What defines someone's gender?
What does it means to be transgender?
Do you know of a place in Tucson to find answers to questions like these?
Download the entire document in PDF format.
Southern Arizona Gender Alliance
What defines someone's gender?
What does it means to be transgender?
Do you know of a place in Tucson to find answers to questions like these?
We do...
Questions for Our Community
- Is there a youth group that explores transgender/transsexual issues?
- Is there a group specifically for the partners, friends, and family of transgender/transsexual people?
- Do gender-variant people have a substance abuse recovery group in Tucson?
- Is there a support group for children of transgender/transsexual parents?
- Is there a resource for "trans" parents who face unique challenges in raising their children?
The answer to all of these questions is: "Yes!"
SAGA Meetings
The Southern Arizona Gender Alliance meets on the first Monday of every month at the Wingspan, Tucson's GLBT Community Center. These meetings consist of some organizational business and occasional speakers as well as social time. It is during these meetings that all gender-variant people can meet, discuss ideas, and begin to feel the strength of a community. We are open to anyone interested in the concept of gender identity and who is supportive of our mission.
. Please join us for these meetings and get information for our other events. Be yourself and dress however you like—there's no pressure. To date, more than 200 people from as far away as Switzerland and Korea have affiliated with SAGA; many times that number have benefited from written materials, phone calls, internet contact, conference meetings, and speaking engagements.
Collaborative Efforts
We have developed strategic partnerships, collaborated with several organizations, and jointly developed educational materials focused on developing a welcoming community. Since our founding, we have established and maintained partnerships with organizations as wide ranging as:
• Wingspan Anti-Violence Project
• University of Arizona
• Tucson Pride, Inc.
• Tucson/Pima County Public Library
• Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation
• Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault
• Family Counseling Services of Tucson
• ... and some of the accepting churches in Tucson
Nationally, SAGA has working relationships with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), Human Rights Commission (HRC), National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), FTM International, American Boyz, and others. SAGA and its members often receive favorable attention from local newspapers and television news as well as national LGBT media.
Helpful Terms
Transgender: Someone born one gender who feels that the labels for their gender don't accurately describe them. Sometimes referred to as gender-variant or gender queer.
Transsexual: Someone who, based on their transgender identity, changes their sex to match that identity.
Crossdresser: An individual who dresses in the style and manner of the
opposite gender (typically only on occasion).
MTF: Male-to-female transsexual.
FTM: Female-to-male transsexual.
Intersex: People who were born exhibiting some form of &ldquo indeterminate” genitalia (subjectively judged so by a doctor to be either a clitoris that is "too large" or a penis that is "too small."), a combination of both male and female genitalia, or ambiguous chromosomes.
Our Mission
The Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA) envisions a society where transgender and transsexual people are ensured of their basic rights and can be open, honest, and safe at home, at work, and in the community. To achieve this goal, SAGA will help organize educational, social, and political programs for transgender, transsexual, intersex, and gender-variant people and their significant others, friends, families, and allies.
SAGA offers support, social, and discussion groups that reflect the various aspects of gender and society. We also provide educational forums and trainings for businesses, service providers, and community members to learn more about the issues facing transgender people and how our allies can be supportive and inclusive.
Our History
The issues and needs of transgender, transsexual, and gender-variant people have become move visible in recent years as more and more transidentified people speak out about their experiences of oppression and discrimination.
SAGA was established in early 1998 to help address those needs for the transgender community in Tucson. Since then, SAGA has expanded into a viable resource from which several projects have evolved. Membership grows with each passing month, and the Board of Directors is always ready to embrace new members and ideas.
SAGA is sponsored fiscally by Wingspan, Tucson's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Support Services
SAGA continues to be a support network for transgender people and their friends, families, and allies. It currently offers the following support groups and gatherings:
• SAGA general meeting: Monthly business/social meeting and general check-in; open to all (First Mondays)
• Dezert Girlz: Support and social group for all kinds of people who were assigned male gender at birth, but who do not feel that is an accurate description or complete expression of their identity (Second Mondays)
• Dezert Boyz: Support and social group for all kinds of people who were assigned female gender at birth, but who do not feel that is an accurate description or complete expression of their identity (Third Tuesdays)
• Dezert Partnerz: Support and social group designed for non-transgender partners of transgender/transsexual individuals (Meets quarterly; call for schedule)
• Gender Outlawz: Discussion group for people of all genders and sexual orientations (and anyone else who does not have a box to fit into) who want to discuss issues of gender and society (First Tuesdays)
• Transformed: Monthly trans-friendly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting (Meets monthly; call for schedule)
• "Paint Your Gender Outside the Lines" Youth Group: Monthly safe space for youth (ages 23 and under) to explore gender and discuss any issues they may have about gender—their own or someone else’s (Coordinated by Wingspan; call for schedule)
• Transformations: Christian Bible study group for transgender people and friends (Call for schedule)
Advocacy & Education
SAGA’s second primary role is advocating for equal treatment and equal opportunity for all transgender people through educating the community at large. SAGA is the primary resource on transgender issues in Tucson, southern Arizona, and the greater Southwest region.
• The SAGA Speakers Bureau provides speakers and panelists for your class, event, business, or training. To date, we've done more than 125 presentations and delivered our information to thousands of people across the state and beyond.
• The TRANSforming Community program works to meet a critical need to educate public and private sector decision makers, students and educators, attorneys and judges, religious leaders, business owners, and legislators. Our work towards this goal includes conferences, workshops, in-service trainings, luncheons, and other forums.
• The Arizona Transgender Workplace Project (ATWORK) creates and fosters open, inclusive and safe working environments for transgender applicants and employees by promoting an understanding of gender expression and gender identity among managers and other upervisorylevel personnel. The ATWORK Project brings together representatives from companies all over Arizona for an enlightening, informative presentation on transgender issues and how they impact the workplace.
• The Goodrum Project: The purpose of the Alexander John Goodrum Transgender Mental Health Advocacy Project is to offer support and guidance to any transgender-identified person involved with the public mental health system as a consumer, either on an outpatient or inpatient basis, or any person who has questions about local mental health services. |
Resources / Referrals 
