TransFaith Launches InterSections

TransFaith Online is pleased to announce the addition of a new Intersections
section of our website (http://www.transfaithonline.org/intersections/),
featuring information and resources relating to transgender health and
wholeness.

We believe that nurturing the spiritual health of any community necessarily
involves paying attention to issues of body, mind, and spirit. Due to the
overwhelming risk factors faced by the transgender community, health and
wholeness is truly a matter of life and death.

In our first installation of TransFaith Intersections, we are highlighting
concerns about the rate of HIV and AIDS infection in the transgender
community:

www.transfaithonline.org/intersections/hiv_and_aids/

We welcome the July/August 2008 issue of "Positively Aware"
(http://positivelyaware.com/2008/08_04/index.html) which focused on the
transgender community's status as "Invisible and At-Risk." However, in
researching this topic, we were dismayed at how few other resources exist
on-line addressing issues of HIV and AIDS among the transgender community.

While comprehensive data on the transgender community is not available,
local assessments indicate that the transgender community has been one of
the communities hit hardest by the AIDS epidemic. There is a desperate need
for more resources addressing the unique barriers faced by the transgender
community in terms of sensitive prevention and health care resources.

TransFaith Online calls on the transgender people of faith and our allies
to:

* become better educated about transgender HIV and AIDS
* make sure that your HIV and AIDS ministries are sensitive to the unique
needs of transgender people
* include HIV and AIDS awareness as a part of your transgender advocacy
efforts
* speak out about the way HIV and AIDS is impacting the transgender
community

We are also eager for your assistance in further developing our TransFaith
HIV and AIDS InterSection. Please contact Chris Paige (215-840-2858 or
chris@transfaithonline.org) with your input, suggestions, and feedback.