-led and why is it so important? Why do we need trans leadership? And it’s because [of] the nuances of who we are. We need to be the ones having agency. You can tell me all day, right? Like what it is like being a black trans person, right? And I go around and I talk but, do you ever think that I can really ever give insight to that? Do you think I can really, ever actually speak on that? And it just boggles my brain. Because, you see, so many people speak on trans issues that are not trans.

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His: You just gotta wonder, if somebody invited me to go speak for Black women at a Black women’s lunch, and I rolled on up there and said, Hello! Like I’m here to give you a speech about the power of Black women. I think people would be like what is happening? But people won’t blink an eye when it comes to that with trans folks. 

And this is where I think of TJFP. They have so much more understanding, so much further ahead of like, is this work legit? Is it not? Because we are interconnected in our community. We were talking a little bit right at the beginning of this interview about, how if you’re a Black or trans person of color doing organizing and you’re trans or gender expansive in the South, [then] you either know each other directly, or you know each other through like one degree of separation.

We keep it honest because we also know, if it’s our asses on the line and TJFP is out here giving money to this organization that isn’t doing anything. Try to build that [structure like TJFP] right now. In a fundraising sense, outside of TJFP, good luck.

When I talk about the importance. It’s through the fundraising space. It’s through the funder space. It’s through the advocacy space. It’s through the board space. It’s looking at all of these different spaces [and asking], where do we understand we can make a change? Where do we understand we can pivot? Because we don’t have time to build the infrastructure that we need.

We have to use the infrastructure we have because that’s what the reality is. And that’s what trans people, especially in the South, have always faced and will always deal with until we get this right.

TJFP: Our last question, where can folks plug into TENT, support TENT, find TENT online, or even in real life?

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His: transtexas.org is our website. You can find us. It’s very easy @transtexas across Instagram, Facebook, and X. I do believe that Tiktok is going to be a little bit active. which Sadie has taught me. It’s not called the tick tocks. But yeah, you can find us across social media. Instagram is a really popular place that people follow. They can see where we are gonna be in our stories. Like the larger events, the upcoming TENT family tour that we do annually.

You’ll be seeing posts of what city, what dates and registration links. So there’s a lot of opportunities to get involved through volunteering as well and you can find that on our website. We try to be really engaged and active within community within events.

Austin is kind of like the primary place and Houston right now, admittedly. But we are really making intentional efforts to continue to expand our work in the Valley and in El Paso, along with more rural parts of Texas, because you can’t say that you understand equity, and forget about the people that are out in the sticks.

TJFP: Thank you so much, and we can’t give you enough flowers. And we’re big supporters of TENT, and all the work that y’all are doing. We really appreciate you all lifting up TJFP as one of your first funders because it means a lot to us and in y’all’s journey. And we are so proud to be upon that journey and to be one of your biggest supporters on the sidelines, of course. Thank you so much.

Emmett Schelling, He/Him/His:: Thank you. Actually, so much of the organizing that has developed would not be here without that critical support that TJFP was able to give. So many organizations that have now graduated out of TJFP funding, which is a big celebration in terms of understanding, they’ve had the ability to develop, grow capacity and grow. It’s been a really beautiful thing to get to see TJFP’s work on this side as well.