Almost two years ago when Jonathan the producer of this podcast and I were beginning tree speech. We saw how the pandemic was allowing more people including us to be outside and experiencing nature as part of an everyday routine. All we knew was that we loved trees and that we were interested. Stood in exploring our relationships to them.
Since that time we have been constantly surprised and delighted to further understand the extreme reach and interconnected intricacy that trees have within every aspect of our experiences and the events that affect our society and world. We have not found one area of our Modern Life that is not touched in some ways by trees and our very survival is reliant on.
Mum trees also serve as a constant example of how an ecosystem will Thrive best when it supports the needs of all, its diverse members in this episode, I speak with Megan Buell, the founder of trees, the transgender resource, education and Enrichment, Services organization that she created and leads to provide, transgender education to small towns and Rural America located in South Bend Indiana trees. Has expanded to develop their Treehouse and inclusive.
Physical space. Containing a resource Library, research areas a meeting room and a place for understanding and empathy to take root. My name is Dori Robinson and this is tree speech a podcast where we strive to listen to the forest through the trees. This week's episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the wabanaki Confederacy. Penacook It and Pawtucket
people. And in New York, on the land of the Lenape tribes as well as in Indiana on the land of the Peoria. Tribe tree speech is co-written and produced by Jonathan's out, Nur with a light theater, guilt. In this country and around the world. The rights of transgender people have been continuously politicized as politicians use gender identity as a hot-button issue to prey on misconceptions and a lack of understanding to
scare their voters. This fear-mongering leads to discriminatory practices in every area of society and life from federal policies to school regulations military. Bands to Medical discrimination and bathroom bills to sports Fields. Even worse anti-trans, rhetoric creates a divide as groups of people are labeled and seen as other leading directly to violence toward the transgender Community, as a result of a perpetuation of false narratives
and harmful stereotypes. Under Megan's leadership, trees has identified, a need for education in the underserved communities, which lie in the rural fabric of this country and
their mission is to focus. Their educational efforts in cities towns, and communities of 25,000 people or less, with the goal of using education, to change the culture in these areas and create a more inclusive environment for transgender identifying individuals to live and enriched Safe and successful Life free of violence and discrimination.
I'd like to offer definitions and Clarity regarding several of the terms Megan, and I use during our conversation first, the word transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at Birth. Gender identity, is an individual's personal internal knowledge of their own gender. For transgender people, the biological sex they were assigned at Birth and their
gender identity do not match. Transgender is an umbrella term regarding gender identity and so individuals in the transgender community, may use other terms to be more specific. We'll have links in our show. Notes to learn more about these definitions and tips on how to be a supportive Ally including by using proper terms and pronouns. Megan Buhl is a lifelong resident of Indiana.
She has been a leader in the transgender Community locally, regionally and nationally and has served on nonprofit boards. Transgender advisory committees and is a regular Collegiate guest lecturer. Megan began trees ink as a way to pay it forward to the transgender Community. After living in transitioning in a small town environment and successfully traversing the challenges It was an honor to speak with her about her life and her nonprofit and how the
metaphor of trees guides it all. Let's listen, Hi Megan. Hey, how are you? I'm well, how are you doing today? Doing well. Thank you, great. So let's just jump right in. On your website, the story of Of trees Inc, begins in early 2012, you went from thinking what if to writing how to in an old beat-up notebook, the idea for trees began to sprout today. You have a sapling tomorrow, a forest, what led you to this change in thinking. Again, thank you for having me
just to introduce myself. My name is Megan Buell. And my pronouns, are she, and her and I founded the organization as part of a giving, back to society, as a way to increase visibility and help communities be better prepared for when a trans person comes into their environment. So really the, the work is Community Development based on behalf of the transgender Community as I was growing up and being confused about myself. There was a lack of resources in
my community visible. People someone to connect with and it it's time. I made my growth really for a long time. And I just thought it was important to help others by creating safer. More inclusive spaces. And so the organization kind of sprouted from seeing so many people have to leave small town and Rural communities to go to other places to find connection resources and people like themselves. And why can't we just turn that 180 in and make wherever they
are the best place for them. Yeah. Why can't we like you said going from what if to how to, which is a really interesting way of thinking of of Going from this might never happen to. I can make this happen and I will make a plan, and I will make the list it mirrors of my own journey in a lot of ways. Because I never thought that I would be at this point where I can be out and proud as a transgender woman. And so it was always a huh.
