Transgender Resource Center Transgender Support in Second Life

Hi everyone! My name is Jani Myriam and it's my great pleasure to be here on NetSquared as a representative of the Transgender Resource Center (TRC) in Second Life. Before I introduce you to our organization I'd like to first take this opportunity to thank everyone at Techsoup, Anshe Chung Studios, and the Non-Profit Commons all of whom have contributed immeasurably to our success!

In brief, our mission at the TRC is to foster the development of a positive and diverse community to support those facing the unique challenges that confront transgendered individuals and to encourage the acceptance of transgendered individuals within Second Life and, thereby, society at large.

To expand on this a bit, we were founded on the assumption that individuals are often more willing to experiment with gender identity in the relatively safe and anonymous environment afforded by virtual communities such as Second Life and in the hope that we might provide resources to help them make constructive and rational decisions about how to proceed with the process of self-discovery in first life should their interest in gender identity intensify to a more serious level. At our best we strive to serve as a bridge to real life services for those individuals for whom walking into a psychologist's office is too great a step to take all at once and for whom engagement with the transgender community in Second Life might serve as a smaller step in that direction.

In addition to providing a supportive environment for community to develop we also attempt to foster awareness and acceptance of our members, both within Second Life and without, by providing educational resources and events open to the general public that promote awareness of issues relating to gender identity and the discrimination and indifference often faced by this population.

It is our hope that through our success within Second Life that many individuals with undiagnosed or unrecognized "real life" issues relating to gender identity will be better prepared to address them and that many individuals heretofore unaware of the presence of transgendered individuals within their "real life" communities will be more supportive of their decisions to live in gender roles that may not match those traditionally dictated by their chromosomal makeup or anatomy.