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forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
FORGE
@forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
240 followers 83 following 350 posts
Improving the lives of trans survivors since 1994 through empowering providers and connecting survivors to healing possibilities.

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forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Check out our new blog post from @writingknighting.bsky.social! "Facing the Fog" is "a brief memoir and rumination on realising that I am actually going to grow old, what that might mean as someone who has transitioned, and how I came to terms with that." forge.tips/facing-the-fog
Text overlaying a blue background of torn paper, with dark scribbles in the background. Text: "Facing the Fog by Kay Knighting. forge.tips/facing-the-fog." FORGE logo. Text overlaying a blue background of torn paper. Text: "'Life ends, but that inevitable ending doesn’t diminish in any way what has gone before it.' forge.tips/facing-the-fog." FORGE logo Text overlaying a blue background of torn paper. Text: "'Transness is just another part of being human, and every part of being human is transient and no less real because of it.' forge.tips/facing-the-fog." FORGE logo.
December 10, 2025 at 1:02 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
There's one week left to sign up for the Safe to Be, Safe to Pee toolkit launch event! The toolkit covers strategies for preventing sexual violence in bathrooms, locker rooms, changing areas, and other shared private spaces. Join us on December 16th: forge.tips/safe-to-be
[Image: Text above a series of overlapping folders, each with the title of a different toolkit section. Text: "A sneak peek inside the toolkit: Safe to Be, Safe to Pee. Dec. 16 - 2 - 3:30 pm EST. We can all take steps to create safer shared spaces. forge.tips/safe-to-be." Toolkit sections: "FAQ: ALl gender spaces; making spaces safer; case studies; single occupancy facilities." FORGE logo.]
December 9, 2025 at 1:01 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Gaslighting, lies, and misinformation are not just used in abusive relationships, though; they are also used by institutions, governments, and people in positions of power to gain and maintain control over communities and individuals. Read our new guide on gaslighting: forge.tips/gaslighting
[Image: Against a pink background, a graphic of a person reading a book. Text: "The things we tell each other shape our reality. Gaslighting; misinformation; manipulation; coercion. forge.tips/gaslighting." FORGE logo.]
December 8, 2025 at 11:18 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Join us on December 16th! Safe to Be, Safe to Pee is a new tooklit from FORGE designed to help organizations and businesses prevent sexual violence in shared private spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas. Get a sneak peek of the toolkit content! forge.tips/safe-to-be
[Image: On the cover of a sample document, a photo of a row of lockers in blue. Text on the cover says "Safe to Be, Safe to Pee." Text: "Join us for the toolkit launch! Dec. 16 - 2 - 3:30 pm EST. forge.tips/safe-to-be." FORGE logo.]
December 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Safe to Be, Safe to Pee is a new tooklit from FORGE designed to help organizations and businesses prevent sexual violence in shared private spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas. Join us to learn about the toolkit and get a sneak peak at its content: forge.tips/safe-to-be
[Image: A graphic of a toilet paper roll on a light blue background. Text: "Join us for the toolkit launch! Safe to Be, Safe to Pee. Dec. 16 - 2 - 3:30 pm EST. forge.tips/safe-to-be." FORGE logo.]
November 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Join FORGE and these incredible speakers on Dec 2nd to travel through time! With M.E. O’Brien, Amir, and Matthew Armstead, we'll explore the past, present, and future of trans lives. Bring a notebook, an object to connect you to the present, and yourself! forge.tips/healing-transmissions
A pixelated computer graphics background against a pink sky. In a browser window, the url reads "forge.tips/healing-transmissions." Slide 1 text: "Travel to the future with M.E. O’Brien. M.E. O’Brien writes about gender freedom and capitalism. She has two books, a co-authored work of speculative fiction,Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 (Common Notions, 2022) andFamily Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care (Pluto, 2023). Previously she coordinated the NYC Trans Oral History Project. She has a PhD from NYU, where she sometimes teaches on queer Marxism and sexuality and capitalism. She currently works as a psychoanalyst in formation, and a licensed clinical social worker." FORGE logo. A pixelated computer graphics background against a pink sky. In a browser window, the url reads "forge.tips/healing-transmissions." Slide 2 text: "Zoom to the past with Amir. As a first-generation Chaldean Iraqi who grew up in Ontario, Canada, Amir investigates themes related to multigenerational resilience and the disconnect between body and home in relation to nomadism. This has resulted in the manifestation of Prince Zorah, a fantastical alter-ego prominently featured in Amir’s work. His journey involves realistic and mythological imagery to analogize real feelings within marginalization and deep-rooted care. The introspection and admiration of texts and media such as Take care of Yourself by Sundus Abdul Hadi and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has influenced Amir’s love of creating folktales based on resistance." FORGE logo. A pixelated computer graphics background against a pink sky. In a browser window, the url reads "forge.tips/healing-transmissions." Slide 3 text: "Return to the present with Matthew Armstead. Matthew Armstead cultivates the intersections of justice movements, artistic expression, and collective liberation. They have over 15 years of experience building organizations, developing leaders, and resolving conflict across social and structural power differences. Their facilitation style weaves in theater practices to create opportunities for people to embody the futures they strive to create." FORGE logo. A pixelated computer graphics background against a pink sky. In a browser window, the url reads "forge.tips/healing-transmissions." Slide 4 text: "Healing Trans-missions: messages from the past, present, and future. Tues, Dec. 2nd, 2024. 6:30-8 pm EST." FORGE logo.]
November 29, 2025 at 10:56 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
"To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. / To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings." To Know the Dark by Wendell Berry.
[Image: White text against a background photo of the moon peeking out from a cloudy sky. Text: "'and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.' Wendell Berry, To Know the Dark" FORGE logo.]
November 28, 2025 at 1:02 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Today marks the National Day of Mourning. Around this time of year, our days are shorter, we spend a lot of our time inside, and we're often reminded of loss and grief. Today offers an occasion to explore this darkness with the first part of Wendell Berry's poem, "To Know the Dark."
[Image: White text against a dark background dappled with light. Text: "November 27, 2025, National Day of Mourning. 'To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight...' Wendell Berry, To Know the Dark" FORGE logo.]
November 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
It's difficult to feel joy when the national leadership has targeted trans communities with outrageous lies. The FORGE team brainstormed a list of things that help us care for ourselves, our loved ones, and have a little bit more joy or peace: forge.tips/small-things
[Image: A tan background with images of a tree drawing, a person playing guitar, and a cat. Text in small bubbles lists small things that bring joy. Text: "Small things for hard times. Sending someone a postcard; Splashing cold water on my face; A cold soda after being out in the heat; Looking at the moon; Listening to a song on repeat. forge.tips/small-things" FORGE logo.]
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
What does it look like to make a safety plan, for yourself or those you work with? Here are some examples of things you might consider when safety planning around your workplace. Read more in the safety planning guide at forge.tips/safety-planning-tool
[Image: A checklist overlaying a teal background. Text: "Safety Planning: on the Job and In Public. Recruit allies. Talk to your co-workers / workplace security. Create a workplace safety plan. identify where you will go and how you will get help if your abuser shows up. Vary your route to and from work. Use a variety of routes and times to arrive/ depart. Travel with others when possible. Vary your other routines. Switch up your usual grocery store, bank branch, etc. Go at different times than usual. forge.tips/safety-planning-tool" FORGE logo.]
November 24, 2025 at 9:58 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Trans folks deserve to thrive now and always. Time travel with us! At this interactive event, we’ll explore how trans folks have navigated this world in the past, and how we imagine liberatory trans futures. Sign up at forge.tips/healing-transmissions
[Image: Text against a black background, above two images. One depics a person with futuristic makeup posing with arms raised above their head. The other depics a person looking through a telescope at a purple night sky. Text: "Healing trans-missions: messages from the past, present, and future. forge.tips/healing-transmissions. Tues, Dec. 2nd - 6:30-8 pm EST" FORGE logo.]
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Many of us are sitting with the weight of TDOR today. Whether we attended events or scrolled through posts on social media, reminders of loss and grief ouch us all in different ways. What is one thing you're doing to today to take care of yourself (or your loved ones)?
[Image: A graphic of a pink and white flower overlays a yellow, sparkling background. Text: "what is one thing you're doing to take care of yourself today?" FORGE logo.]
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Many trans survivors are navigating the effects of multiple forms of trauma, disability, and isolation, while trying to care for ourselves and others. Watch the webinar on COVID and traum: forge.tips/covid-and-trauma #TransSurvivors #StillMasking
[Image: White text overlaying a photograph of dark green leaves. Text: "webinar recording. Navigating COVID and Trauma: A Conversation on Boundaries, Healing, and Community Care. forge.tips/covid-and-trauma" FORGE logo.]
November 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Join us in two weeks! Using time travel, we’ll explore how trans folks, ourselves included, have navigated this world – and found healing and connection. We’ll zoom to the future to imagine liberatory possibilities for ourselves and our communities. Sign up at forge.tips/healing-transmissions
[Image: Text overlaying a light green background. Inside a line-drawn planet, blue and black text reads: "Healing trans-missions: messages from the past, present, and future." Above the globe, text reads: "forge.tips/healing-transmissions." Below the globe, text reads: "Join us as we travel through time! Tues, Dec. 2nd - 6:30-8 pm EST" FORGE logo.]
November 19, 2025 at 1:01 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
We can help keep each other safer. In this recorded webinar, presenters and participants look at tools for assessing risk in different situations, how to ask for support from others, and what might be included in a safety plan. Watch the recording at forge.tips/safety-planning
[Image: Text on a light green background with a graphic of a drawn backpack. Text: "Safety Planning and Risk Assessment: Building Trans Survivor Skills. Recorded webinar. forge.tips/safety-planning" FORGE logo.]
November 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Around this time of year, many of us are thinking about grief - for the people and connections we have lost. At last year's TDOR event, speakers shared about different ways to approach grief, including grief as an expression of love. forge.tips/grief-love-liberation
November 17, 2025 at 1:03 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
This #TransAwarenessWeek, check out this resource from the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. This webinar is designed for tribal communities and provides culturally based responses to the needs of Native LGBT/2S survivors. forge.tips/niwrc #TransSurvivors
[Image: White text overlaying an orange and purple sunset background. Text: "Resource highlight: Trans Awareness Week: Nov 13 - 19, 2025. Mending the Rainbow: Working with the Native LGBT/Two-Spirit Community. fforge.tips/niwrc." NIWRC logo. FORGE logo.]
November 16, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
We don't need to wait for awareness days or weeks to celebrate trans people and our communities. Let's celebrate today and every day. #TransSurvivors #TransAwarenessWeek #TDOR
[Image: White text overlaying a dark blue background. A comic book graphic of two hands forming a heart. Text: "Celebrate trans lives - today and every day." FORGE logo.]
November 15, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Our last contributor highlight for the Aging and Growth issue of the Trans Survivors zine is Toshiya Kamei's "Late Bloom." Toshiya weaves together threads of aging and transition, grief and joy, regret and growth. Read the full piece in Issue #3 at forge.tips/zine
White text on a purple background. Text: "Trans Survivors Zine: Aging and Growth. Late Bloom by Toshiya Kamei. 'The estrogen, started so late in life, had been a gentle tide, slowly reshaping her shoreline. It hadn’t given her back her youth, but it had given her something far more precious: congruence. These wrinkles around her eyes weren’t Wei’s; they were Mei’s, earned from smiling at the young man at the market who’d called her “Auntie” with such casual respect, from squinting into the sun on the first day she’d worn a floral blouse to the community center.' forge.tips/zine." FORGE logo
November 14, 2025 at 2:03 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
"Imagining the future... creates a little bit more possibility for my existence to exceed my life expectancy." From last year's TDOR, Matthew Armstead shares about the power of imagining trans and nonbinary futures. forge.tips/grief-love-liberation

#TransAwarenessWeek #TDOR
November 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
If you've downloaded the Trans Survivors Zine, you've seen this incredible cover artwork by Amir Patros! "I started taking testosterone in October 2024, 3 months later, I had made this piece, inspired by the application of the gel I had put on every morning on my shoulder." forge.tips/zine
White text on a purple background. Slide 1 includes Amir Patros's piece, 'Prince Zorah's Baptism (Day 1 on T)': 'A person wearing a crown, red pants and a sword by his side, washing himself in a body of water as he looks towards the colourful landscape in front of him, facing away from the viewer.' forge.tips/zine." FORGE logo. White text on a purple background. Text: "About the Artist. Amir Patros. As a first-generation Chaldean Iraqi who grew up in Ontario, Canada, Amir Patros investigates themes related to multigenerational resilience and the disconnect between body and home in relation to nomadism. This has resulted in the manifestation of Prince Zorah, a fantastical alter-ego prominently featured in Amir's work. His journey involves realistic and mythological imagery to analogize real feelings within marginalization and deep-rooted care. The introspection and admiration of texts and media such as Take care of Yourself by Sundus Abdul Hadi and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has influenced Amir's love of creating folktales based on resistance. @princezorah. forge.tips/zine." FORGE logo.
November 13, 2025 at 2:04 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Today is the first day of #TransAwarenessWeek! One way to celebrate this week as a service provider is to prepare yourself to support trans and nonbinary survivors of violence. Watch the webinar recording for practice scenarios: forge.tips/survivor-scenarios
[Image: Text overlaying a photo of two people smiling against a trans flag background. Text: "Trans Awareness Week: Nov 13 - 19, 2025. Patience, Presence, and Practice: Scenarios and skills for serving trans survivors. forge.tips/survivor-scenarios." FORGE logo.]
November 13, 2025 at 1:00 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
For many young trans people, aging may feel like a distant possibility. "An Old Thing Like Me" by Maddie Jaffe explores this feeling of time being cut short and struggling to imagine trans futures - and how we can do it anyway! forge.tips/zine
White text on a purple background. Slide 1 text: "Trans Survivors Zine: Aging and Growth. An Old Thing Like Me by Maddie Jaffe. 'Never was I able to imagine myself / as an old woman, nor as / An old man, / Prompting the question, / Am I meant to grow old at all? / Paranoia thrums heavy: / An accident - / An illness - / A life that drowns me / But as I reach down deep into my inside world / And sift through the guts and chaos, like my Mother / Searching through her purse to lend me / Advil, chapstick, a word of advice' forge.tips/zine." FORGE logo White text on a purple background. Text: "About the Writer. Maddie Jaffe. My name is Maddie Jaffe, and I’m a transmasculine genderqueer writer based in Brooklyn, New York. I write to explore queerness, community, and absurdity, and when I’m not working on stories or poetry, you can find me reading, out dancing, or having coffee too late in the day. @meadelizabethhj. meadelizabeth.substack.com. forge.tips/zine." FORGE logo.
November 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
The holidays can be a time of excitement and connection, but they’re also often a time of heightened stress. Read the blog post on coping strategies: forge.tips/holiday-tips

#TransSurvivor #TransSurvivors #Transgender #NonBinary
background image of two people smiling at each other against a snowy landscape. Text: "Coping Strategies for the Holiday Season. read the blog post: forge.tips/holiday-tips." FORGE logo. A person wearing headphones while riding the bus. Text: "Grounding: tune into your surroundings. forge.tips/holiday-tips." FORGE logo. A close-up of a person's hands while knitting. Text: "Create a routine, even when we might not have control over our surroundings. forge.tips/holiday-tips." FORGE logo. Two people walking away from the camera on a snowy street. Text: "Use tapping or movement to connect with our physical bodies. forge.tips/holiday-tips." FORGE logo.
November 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
forgeforwardtrans.bsky.social
Fatima Noor Al Sahar: "My friends know I'm genderfluid, and my family ends the call. My friends tell me I'm beautiful, and true to myself, and radiating authenticity and my family changes the topic... I'm my own creation... I just want to serve my friends and my lovers." forge.tips/zine
White text on a purple background. Slide 1 includes Fatima Noor Al Sahar's piece, 'is this a festering wound or the truth spilling over?': The piece is an abstract mix of blue and brown paint that mirrors the reflection of an eye, mixing together in the center. forge.tips/zine." FORGE logo White text on a purple background. Text: "About the Artist. Fatima Noor Al Sahar. Fatima is a genderqueer multidisciplinary artist. They've recently claimed asylum in the UK and they miss their mom. They do self portraits, abstract photography, movement art and make videos of themselves dancing. They're hoping to do more contemporary dance performances soon. @oceaninmyveins. forge.tips/zine." FORGE logo.
November 11, 2025 at 2:03 PM