LGBTQ Organizations
Use the filters below to find organizations that support and serve the LGBTQ community.
Category: Transgender/Gender Expansive
Alliance For Full Acceptance (AFFA)
1801 Reynolds Avenue
North Charleston, South Carolina 29405
(843) 883-0343
The Alliance For Full Acceptance (AFFA) is a Charleston-based nonprofit organization. Founded in 1998, AFFA is working to achieve, nurture, and defend equality and full acceptance for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people throughout South Carolina. To achieve our mission, we work to build partnerships with municipal and civic leaders, legislators, medical and mental health care providers, policy makers and business leaders to advocate for awareness, protections and equality for the LGBTQ community. AFFA Action is the 501(c)(4) arm of the organization designated to promote social welfare through education, legislative advocacy and political action.
Camp Aranu-tiq
Camp Aranu’tiq was the first-ever summer camp established for transgender and non-binary/gender-nonconforming youth. Nick Teich, Ph.D., LCSW, founded Camp Aranu’tiq in 2009 as a nonprofit organization. It began as a weeklong program in 2010 at a rented site with 40 campers and has grown to serve over 650 campers each summer at its very own home in New Hampshire. Camp Aranu’tiq’s mission is to build confidence, resilience, and community for transgender & non-binary youth and their families through camp experiences. They have up to 140 campers per session, and have campers from 42 states and six countries! Their goal is never to turn away a camper or family who may not be able to attend for financial reasons.
Camp Lost Boys
Many of trans guys never had the opportunity to experience a boyhood summer camp. It’s their aim that you find that missing piece at Camp Lost Boys. They provide a retreat away from the stress and the struggles of your day-to-day life. They aim to focus on self-empowerment and self-esteem building through the physical and mental activities of a traditional summer camp experience. Come climb ropes, zip line, try archery, hike mountains, go mountain biking, enjoy the lake and the pool, engage in facilitated fireside chats, new friends and so much more! They hope you let down your guard and get in touch with yourself, nature, and your community. Their camp is for any guy who self-identifies as a man of trans experience and is over the age of 18. This camp is largely focused on physical activities and is a dedicated place where we can celebrate male identities in a safe, fun, and rugged outdoor setting.
Campaign for Southern Equality
The Campaign for Southern Equality is working to build a South where LGBTQ people are equal in every part of life. Founded in 2011, they launched their work from a church basement in the mountains of North Carolina. Based in Asheville, NC, in the first chapter of their work, CSE was on the frontlines of efforts to win marriage equality in the South. They led the WE DO Campaign, which involved LGBTQ couples requesting – and being denied – marriage licenses in their Southern hometowns. More than 200 couples took action, with thousands of friends, family members and neighbors standing in support of them.
Today, CSE’s work includes the Legal Equality Project, focused on achieving legal equality by striking down anti-LGBTQ laws, passing pro-LGBTQ policies across the South; the Southern Equality Fund, which empowers local LGBTQ leaders across the South; and their Community Health Program, which responds to the acute and widespread need for direct services and resources for LGBTQ Southerners.
Gender Benders
Gender Benders is a grassroots organization for transgender and gender diverse folks in the Southeastern US. They are based in Upstate, SC and we have chapters and partner organizations in Hattiesburg, MS, Clemson, SC, and Hendersonville, NC. Gender Benders started as a group of 3 folks talking about what needs they had as trans and gender diverse people living in an area with no existing resources or support networks – and what they could realistically do to meet those needs with no money. Today, Gender Benders serves over 550 people from across the Southeast.
GSA Network
GSA Network is a next-generation LGBTQ racial and gender justice organization that empowers and trains queer, trans, and allied youth leaders to advocate, organize, and mobilize an intersectional movement for safer schools and healthier communities.
Harriet Hancock LGBTQ Center
The Harriet Hancock LGBT Center is a safe and inclusive home that supports, educates, and empowers the LGBT community, our allies, and our neighbors. They have a vision for South Carolina where all people are accepted and affirmed, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, and LGBT people are able to live happy and healthy lives. The Harriet Hancock LGBT Center works to realize this vision in South Carolina, starting in the Greater Columbia community and Midlands region.
National Center for Transgender Equality
The National Center for Transgender Equality advocates changing policies and society to increase understanding and acceptance of transgender people. In the nation’s capital and throughout the country, NCTE works to replace disrespect, discrimination, and violence with empathy, opportunity, and justice.
Trans Lifeline
Trans Lifeline is a trans-led organization that connects trans people to the community, support, and resources they need to survive and thrive. Their offerings include a peer support hotline, microgrants, and information specific to the Transgender/Gender non-conforming community.
Trans Lifeline Hotline: (877) 565-8860.
Trans Love Fund
The Trans Love Fund is a program of the Alliance For Full Acceptance (AFFA) and We Are Family. The Trans Love Fund is dedicated to supporting the trans community of South Carolina by providing microgrants to trans-identified individuals throughout the state.
Transgender Awareness Alliance (TAA)
1830 S Lake Drive, 84383
Lexington, SC 29073
TAA exists to supply emergency assistance to the transgender community of SC and partners with other organizations to create an affirming network of legal, health and consumer resources.
Transgender Community of the Lowcountry
The Transgender Community of the Lowcountry is a support group for Transgender people in the community and also their allies. This is a safe space that is moderated and will be used for general discussion and education to better the community. This group was created for two goals: first being the support of members and their allies, and second, being community outreach and education.
Transgender Law Center
Transgender Law Center changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender-nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.
Collect line for people in prison and detention: (510) 380-8229
T-Time Myrtle Beach
(843) 424-6782
T-Time Myrtle Beach is an open Transgender support group and discussion forum in Myrtle Beach, SC. They also aim to promote a safe environment within which everyone can reside.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly known as the (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, interdisciplinary professional and educational organization devoted to transgender health. Their mission is to promote evidence-based care, education, research, public policy, and respect in transgender health.