What if, but never really going to happen and so, starting trees, was that what if I started an organization, what would it do? And what would it look like? And what? Even last and we're coming up on our eighth year anniversary in January. So what ifs to how to's? Yes, can we hear more about your journey? So I grew up in a small conservative Midwest City, where there were, and this was at a time when there was no internet, there was no cable television.
So we were limited in the exposure of anything that was gender diverse. So, the things that I was thinking about and feeling about me, Self didn't match anybody else in my community and my schools even even in the college time. So I just put store them all away as one connective experiences and watched how other boys were growing up and tried to mimic what they were doing and how they were acting and played the part for a long
time. And then in the mid 90s, late 90s, I You know, I got connected on the internet to a word called transgender and I read what it was about and I started to read some biographies of some folks, identified as transgender. And those things that I had been hiding, those experiences started to make more sense and think of it, as a puzzle, and those pieces of the puzzle started to fit together, and the
picture got clearer and clearer. We're as I learned more about what it was to be trans and and I knew I was on the right path to finding out more about myself than I had ever known before where I thought it was problem. But in fact, it was just a missing definition and and it gave me direction in my life and I kept pushing forward and learning more and starting to understand. And and here I am running late
and organization based on that. Every of that one word that filled in all the blanks for 35 years of my life, really? That's an extraordinary thing that that's suddenly having the word for something gave you the power to be yourself. So there, there are a lot of people out there that may not have run into that word yet. Or that definition, that may be struggling. And a lot of those people are in areas of the country that have limited access.
Us to the internet or resources or books, or even a person that looks different to them. And you know, the work of trees is really mobile education, and I go there and I just try to have conversations with folks and say, yeah, this is okay. It took me a while to find it and figure it out and, you know, you can be who you are, wherever you're at, and we just have to
create a safer culture. In those communities, tell me a little bit more about what that's been like, first year was scary, because you create a nonprofit organization, you know, out of scribbles on a notebook. As you as you read, you, you never know if anyone is going to find this as important as you are and you would need to support. I would, I would take our our mission, in our information, to private events and some other events and the Reaction from people.
When they read it was focused and small town. And Rural communities was like, oh my goodness, we so need this and nobody is doing this. And I did do a national search and there's there's no organizations who are set up as a mobile unit working in small town and rural community. So I knew we had something very unique but it was still tough to get those conversations started because I couldn't just go writing in this small town with my bullhorn. Earns a day. Let's talk about transgender
stuff. Yeah, they would be like, here's the exit to the town, you know, the other side of that, stop sign, keep going. So we really focused on those people that had that reaction at those events to say, hey, let's work together. Rent me a room at your Public Library. I'll come in and do the talk. We'll have a conversation connect to, you know, people in your network to resources, inherently. We're finding people want to do the right things, but they're
afraid. To do the wrong things so they don't do anything so if we can get them a resource that helps them you know maybe be the first domino in their community and start conversations. It's a lot of communications work and respectful Communications at that. Maybe that that town has a chance to change on its own organically. And we don't have to be there to nurture that or cultivate that we are planting the seeds of
diversity. And hoping that those communities then cultivate that inclusive culture. And, you know, it just takes somebody to go in and I use my own personal stories. I put myself out there to in a way, humanize it for them because they're probably only getting stuff off the internet or over dramatize things on television. And I just want to tell, you know, I'm simple. Simple people trying to live a life that may not be the same life that you're living.
