When I first came out there were only two peer support groups for trans people in the area, the Twenty Club and the Connecticut Outreach Society (COS), then came uniTy a spinoff of the Twenty Club because of a schism over leadership. After that was T.A.L.L. down in New London.
Now there is…
With all the support groups around the state where a member in the past had to travel half way across the state to go to a support group now they can find one probably within a half hour drive.
Also with more societal acceptance the need for support groups is diminishing so you tend to have older adults at these meeting. Younger adults are transitioning earlier and find support in high school GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) and in colleges LGBT centers.
Are support groups going the way of the dinosaurs?
What do you think?
Update 1/14/19 5:00 AM
There was also CT View up to around the early 2000s when they closed.
Now there is…
PFLAG now includes trans people and has meeting all around the stateSo the question; is the expansion of support groups hurting one another by cutting into the attendance of the other support groups.
New Haven Pride Center has;
New Haven Adult Transgender group,Triangle Community Center;
Trans Young Adult Support Group,
Trans-Masculine Group.
Questioning Gender Discussion Group
Transgender Society (Adult Transgender Support),Then there are a number of healthcare providers that have groups
Nonbinary Discussion & Support.
Middlesex Hospital Gender Support Group
There is supposed to be one in Meriden run by a community health service
Institute of Living in Hartford
With all the support groups around the state where a member in the past had to travel half way across the state to go to a support group now they can find one probably within a half hour drive.
Also with more societal acceptance the need for support groups is diminishing so you tend to have older adults at these meeting. Younger adults are transitioning earlier and find support in high school GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) and in colleges LGBT centers.
Are support groups going the way of the dinosaurs?
What do you think?
Update 1/14/19 5:00 AM
There was also CT View up to around the early 2000s when they closed.
I hope not. My niece who is trans and 22 thinks she knows it all but could certainly use the love and support of older Trans women or others who have been there and done that. She is in the theater and I try to tell her, its a very big bad world out there and if you only surround yourself with folks in the college theater you get a mixed up view of what is going on. But knowing it all, away she goes on her merry way thinking that her little world is how it really is. I have tried to give her access to CTACT, and other groups even your blog but she shrugs it all off and states its for old people. So yes I support all support groups as long as they are Trans run.
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