Looking for ways to help queer and trans people impacted by the wildfires and devastation in Maui? Explore native-led resources below.
By Daniela “Dani” Capistrano for TransLash Media
Over 59,000 LGBTQ+ people live in Hawaii, according to a MAP/Williams 2020 report. The media is actively reporting on displaced Maui families and individuals, but so far only washingtonblade.com has reported on the needs of LGBTQ+ Maui residents.
Here are more LGBTQ+ and ally, native-led organizations in Maui to support:
🌈 Maui residents have been displaced and need shelter. Randy M. Soriano, the executive director of Hawai‘i LGBT Legacy Foundation, Honolulu Pride and the LGBTQ Center Honolulu on the island of Oahu is asking for assistance.
🌈 The Maui Strong Fund is providing resources that can be deployed quickly.
🌈 Hawai’i People’s Fund’s Maui Aloha: The Peopleʻs Response: Hawaiʻi Peopleʻs Fund has helped to support, build capacity, and amplify the impact of grassroots social change movements in Hawaiʻi since 1972.
🌈 Maui Rapid Response: An ahupua’a based citizen disaster response team. Linking locals to resources and needs. 100% of donations go directly to local families in need.
🌈 Hawaiʻi Workers Center: https://www.hawaiiworkerscenter.org/donate/ (Write in the notes section: “Lāhainā Fires” for the donation)
🌈 Council of Native Hawaiian Advancement, Alaka’ina and Kakoʻo Haleākalā
🌈 Transcend Maui is a comprehensive primary care clinic available to all transgender and gender diverse patients of Mālama I Ke Ola Health Center.
🌈 Follow and support Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a prominent trans kumu (teacher), activist, filmmaker. Wong-Kalu is the co-founder of Kūlia Na Mamo, a Native Hawaiian and transgender-led health organization, and a proud māhū in Hawai‘i.
TRANS HAWAIIAN HISTORY
The word “māhū” historically has been used as a transphobic and homophobic slur. Māhūs are third-gender people with additional spiritual and social roles. Artists and advocates like Wong-Kalu have made it their mission to reclaim māhū as a term of queer & trans empowerment.
🌈 Follow and support Cathy Kapua, another Native Hawaiian trans woman and activist.
🌈 Meet Moe Hoapili, one of an estimated 1,260 Hawai‘i high school students who identify as transgender.
HELP MAUI RESIDENTS WITH DIRECT MUTUAL AID
Kay Ulanday Barrett, a disabled trans artist/poet/activist and TransLash community member, has been sharing Maui mutual aid resources on their Instagram account. They told TransLash Media in a DM that “it’s so necessary; we know agencies and institutions don’t always get people in crisis what they need!!”
(Watch Kay Ulanday Barrett and TransLash Media founder and CEO Imara Jones speak at #BeyondBinaries: the first ever high-level meeting on gender diversity and non-binary identities, held at United Nations headquarters in NYC on July 15, 2019)
Giving mutual aid directly to native Hawaiians is the fastest way to offer support. Explore this Google sheet of Maui mutual aid opportunities; it’s being updated in real-time with fundraising links.
More ways to support:
🌈 Learn more about predatory Maui land grabs and take action.
🌈 Send support via the Lahaina Ohana Venmo: a Venmo-based mutual aid initiative by Lahaina residents for Lahaina residents affected by the August 2023 fires.
🌈 Follow @hiprogressiveaction on Instagram to stay informed about the systemic issues and how to support native Hawaiians beyond this current tragedy.
ABOUT THE LAHAINA FIRE
The fire that ignited on August 7, 2023, and destroyed the town of Lahaina in West Maui, is now the deadliest US blaze in over 100 years, according to US Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell.
A mix of land and atmospheric conditions known as “fire weather” — along with the collapse of Lahaina’s water system — knocked out local communication and destroyed thousands of homes and historic buildings. Thousands have evacuated or been displaced, more than 100 people have been killed, and more than 1,000 people are still missing.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green described the fires as the “largest natural disaster Hawaii has ever experienced” — with over 2,000 structures destroyed and losses “approaching $6 billion.” Search and recovery efforts are still ongoing, but local officials expect the death toll will likely rise.
An online, centralized hub to respond to the impacts of the Maui Wildfire Disaster was launched at mauinuistrong.info.
Local and national activists are decrying the United States government’s history of colonialism and capitalist greed being the foundation for this avoidable tragedy.
As native Hawaiians witness tourists being given preferential treatment, many have been questioning whether the tourism businesses that fund their livelihoods should continue during a tragedy, as the island’s economy heavily depends on the travel industry.
TRANSLASH PODCAST: ‘AAPI AND TRANS’
ICYMI: Imara interviewed two leading AAPI trans community organizers for TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones.
She spoke with Hawaiian cultural ambassador and activist Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, who shares her coming out experience and talks about ways gender is expressed across Polynesian cultures and languages. Imara was also joined by outgoing Executive Director of Transgender Law Center, Kris Hasyahi, to discuss his nearly 30 year-long career as a trans activist.
If you are a business, individual, or organization that would like to collaborate with native Hawaiians to support #MauiStrong efforts, please fill out this form to be matched to the needs and offers that are coming in on the islands and beyond. This form was made by Maui Rapid Response.
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