Doesn't make it better or worse. It just makes it different and they should all have a chance. But unfortunately what's happening is either somebody is living. They're afraid and they start to think that suicide is their best option or they're being forced to leave or Worse. They're being killed and that has to stop that has to stop. So are a lot of our mission really is embedded in Saving Lives, one way or another and using education and resource
building now. As those tools, but it's not easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it right. No, it's not easy. And you do mention saving lives in your mission and in your vision. Can you tell us more about the services that you offer in order to do that? Well, it's really education. I will go and talk to anybody anywhere anytime because that one conversation and sharing my own personal stories, could make a connection and make somebody go. Oh well okay.
Not so bad because it's more than likely contrary to what they're being told elsewhere. We're not working directly with the Trans Community but we can connect the trans Community to service providers and friendly places, competent Healthcare and other agencies. So we're like the Clearinghouse in the distributor of good resources.
But what we do in our trainings really is to help organizations and community members learn how to To think before they speak communicate and effective and respectful way, and understand that everybody is coming from different places and we have to take that into consideration when we work together, play together, Network together and live together. It's nothing more than that. So our service is education to
make us safer better world. So people can Can grow and go from Sprouts to full-fledged oak trees and Powerful. You know, when I when a gender diverse person doesn't feel part of the community, the community loses because there's one less person in their midst. That isn't contributing communities are best when everybody feels. They can contribute and be part of that community. And so it's a win-win all the way across the board.
It really is. It's just such a powerful thing and it it's reflected in all parts of our world that we are better when we are inclusive. How did the tree metaphor begin? I really started to just think about what it is that we're doing and we're planting something for planting an idea for planting a thought process, where we're starting really from
scratch. We have no idea what this thing is going to look like, I'll call it micro, do it really had a lot of the same kind of Growth layers as a tree with and trees became us. But the metaphor really is about growing something that makes the planet a better place. When you walk inside, you feel that Vibe of inclusivity and
welcome this. And and that everybody is, is allowed in and it's not a space just for gender diverse, people trans people it's for the whole Community because Our real hope is that maybe a non-binary person is sitting next to a cisgender person and maybe sitting next to a trans person and they're just working under computers doing her own stuff, but that's what chips away at that stigma when they can just meet another human being and realize that their, they have
more things in common than different. That's what we want this space to help nurture in the community. And so the test run here, in South Bend, which is my hometown is The hope that we can have a treehouse in every Community. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Just a lot of different ways to connect to the community that don't always have to be queer related. They're just regular stuff that goes on in the community and then people come in and I realize that you know it just
feels like a cool safe. So so you've created this wonderful safe space while we're on the metaphor of trees and growth, where are some of the places you've been and Brought your mobile education, so we decided that it would be Indiana and states that border Indiana. And we started to make connections and do some work then somebody would find out about us somewhere else. And if I could make it work, I would go. So I've gone as far away as the eastern part of Kansas Western Missouri.
Several places in Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Pennsylvania. I do some regular Work in the western mountainous areas of Virginia and even flew out to Oakland California but what we're finding is that people want information, they're really want information. So the invitation so our invitations come from all different places in a lot of it really has started to become from college campuses and for us that's like the biggest bang for
our for our time dollar. Because in a classroom or on a college campus, you may be talking to 30 40, 50 or 60, small towns and rural areas for one conversation. And those people could be the ones that go back. The story that connects with that is me being out in proud and stand in front of a group and talking about my own
experience and the organization. Maybe there's somebody in the audience who is wondering, if they could come out and be proud of who they are, And I got a message about nine months after I had gone to a small College in Central Illinois.
From a student who was in the audience and they told me how from the moment they heard me talk about my challenges, but also how far I had come from those challenges that they had come out to classmates and their parents and their Professors and they felt so so confident that they could also do that. And it was because they were in the audience where I spoke I did not go and tell everybody to go in to come out and try this but
you never know who's listening. So the story the message is is powerful in itself and from my perspective, it's just my life. I've had been fortunate to be responded to after a talk by parents of trans kids. Who have told me that prior to meeting me, they were worried about their child's future because all they had ever seen were the stories of murder and The Stance around suicide and how tough it is. And then they meet me and they find out that I run an
organization. I'm a elementary school substitute teacher, I have regular jobs, you know and they're like you gave me more hope for my child and I ever had before? Yeah, I mean I will do this forever because it has impact like that what an extraordinary thing to Simply stand there and your existence gives people hope that that you get to be the the model that you didn't get as a child. The I don't find my my life particularly interesting. Ha ha ha ha.
