2025 Impact Report

QUICK LINKS

• Full Impact Report
• Year In Review
  • Coverage Guidance
  • Membership Development
  • Industry Education and Outreach
  • By The Numbers
• Member Testimonials

FULL IMPACT REPORT

YEAR IN REVIEW

As governmental policies and legislation against trans and gender-expansive communities increased in 2025, the TJA further positioned itself to stand up to misinformation and promote security for trans journalists and communities.

Tre’vell Anderson (they/them/theirs) was hired as full-time executive director in March 2025, fulfilling our long-held goal to cement a formal staffing structure and put into place strong leadership at the head of the organization. Anderson brings vast experience to their role as executive director and has already realized tremendous positive impact in steering the TJA during uncertain and troubling times. Please find more information on Anderson’s background in the hiring announcement here. 

Additionally, Kae Petrin (they/ze/hir), who helped cofound the TJA in 2020, continues to serve as an integral part of the TJA’s leadership. Petrin served first as volunteer interim executive director and then as part-time co-executive director from September 2023 to September 2025, supporting program development and ensuring leadership continuity when Anderson joined. Petrin now heads the TJA’s Board of Directors as President and utilizes their longtime experience running the organization’s operations to inform strategic growth and impact. Petrin is currently serving as a 2025-26 John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, exploring ways to improve coverage of trans communities and retention of trans journalists.

As we celebrated TJA’s five-year anniversary in 2025, we also welcomed a new national board member, Tat Bellamy-Walker (he/they), while saying farewell to longtime board member Adam Rhodes (they/them), who helped to develop several signature TJA offerings. Bellamy-Walker is a valuable addition to our national board, currently serving as a Program Coordinator for the International Women's Media Foundation. They previously served as the Program Manager of Digital Safety Training and Resources (Media) at PEN America and as a communities reporter at The Seattle Times. Prior to joining the Board, Bellamy-Walker served as program co-director of the TJA Peer Career Network, the organization’s pilot mentorship program.

Our capacity-building efforts also included a summer retreat for our Board of Directors that featured training and development to strengthen Board stewardship and support the organization's sustainability. 

In addition to cementing strong, capable leadership at the executive and board level, the TJA continued making progress transitioning away from a volunteer-led model supported by contractors to building a larger, sustainable staff. In September, we hired our second full-time staffer, Program Director C.D. Davidson-Hiers (she/her/hers) who joined us from the Education Writers Association. Having served as EWA’s membership coordinator, she brings unique non-profit and journalism experience to the TJA team. 

The transition from volunteer-led to staff-run has had a monumental impact on the TJA’s ability to engage with our hundreds of members, offer new professional advancement opportunities, and spread awareness of our trainings and trans-informed reporting guides, along with other resources.

COVERAGE GUIDANCE

In response to the 2024 election, the TJA jumped into action to provide our members and the broader journalism industry with appropriate coverage guidance, reporting briefs, and other best-practices resources to accurately cover what we knew was going to be a marked increase in the assault on trans rights and communities. We brought on researchers and journalists to produce timely, extensive new reporting resources that spoke directly to the news cycle. These included guidance about Supreme Court hearings, European trans health care policy, and anti-trans misinformation about mass shootings and extremist activities, as well as expanded guidance on use of the phrases “biological sex.” We also published, in partnership with Berkeley Media Studies Group, an analysis of how journalists covered the attack on trans rights in President Trump’s first 100 days. Along with our Stylebook and Coverage Guide, we consolidated all resources into a Resource Hub so that members and others can easily locate and navigate. 

Perhaps the biggest expansion to our coverage guidance resources of 2025 was the release of the Trans News Initiative, our collaboration with Polygraph and the University of Miami's School of Communication dedicated to tracking and analyzing news coverage of trans communities across the United States. The tool analyzes more than 190,000 articles published by national news outlets in the U.S., which includes state papers that are read nationally. By providing ongoing data and in-depth analysis, the initiative empowers journalists, media organizations, researchers, and community organizers to understand how stories about trans people are being told—and where coverage falls short. We also held a convening in October, in partnership with the University of Miami, to bring together more than 30 journalists from just as many newsrooms to continue creating a community around best practices for trans reporting.

Due to the high volume of news regarding attempts to limit the civil rights and bodily autonomy of trans and gender-diverse communities, in the U.S. and abroad, we have also invested in new partnerships and coverage programs that document the actions taken and harms done by these policies. These have included a public records project with MuckRock, through which we use journalistic tools to gather public records that track anti-trans government action as it occurs. This documentation is crucial to inform the public and policymakers about growing gender inequality for trans communities in the U.S. With these efforts — spearheaded by dedicated staff — the TJA is realizing major steps in confronting anti-trans inequities and misinformation and fostering greater understanding at large.

MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Over 2025, our newly launched membership system grew to almost 600 people, a mix of longtime members and new faces joining the fresh, updated website. In response, the organization continued to develop timely and relevant professional development and training opportunities. Highlights include  sessions on coping with stress, trauma, and burnout; filing public information requests; digital safety and security; and best practices for covering extremism and political violence.

Through partnership with the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation, we also programmed a workshop series on investigative reporting which had a significant impact on the members who participated. Across the three investigative training sessions, participants heard from journalists representing a wide range of experience and newsroom types including LOOKOUT, Big Local News, The Buckeye Flame, The Marshall Project, Chicago Sun-Times, ProPublica, and The Stranger. Each speaker offered concrete strategies for approaching investigations, whether as a freelancer, a beat reporter navigating conflicts of time and scope, or someone taking on their first accountability project. The series also provided access for our members to the speakers directly, who were pairs of early-to-mid-career trans journalists interested in developing teaching skills and mid-to-late-career investigative journalists of any identity. The series strengthened TJA’s ability to equip our member journalists with skills that expand their career opportunities and deepen their reporting.

Beyond training as professional development opportunities, we also launched our Level Up Initiative in February, which was designed to help journalists achieve their career development goals. The program covers small, one-time costs (via $250 and $500 stipends) for journalists seeking to attend a conference, participate in a skills workshop, or take career-enhancing training. We also prioritized applicants who are particularly invested in covering gender justice or speaking to the broader journalism industry, which furthers TJA’s coverage goals. For our inaugural round, we set aside stipends specifically for student journalists and early-career journalists who never attended a formal journalism program. We supported several journalists who were invited to speak on anti-trans legislation and misinformation at high-profile conferences. In total across two rounds, we directly invested $27,000 into the careers of 53 members. Supporters of our Level Up Initiative include the Transgender Law Center and Democracy Fund.

The TJA was also able to continue creating limited in-person opportunities for community building and development. These included a mixer at NLGJA: The LGBTQ+ Journalists Association’s national conference in Atlanta, GA, as well as mixers in New York City and Washington, DC.

INDUSTRY EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

While the opportunity to directly present and train newsrooms allowed the TJA to continue expanding bespoke educational offerings for the journalism industry, the bulk of our related efforts in 2025 happened in partnership with or at meetings, events, and conferences hosted by organizational partners. These partners include the National Press Club, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, NLGJA: The LGBTQ+ Journalists Association, OpenNews, the National Association of Science Writers, ACES: The Society for Editing, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Education Writers Association, the New England Scholastic Press Association, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, The University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and The New School.

A notable highlight comes from January 2025 when we released an expanded Workplace Resources Guide that includes new sections on digital hygiene and fieldwork. The updated guide offers tactical advice for journalists operating in anti-trans environments, from the street to the halls of government; operational security tips for journalists and editorial support staff; and safety training for TJA members tailored to trans journalists’ unique risks. It also includes a comprehensive master list of safety resources for all kinds of scenarios, compiled by TJA members, with help from Aegis Safety Alliance and support from the Knight Election Hub's Urgent Care project. Beyond this, the guide expands previous guidance for employers to promote trans-supportive work environments, with advice on sharing pronouns in the workplace, creating workplace transition plans and written policies to foster inclusion; it also includes external guides on workers’ rights and labor issues from LGBTQ+ groups and the TJA’s fall 2024 Know Your Rights seminar, hosted with the Freelance Solidarity Project.

The TJA also supported the release and impact campaign of Sam Feder’s documentary Heightened Scrutiny, in which our members (including TJA board and staff) are featured alongside ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio discussing media coverage of trans rights and communities. We moderated two post-screening Q&As in New York City during the film’s limited run in theaters, and participated in a virtual community screening with It Gets Better and young trans leaders.

The work of TJA also garnered coverage by industry publications including Nieman Lab, the Columbia Journalism Review, the Poynter Institute, and Editor & Publisher, and mentions from outlets including The Guardian, The Hill, The Objective and Xtra Magazine.

