Digital Transgender Archive

Interview with Mariah Moore

An interview with Mariah Moore a National Organizer at Transgender Law Center and also a Co-director at House of Tulip. Her work includes fighting to ensure equity, equality and safety for the transgender community, especially Black transgender women. She has worked tirelessly in New Orleans to bring awareness to communities that have been adversely affected by laws and policies that are discriminatory, and serves on the LGBTQ Task Force which was created by New Orleans Mayor, LaToya Cantrell. She also works with the CANS Cant Stand campaign, which is a campaign that was created to bring awareness to and hopefully abolish the crimes against nature law that has historically targeted LGBTQ people of color, specifically Black transgender women. She was also selected as a Victory Empowerment Fellow, which identifies LGBTQ community members who wish to run for office and provides campaign training. In this oral history interview, Moore discusses her community organizing work among Black trans women in New Orleans, her experiences of growing up and living as a Black trans woman in the South, and her thoughts on trans politics, healing justice, and gentrification. Specifically, she details how her early life led her into movement work, the history of mutual aid and community safety among Black trans women in the South, the effects of Hurricane Katrina and gentrification on New Orleans, the need for healing spaces by and for Black trans women, and the changes she's seen in trans politics in the last ten years.