Everyone else seems fine my life interesting enough that they kind of nudged me even to write a book so I'm writing it for them. Not well then tell us more about the book. I'm working with a writing team who think this is very important and so we've kind of modeled it as from the start the opening of The Treehouse and backing up into why this is important to your organization, how they got started my youth, some of my story. These are growing up some of the stories of being a teacher
places. I've gone, it's just stories of how I became me. So, you have a book. You have Treehouse, what are your plans for trees in the future? I really think like a good Maple. We're splitting into good to trunks on this, right. The Treehouse itself is operating kind of as a community resource center. Let's let's get this refined. So we can offer this Two other communities to try to duplicate the template for it.
So I'd love to see treehouses pop up in other communities, whether their urban areas or rural areas or wherever somebody could support them just to be a safe space in community. So I'd like to see that. But the the mobile education part of it is really where my passion is and what started. All this. Need to get that out to those areas. So I will continue to do that
above. And Beyond even my time with your organization because you know as a good nonprofit We don't stay with these things forever. But I'd like to hand it off to someone to run and duplicate the community center part of it. And, you know, my my retirement plan is to travel throughout the country and got a college campuses and do the work and putting everybody in the direction of trees and the tree houses.
And, and Keep the momentum going changing communities and cultivating safe spaces, within them. There's lots of lots of seeds to be planted. I can imagine that in your time, going to different places speaking with different people that you've really encountered, quite a few Gatekeepers along the way. And of course, there's higher up, Gatekeepers and legislation and in are in politics and all this is there a message, you would want to share with Gatekeepers.
Near and far, or is there something you would want Gatekeepers to know? Sure, trans people are just people and they're they're worth your life is different than the person standing next to them. But we all are different than a people. We stand next to. And again, not one way is better than the other. And we have to get past thinking that we're right. And somebody else is wrong. Legislation is not going to
stop. From existing all it's going to do is make it harder for them to it to exist and we're going to continue to lose lives when we do that, let people be who they are and the goal should be, everyone should have be able to have a happy fulfilling and Rich life in this country and too many people are trying to stop that because they somehow think that it's going to change their ability to have a happy fulfilling and Rich life when it really doesn't.
You don't have to manage it, you don't have to control it just because you don't understand it. Learn about it. Have conversation with me and you'll find out that it's nothing more than one sliver of my whole identity and I think we can all coexist very peacefully in the forest. It's not all one type of tree and they all don't look the same, there's lots of different trees. The canopy, you see from this guy is not made up of one.
Type of tree. So let all the trees grow and prosper and multiply and make this place a better place. Where do you find? Hope I find hope when somebody walks into the Treehouse and says this place is needed in every Community, says, places needed in our community. I want to support you or I hear from a parent who says, I heard you speak and it changed the way.
That I have chosen to support my child because those are all the things that give me hope that trans people are going to continue to live and prosper and you know, be happy in this country. So the feedback when somebody says that hearing about trees are meeting me changed how they view the trans Community. Then I'll have that again that conversation with anybody anywhere because it just might be one person. Whose life and Direction and
view of the world changes. Again, what a pleasure it is to speak with you, you are such a bright light and you're doing so much for so many and you're doing it with such this warm. Wonderful sense of humor. It's really such a pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you for making the time, you know, the humor part. I didn't always laugh at it but I found that when I can make a joke about it.
It then the pressure in the room because this is a top, this is a topic that, you know, people don't want to like, talk about. But if they can hear me, make a joke, then they laugh a little and everybody takes a deep breath and we come out. I'm not coming to teach you something that you don't want to learn. I'm just here to share stories
and help you out. If you're stuck on a word or stuck on a concept and maybe give you an example of how this looks in the real world and compare it to something. You're more familiar with, you just open the conversation and that small shift, that small shift makes an enormous difference. Yes, Meghan, thank you for being brave to create this community and brave to share your story. Thank you so much Megan for speaking with us today. Thank you again for for finding us.
