The “Varan” Trans Initiative Center was organized in 2024 by activists and advocates to support the transgender community and develop the safe activist potential of the LGBT+ community in Siberia and Russia.
Mission
The trans community in Siberia and Russia is resilient and united, feeling free and safe and having access to help, support and mutual support.
What are we doing?
Our main directions are supporting the transgender community and developing the activist potential of the LGBT+ community.
To provide direct assistance and support, we hold online events: gathering around the screens with our favorite drinks, sharing joys and worries, discussing events and hobbies that are important to us.
One of the important events for us is a meeting for loved ones. After all, there are few things so necessary for a person as supporting one’s neighbor. In the company of a professional psychologist and, most importantly, a host mother, your family can talk about the simplest and most complex things, gain support for hope, or simply have a good time in a pleasant company.
We also operate services that allow free qualified psychological, legal and equal counseling for both transgender people themselves and their loved ones.
To develop the activist potential of the LGBT+ community, we are developing events for our colleagues from other initiatives in Siberia and Russia. We help improve safety skills, consolidate initiatives, reduce burnout, and contribute to overall strategic work.
About the Team
The Project Team is not static; its size and composition can (and does) change over time. Most of us have experience in developing/facilitating/conducting events (information seminars, trainings, lectures). We have a horizontal leadership principle: the leader is a coordinating body, and decisions are made jointly.
Our values
We are all different people with different experiences. However, we all share the following values:
- courage and freedom in work;
- authority and reputation of the organization and the Team;
- the value and equality of all people on the Team;
mutual support; - openness and transparency;
- healthy work-personal boundaries;
- honesty;
- responsibility;
- nonviolence;
- ensuring safety for the Team and participants and participants of events;
confidentiality; - analytics and reflection on work issues.
