Organizing for the upcoming Trans Week of Resistance was already nearly complete come Election Day, when Donald Trump won the presidency after campaign’s final days featured a blitz of anti-trans advertisements aired in swing states. Sister Gaia T of the Eureka Chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who spearheaded planning the event, said the outcome didn’t prompt organizers to rethink the event. Rather, she says it just reinforced the importance of the eight-day event’s themes: joy, community and resistance.
“In the tradition of the Sisters, my hope is that through the power of joy we’ll be able to strengthen our bonds and connections of community so that people know, at least here, we have each other’s backs,” she says, noting that while vilifying trans communities is nothing new, they remain and persist. “There is space for hope among our resistance in our community’s continued survival. … Our ancestors and transestors have survived all kinds of things. We exist within their context of resistance and survival. They’ve gifted us this powerful history and sistery to draw from, so we just need to put ourselves in that context.”
Gaia T says in some ways the current incarnation of the week of resistance takes root some 15 years ago, when she, having freshly joined the Sisters, was doing activist work at what was then Humboldt State University. She recalls a conversation she had with a friend in the Eric Rofes Multicultural Queer Center on campus, itself named after the professor of education who dedicated his life to organizing efforts around queer, anti-racist and feminist activism. At that time, the only public-facing annual event in the trans community was the Trans Day of Remembrance.
“Especially in the early 2010s, the narrative of trans joy and trans survival was very much eclipsed by the grief, and when we were talking about trans people, we were really only talking about our deaths,” Gaia T says. “One of my friends was like, ‘We need to do something more. What about trans survival? What about trans resistance?'”
So when it came to planning last year’s Trans Week of Resistance, she says she kept in mind what she’d heard all those years ago: “We have to represent the full spectrum of our existence.”
This year, Gaia T says she looked outside the Sisters organization for ideas and inspiration, getting input from the broader community. The result is a diverse slate of events that is heavy on joy and community, while also addressing the need for continued resistance in the current climate.
The week will begin at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at Siren’s Song Tavern in Eureka with a “speed friending” event that will guide participants through a series of quick, rotating five-minute conversations with other attendees, using conversation starters and hands-on activities, all with the goal of helping folks form bonds hoped to endure through the week and beyond. A press release encourages participants to stay after the event, “hang out and enjoy each other’s company as long as the tavern is open.”
“We want to start with speed friending so people have an opportunity to build connections and relationships, to be situated in community, that can then carry throughout the rest of the week of events,” Gaia T says.
Arcata Playhouse will then host True Colors of Resistance at 6 p.m. on Nov. 19, a space for community art and expression in which people can come, socialize and create art together. Supplies and mediums will be provided, including signs, flags and prayer candles that can be used in the week’s future events.
“The art space will be a place for us to do some processing,” Gaia T says.
The group will honor Trans Day of Remembrance the following day, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m., with a vigil on the Arcata Plaza, at which the Eureka Sisters will perform their TRANScending the Veil ritual. The event will provide space for community members to personally recognize those they have lost before they take turns reading names from the international database of trans community members killed over the past year. Candles will be provided to attendees, though they are also encouraged to bring their own. The evening will conclude with a sing-along of Sam Baker’s “Go in Peace,” led by Angel Drums D’light deSoul and the Threshold Choir.
Joy will then take center stage on at 6 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Gazebo in Old Town Eureka, when Humboldt Bike Party hosts TRANSporting Joy, a caravan of community members on wheels of all types — bicycles, roller blades, wheelchairs, scooters, carts and more — with rocking music and bright lights that will embark on a 7-mile loop through town. (Attendees are encouraged to bring JBL Bluetooth speakers if they have them to sync together to amplify a pre-selected playlist, which can be obtained on request by emailing gaiat@eurekasisters.org.)
Molly Martin, an organizer with Bike Party Humboldt, says they came forward with the idea for a bike-themed event because as a member of the trans community, they wanted to contribute to the week’s festivities and organizing bike events is in their “wheelhouse.”
“I just felt that it could be a joyful celebration,” Martin says, adding the event will do a couple of laps around downtown “to share the joy with the community” before heading to some community parks — obeying all traffic laws and stopping at various locations for “for a quick dance party.”
Martin says folks looking for some help decorating their wheels — or checking their street-worthiness — can go to the Nov. 19 event at Arcata Playhouse, where they will be attending with various decoration supplies to share. (Martin says those looking for more information can also visit and the Bike Party Humboldt Facebook page.)
A Trans Power Potluck will be held the following day from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Jefferson Community Center’s J-Café (1000 B St., Eureka), with “comrades and community members” invited to bring a dish to share to show a shared appreciation for each other. The event, Gaia T says, is a chance for people to break bread together and celebrate the community created.
The week of events will conclude Nov. 24 at 2:30 p.m. at Eureka’s Synapsis Union (1675 Union St.) for Ourstory, this year’s incarnation of the Bound Bodies poetry and art series. Attendees will get to view artists’ works and hear them introduce them before a cadre of poets performs selections chosen to “build upon each other to weave a narrative of self-discovery, survival, joy, grief and finding your voice.” An open mic will follow.
All venues are accessible with ramps, and attendees are asked to be mindful of making sure those who most need it have access to limited seating.
Gaia T says the election is weighing heavily on the local community and she’s hopeful the week of events can foster healing and empowerment.
“I’ve been having to provide a lot of individual support to members of the community who are really struggling with the results of the election and what this could mean,” she says. “The fear is very much there. There will perhaps be another degree of heaviness that’s lent to these events, but I’m not certain. I’ll have to wait and see.”
Her hope, she says, is that folks walk away feeling cared for.
“I’m hoping that folks will be able to experience the gift of community and feel held — feel held in that they’re not alone and that there are spaces and people who are there for them and will be there for them,” Gaia T says. “I’m hoping folks walk away from this week of activities with a renewed sense of possibility, of the role of resistance, and a dedication to really showing up in these ways because so often fear can cause one to self-isolate and disconnect themselves from community. We have to ensure that doesn’t happen, because that’s how our power is stolen from us.”
Gaia T says all is set for the week of resistance but those looking to help support the Sisters in other ways can visit their website — eurekasisters.org — to volunteer for other events, including the anticipated return of the annual Batton Rouge softball game in 2025 or 2026.
Thadeus Greenson (he/him) is the Journal’s news editor. Reach him at (707) 442-1400, extension 321, or thad@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in Community Connection.