And for inviting me in enjoyed this conversation as well. And I look forward to listening and sharing them in length. People know who you all are, as well to find out more about Megan. And the work that is being done at trees. Please visit we be trees dot-org. There is also a place on the website to donate as 100% of this organization, is funded by donations, as well as contact information for Megan.
If you are interested in her coming to your community, we will have a link to the He's website in our show notes while growing increasingly, visible in popular culture, and daily life. The trans Community still faces, severe discrimination stigma and inequalities to name a few. Despite a recent US Supreme Court decision. That makes it clear that trans people are legally protected from discrimination in the workplace. There is still no comprehensive
federal non-discrimination law. That includes gender identity, which means trans people may still lack recourse. If they face discrimination, when seeking housing or dining in a restaurant, additionally, there is a lack of HealthCare coverage often because doctors or providers refuse to care for transgender individuals based on their gender identity, the widespread lack of accurate, identity. Documents among trans people can have an impact on every aspect
of their lives. Including access to emergency housing or other public services without identification. One cannot travel register for school or access, many essential services, and finally trans people live in poverty, at an elevated rate a rate, which climbs dramatically for Trans people of color, a report by the national black Justice Coalition and the national Center for transgender equality.
Found that anti-transgender bias coupled with Structural racism, meant that transgender people of color experience, devastating levels of discrimination, including high unemployment rates as well as 41 percent. Having experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. This is why Megan's words are so dearly needed right now as transphobia, rages nationally in the United States, causing strife and violence in its wake.
Recently anti-lgbt Q upon And have introduced and passed laws to ban transgender youth from participating in school sports from kindergarten all the way through college levels.
These laws would barred. For instance, transgender girls from participating in sports with cisgendered girls or girls, who sex is biologically, female Idaho became the first state to try to enact such a ban last year, but was blocked by a federal judge and 27. Other states have Opposed similar legislation to give some perspective.
Let's focus on Ohio for a moment where the Cleveland seen reported that since 2015 of the 400,000 student athletes in the state, only three transgender students competed at the high school level nonetheless for political purposes. Ohio considered a cruel ban on transgender students in sports. Thankfully this element has been removed rather than protecting In fairness in sports as they claim to the laws, instead have targeted only a few students in each state preventing them from
participating. In athletics, with dignity, like their peers Megan pointed out that there are a variety of trees in the forest and though they are not all the same. They each helped create the beautiful unique canopy. There is indeed such a wide diversity in nature, which can be easily seen, but has also been scientifically proven the Nashville. Tree conservation. Corporation has stated that among tree species.
There are three Sexes male. Female and trees that have perfect flowers, which contain both male and female components, some tree species, even change sex. In addition to trees, there have been copious studies regarding plants, fish insects, amphibians birds, and animals. Changing sex, gender, diversity exists, across species of every kind as well. There is much we can learn from trees and nature in regards to the many ways that Diversity is
able to thrive. It is the variety of its members that makes an ecosystem, strong and resilient and our society functions in the same way, we are inspired by the work that Megan does to create a safe and enriching life for the transgender community in places where it is so needed. And that work is all of ours to share.
There are many actions that can be made to advocate for the human rights dignity and safety of all within our families, businesses schools, communities States and world and we will include resources in our show notes. Our laws and cultural norms should reflect the fundamental Dignity of each human being. This means continuing to fiercely support, the transgender Community. As we work towards a world where it is no longer necessary to do. So, thank you for joining tree speech today.
We are so grateful to Megan deal for sharing. Her story in the story of trees. Ink to learn more about Megan and trees, please visit we be trees dot-org to learn more about our podcast and episodes. Please visit tree speech. Podcast.com we're thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights and stories about the natural world we live in and the trees who guide our way. Please also consider supporting us through our patreon every
contribution. And supports our production and will be giving gifts of gratitude, including an invitation to our Treehouse, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree-loving, folks, and rate, and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps.