Digital Transgender Archive

Interview with Kayla Gore

An interview with Kayla Gore, a Black trans woman, community organizer, housing activist, and public health worker based in Memphis, Tennessee. At the time of this interview, she served as the Southern Regional Organizer at the Transgender Law Center. In addition to her work at TLC, Gore also works to help to coordinate homeless services, conduct direct outreach and advocate for the rights of TLGBQ people, especially Black trans women, as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of My Sistah’s House, and is a state-certified HIV tester, Sexual Health Counselor, and the current Chair of the Tennessee Department of Health's Transgender Task Force. In this oral history interview, Gore discusses the beginnings of her activism and community organizing as a member of HOPE (Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality,) a Memphis direct action and support group, the over-policing and housing insecurity faced by Black trans women in Memphis and throughout the country, her work in coalition-building with other Black trans women-led groups organizing to provide housing for and combat criminalization of Black trans women and the urgency of coalition-building and cohesion between movements, her work co-founding and operating My Sistah's House, a drop-in space and emergency housing provider for Black trans women in Memphis, and its current project to build 20 tiny homes for Black trans women in Memphis. Additionally, she discusses the Black Trans Circles she helped to curate with other Black trans women organizers, her visions for a world without criminalization and oppression, the need for the fostering, supporting, and trusting of Black trans leadership in movements, her experiences reviewing grant applications as a Trans Justice Funding Project fellow, and her thoughts on the Black uprising of 2020 in Memphis.