Queer and/or Trans Bodies Surviving the Non-Profit Industrial Complex

The paper aims to explore critical anti-oppressive non-profit organizations who hope to support queer and/or trans folx in a neoliberal world without sacrificing their level of care. The purpose of this research paper is to a) study what events and circumstances may lead queer and/or trans folx to seek out services from non-profit organizations and b) to facilitate a discussion on whether critical anti-oppressive non-profit organizations support queer and/or trans folx within a neoliberal world without sacrificing their level of care. Transformative, anti-Black racist, intersectional feminist, anti-colonial, and queer theory frameworks are used to inform this topic. The methodology consisted of a narrative approach to qualitative research. The study involved semi-structured interviews with three participants, Lauren, Xavier, and Oliver, who have all chosen pseudonyms for this study. Lauren identifies as a fat White queer femme who grew up in the Durham region. Xavier identifies as a Latin/European trans male, and Oliver identifies as White and queer trans-male and a wheelchair user. All three of the participants identified as queer and/or trans and had experience in receiving services from or working in a non-profit organization. The findings highlighted how participants shared personal accounts of racism and recollections of how the “system” favours White queer and/or trans folx as opposed to racialized queer/trans folx. The participants personally recalled the barriers that exist when they have attempted to assess services in addition to the homophobic/transphobic attitudes and behaviours from healthcare professionals/ organizations that often tokenized them.