A New Era for Strive

By Dakota Parks for Inweekly

Indigo Lett never set out to become a trans activist. Most days, they’re busy shelving books at the public library, devouring graphic novels, cheering on their favorite soccer teams, longboarding or livestreaming video games on TikTok. But they always make time for trans people in need.

After a decade of involvement with Strive, serving as secretary, treasurer and social media coordinator, Lett has recently stepped into the role of president. They succeed longtime president Devin Cole, steering one of the Gulf Coast’s only transgender advocacy organizations.

Lett leads with intersectionality at the forefront, drawing on their lived experience as a Black, nonbinary, asexual and aromantic trans person. They hope to build on Strive’s existing work while also strengthening partnerships with disability organizations and communities of color.

“I never really thought much about organizing,” they said, remembering a time before joining Strive. “Back around 2015, I had just recently come out, and I was still trying to figure myself out. When you’re out of the closet, you’re kind of your own activist anyway, because you have to constantly retell people who you are, and sometimes even hide it depending on your job and housing situations.”

While coming out made Lett an advocate in their everyday life, they said their commitment to organizing was rooted in a lifetime of witnessing racial injustice.

“In the Black community, we’ve had so many issues with police brutality and vigilante violence,” Lett said. “I grew up seeing how deeply things like Rodney King affected my parents, and later, the killings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown made me want to organize. Then coming out as trans added another layer. The more intersections you have, the more you begin to see how many people are affected by very similar struggles.”

That perspective now shapes Lett’s vision for Strive.

Founded as a mutual aid organization, Strive has grown into one of Northwest Florida’s primary support networks for transgender people. Alongside advocacy and education, the organization helps connect people with affirming healthcare providers, emergency housing, transportation and financial assistance.

“If people need financial support or help finding doctors or just having a place to air their grievances and meet other people, we want to be able to help,” Lett said. “We also want to constantly have conversations with people from different backgrounds and make sure we’re not overlooking any marginalized communities.”

Unlike many nonprofit organizations, Strive’s grassroots structure also gives organizers freedom to speak openly about politics.

“We know that we say and do things as an organization that I don’t think the government would like,” Lett said. “We often speak out about inconsistencies in both the Republican and Democratic parties, but we can actually just say it, and I think that’s important. I think it keeps us honest. People know they can give us donations, and they can directly see the impact in our local trans community.”

Strive’s approach to mutual aid has evolved significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic. What once relied on email lists and emergency text messages has expanded into an online Discord community of more than 100 members, where people regularly share housing leads, job opportunities and emergency support.

“Before, we were kind of scrambling,” Lett said. “It was just a small team of us responding to messages. We had an email list of people who could provide emergency housing, and that was amazing in itself that we had over 20 people willing to help homeless trans people at the drop of a hat. But now, if someone says, ‘I got kicked out,’ or ‘I need a place to stay,’ there are people who can respond almost immediately.”

While Strive continues to provide emergency assistance, the nature of those requests has shifted.

“It’s mainly healthcare obstacles and the current political situation,” they said. “With trans people being targets of the Republican party and everything happening nationally, people feel a sort of defeatism, overall apathy or they withdraw completely. But, they’re still reaching out looking for hope and community.”

Lett said these challenges are compounded by the discrimination many transgender people continue to experience in the workplace and housing. While anti-discrimination policies have become more common, they said, they don’t always protect workers and tenants from subtle harassment or exclusion.

“A lot of people don’t want to go through the legal process,” Lett said. “It costs money to get a lawyer and try to sue a company because they discriminated against you, and it’s exhausting. So instead, they just go find another job. Or they just find a new place to live, and the discrimination continues.”

As president, Lett hopes to expand Strive’s outreach beyond the organization’s existing networks.

“There are a lot of Black and brown people who may not even know we’re here,” they said. “In the Black community, we often don’t see ourselves represented in a lot of spaces, and I want people to know there’s a community for them. Even within the trans and queer community, people often get overlooked, including disabled, intersex, asexual and aromantic people. That’s why I would love to host a Disability Pride Month event in the future.”

Despite the challenges facing transgender people across the nation, Lett refuses to surrender to hopelessness.

Each year, Strive commemorates Transgender Day of Remembrance by reading the names of transgender people whose lives have been lost to violence. The weight of that grief can feel overwhelming, Lett said, but it also reinforces why the work matters.

“It’s easy to spiral into darkness, especially when you read out the names of trans people killed every year, year after year. But you have to slowly remind yourself that you’re still here and as long as you’re still here, there’s still a fight to happen,” Lett said. “There’s still hope. There’s still something you can do to help your community.”

They no longer expect their generation to solve every injustice. Instead, they see activism as planting seeds whose shade future generations will enjoy.

“If we continue with the mindset that nothing’s ever going to change, that’s just allowing them to win,” Lett said. “We may not be the generation that causes the full overarching, galvanizing change, but we’ll be a step along the way. It’s a slow revolution, kind of like rolling a ball down a hill, where it may start slow, and it may look like it’s going to crash—but it will eventually roll, gaining steam, and take out the people it needs to take out.”

For Lett, that work begins close to home.

As Strive enters a new chapter under their leadership, they hope every person who attends a meeting, stops by an event or reaches out for help leaves with one message: “You’re not alone,” Lett said. “We’re still here. We’re still organizing. We’re not going anywhere.”

For those looking to get involved or seek support, Strive meets every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Black Café and Bookstore, 3498 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Learn more at strivepensacola.com or follow @strivepensacola on Instagram and Strive on Facebook.