Like many leaders, Morgan Mayfaire’s journey began because he saw a need.
Mayfaire, a transgender man, and his wife, Ashley, founded TransSOCIAL.org because they were having trouble finding resources.
“It came about out of my own personal necessity,” Mayfaire said. “Looking for resources in South Florida was not an easy thing to do. It seemed like the agencies were not working together. We set up a website with a monthly calendar with all the agencies.”
And in an area as large as South Florida, Mayfaire said it’s very hard to take advantage of every resource available.
“Living in different parts of South Florida makes it difficult. Things are scheduled on the same date and people have to make a choice.” That’s where TransSOCIAL comes in. By creating a calendar, organizations that provide transgender resources can schedule things on different days.
But Mayfaire’s organization does more than just a calendar.
One goal now is to make the wider LGBT community more familiar with the transgender community. “We want transgender people to have friends, especially for protection nowadays. We want the rest of the spectrum to get to know the T,” Mayfaire said. “The reality is that most transgender individuals lived as lesbians or gays [before their transition]. So there’s not much difference.”
The entire community and its allies, he said, have to unite. “We have to stand strong and get to know each other better.”
