Full 1920’s regalia and a spirit to match.
Sacramento’s Gender Health Center (GHC) Player’s Night – A Flapper Dapper Soiree! fund raiser held at California Automobile Museum left an impression on me, but not for the reasons you may think. The assembled crowd of supporters, counselors and clients gathered to celebrate the two year milestone of GHC providing services to men and women with gender identity issues, people transitioning form one sex to another and those who have transitioned. There was also a poignant tribute to Danelle E. Saldana whose untimely passing in 2009 became the strong catalyst to get the non-profit center off the ground.
Great mix of attendees
Overall, the crowd was your typical enthusiastic advocates for any non-profit.
All the information on the silent and live auction portion of the evening.
They clapped, cheered and cried, an except for garb hearkening to the 1920’s, the guests were pretty tame. In honesty, I’ve encountered relatively more flamboyant, boisterous and “outside the box” people at community gatherings in my neighborhood in Granite Bay.
Next door neighbors
Was I surprised that a gathering of transgender folks was a relatively sedate and suburban affair? No. For the most part, transgender people don’t want attention. They want to live their life just like the rest of America, free of any special fanfare or undue attention. They want to go to work, garden in the backyard, get married, raise a family and just have a normal life.
Finding harmony and peace
While the evening was a fete and fundraiser for the GHC, it was also a celebration of life. Many folks
Checking in at the California Automobile Museum.
owe their life and their sanity to the counseling offered through GHC. I’ve stared at some nasty shit in my life, but the crushing realization that you are a sex trapped in the wrong body may be beyond my grasp. If you can move through that mental morass of confusion and depression you are stronger than I will ever be. That is the primary mission of GHC; support those dealing with and going through the transition to aligning their outside with their inside.
“You saved me”
There was a sense of adulation for the collective entity of the GHC from counselors to the Board of Directors. I have never seen the level of respect and reverence for a non-profit as I had that evening. But that shouldn’t have been a surprise either. The GHC with their outreach and fundraisers have created a community not replicated any place else in Sacramento. At GHC transgender folks feel safe, welcome and recognized as a complete human being.
We will because we can
This little non-profit counseling center, which is open to everyone not just those addressing transgender issues, works from a razor thin budget. They receive no grants, government support or money from a deep pocket benefactor. What you see is what you get: an intensely caring and organized operation dedicated to supporting the fragile psyche that inhabits all of us.