BY THE NUMBERS*

• 193,934 articles (and growing) tracked by the Trans News Initiative
• $27,000 awarded in professional development stipends through Level Up
• 1,170 working journalists attended our trainings, panels, and events
• 727 total donations from 217 individual donors
• 590 members across more than 20 countries
• 30 monthly supporters
• 26+ press mentions
• 20 journalism industry trainings and workshops on trans coverage
• 11 membership trainings and workshops
• 5 member meetups and mixers
• 1 critically-acclaimed documentary featuring TJA leaders and members

*Estimates as of 12/31/25

MEMBER TESTIMONIALS

• “Being a part of TJA has helped me feel seen and validated in my experience as a trans person working in newsrooms. I'm really grateful that I have a support system of colleagues who can help me navigate all my experiences and I literally would not have a job right now if it weren't for TJA. This community and space has always felt very open and receptive to feedback and very focused on addressing the needs of our community and I'm grateful for that. Thank you TJA!” - Jireh D.
• “TJA is an amazing resource on so many levels. It promotes accurate and unbiased news coverage at a crucial time, and it is well respected by major news organizations. It connects us to one another for job opportunities. Through TJA, I've recruited writers and photographers for freelance assignments several times with great success. Where would we be without you?” - Billie S.
• “TJA, to put it lightly, changed my life. When I joined TJA, I was suddenly connected with dozens and soon hundreds of other people working in journalism who were trans. I suddenly felt like I had a future. Hearing other people's stories gave me the confidence to come out myself later that year and continue to pursue my career in journalism. Since then, TJA has been a valuable resource for support and advice. Amid the ongoing attacks on trans people across the U.S. and around the world, it's critical to have this support network available. Besides using it as a resource for myself, I've used TJA resources to help newsroom leaders make coverage decisions and relied on TJA members for advice around complicated coverage decisions. I'm so proud to be a TJA member. There aren't a lot of bright spots for trans journalists right now, but TJA is one of them.” - Ellery J.
• “I was a TJA Level Up micro grant recipient, and it has really helped me improve my graphic design skills! I enrolled in a course at the Rhode Island School of Design and I was able to use the skills I learned to enhance the quality of the editorial images I make to accompany my organization's journalism.” - Emma G.
• “I joined the TJA the minute I heard about it, and I so appreciate the community it fosters. Most recently, I received a professional development stipend from the TJA that has allowed me to attend events, take classes, and join other professional communities which are supporting my career transition goals as I relaunch my career as a fully independent publisher. I could not have done it without y'all!” - B.J.
• “I joined TJA to have career support where I know I won't have to hide a fundamental part of who I am or feel obligated to explain being trans. Just sharing space with other trans journalists gives me a sense of dignity that, frankly, I am fucking fed up with people trying to destroy. I also joined TJA because if you're looking for an incredibly strong, compassionate, resilient group of people who are willing to question the cracks in our society's foundations - people who make amazing journalists - the trans community has all that by definition. We are deeply, personally invested in a better, kinder world for everyone." - Anonymous 
• “I'm a trans journalist who is continuously looking for support in the industry. TJA has provided me, directly and indirectly, countless career opportunities and room for advancement, and I feel it is an essential resource for both new and seasoned trans journalists alike. Folk should offer support to TJA because it directly provides support to trans journalists in every sect of the industry.” - Mira L. 
• “I'm happy to be a part of a professional organization that has a growing voice in the industry. I'm thankful for the opportunities that TJA has provided to me, and especially thankful for our style guide.” - Cora N.
• “I came out 12 years ago and would have benefited from the support TJA now provides! It's my mission to provide that kind of support to trans journalists, both out and cloested! Thanks to the TJA, I was able to fly to LA from Connecticut and work the red carpet at this year's GLAAD Awards in Beverly Hills. There, I interviewed stars, celebrities and movers and shakers as well as our trans allies for the Los Angeles Blade. I could not have afforded that expense without the help of the TJA!” - Dawn E.
• “The TJA's work is essential because it's focussed on the two most important issues at the intersection of trans people and journalism. First, it's helping all journalists do a better job covering trans issues with clarity and without hype. And second, it's helping trans journalists develop their careers so that we have a place at the table in our newsrooms so we can bring our trans perspectives to those newsrooms' work.” - Noia K.
• “The mainstream press, generally, has done a pretty poor job of covering transgender people and the rising assault on their rights. I am dismayed to see well-respected news organizations regularly mischaracterize scientific research and survey data, platform hate groups, and overemphasize rare instances of transition regret. TJA's work to support transgender journalists and provide training and professional development to newsrooms brings a much-needed perspective to this coverage.” - A.S.
• “I am a journalist and the parent of a trans child. I was drawn to TJA because I believe accurate and respectful reporting are crucial to trans rights. I remain connected because the need has never been greater. Misinformation about trans people continues to thrive and the impact is incredibly dangerous to trans individuals, their allies and caregivers. People should support the TJA so it can continue with this critical mission.” - Anonymous

Stylebook & Coverage Guide
Workplace Guide | Holistic Safety Guide
Trans News Initiative