Isa Noyola

Isa Noyola (born July 22, 1978)[1] is a Latina transgender (or translatina) activist, national leader in the LGBT immigrant rights movement, and deputy director at the Transgender Law Center.[2][3] In 2015, she organized the first national trans anti-violence protest. This protest was an event that brought together over 100 activists, mostly trans women of color, to address the epidemic of violence trans communities face, especially as race and gender intersectionality relates to immigration and incarceration as they deal with transphobic systems.[4][5][6]

Isa Noyola
At a rally outside San Francisco City Hall
Born (1978-07-22) July 22, 1978
Houston, Texas U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican
Occupation(s)Community Organizer
Activist

Early life

Noyola was born in Houston, Texas, to father Celestino Noyola and mother Anita Noyola (née Del Carmen Gonzales).[1] She grew up in California.[7] Her roots and family come from Comitán, Chiapas and San Luis Potosí, Mexico.[4][8] Noyola has stated that she began to identify as a feminist after she was shamed as a child for pretending to be Wonder Woman.[4] She was born and raised in the evangelical Pentecostal faith, where her parents were pastors and ran a church in the San Francisco Bay area for over 25 years.[9]

Noyola identifies as a translatina, activist, two-spirit, queer, "jota", "muxerista", and cultural organizer.[10]

Career

Transgender Law Center

Noyola is currently the Deputy Director of Programs at the Transgender Law Center[4] which is a nonprofit organization working to remedy discrimination against transgender people.[8][11] She also works on bringing the community issues directly to the systems that oppress the translatina community such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and educating politicians who often know very little about transgender people.[5] She advocates for transgender women being released from ICE detention centers and works extensively with the goal to end deportations.[3]

#Not1More

Noyola works with the #Not1More organization to build collaboration to change unjust immigration laws.[12]

Other activities

She is on the advisory board for the El/La (Para Translatinas),[13] FAMILIA:Trans Queer Liberation Movement,[14] and Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project.[15]

On May 28, 2015, Noloya along with about 70 other LGBTQ immigrants and allies formed a human chain blocking the entrance to the Santa Ana Police Department, protesting for an end to the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, particularly those who are part of the LGBTQ community.[16][17] They were calling on the City of Santa Ana, California to terminate its contract with Immigration Customs Enforcement which imprisons trans and queer people in abusive conditions in the Santa Ana City Jail.[18] The police declared the protest an unlawful assembly resulting in 5 arrests including Noyola.[17][19]

El/La (Para TransLatinas)

Noyola founded and works as a national advocate with El/La Para TransLatinas, an organization for transgender Latinas (transLatina) that works to build collective vision and action to promote survival and improve TransLatinas quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area.[13] In Noyola's time with El/La her intersectional approach has been central to El/La's success. In 2013 the grassroots leadership development organization won a $200,000 grant from the San Francisco Human Rights Commission for violence-prevention work.[20] Noyola says it marked the first time that trans Latinas received funding to develop community leaders in this way.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Isaias Celestino Noyola - Texas Birth Index". FamilySearch. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  2. Hing, Julianne (5 November 2014). "Facing Race Spotlight: Trans Latina Activist Isa Noyola". ColorLines. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  3. "Isa Noyola | Transgender Law Center". transgenderlawcenter.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-07. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  4. "#31Days of Feminism: Isa Noyola". NBC News. 24 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  5. Reichard, Raquel (13 January 2016). "Woman Crush(Ing The Patriarchy) Wednesday: Isa Noyola". Latina. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  6. Pérez, Miriam Zoila (28 December 2015). "15 Remarkable Women of Color Who Rocked 2015". ColorLines. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  7. "Funding Forward 2016: Speakers – Isa Noyola". Funders for LGBTQ Issues. March 2016. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  8. "About: Meet our Team: Isa Noyola, Director of Programs". Transgender Law Center. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  9. Noyola, Isa (December 2015). "When You Let Go Of Fear, Beautiful Things Can Happen". Mijente's Lánzate - The Jump Off. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  10. Noyola, Isa (25 June 2015). "Op-ed: You Can't Cheer for Laverne and Boo Jennicet". The Advocate. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  11. "US: Transgender Women Abused in Immigration Detention: Face Sexual Assault, Solitary Confinement". Human Rights Watch. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  12. "Queer & Trans Immigrants from Across the Country Proclaim "Liberation, Not Deportation"". #Not1More Deportation. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  13. "Isa Noyola, National Advocate, Advisory Board Co-Chair". El/La {Para Translatinas}. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  14. "Steering Committee: Isa Noyola". FAMILIA: TQLM (Trans Queer Liberation Movement). Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  15. "Isa Noyola". United We Dream: Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  16. "US: Abuse to Transgender Women in Immigration Detention". Human Rights Watch. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  17. Lee, Greg (28 May 2015). "Dozens protest incarceration of LGBTQ immigrants in Santa Ana; 5 activists arrested". ABC News – KABC-TV Los Angeles. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  18. Alvarado, Isaias (23 March 2016). "HRW: Migrantes transgéneros sufren abusos sistemáticos en centros de Inmigración". La Opinión. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  19. Schiavenza, Matt (28 June 2015). "LGBT Activists Are Still Fighting". The Atlantic. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  20. "San Francisco Human Rights Commission Awards Violence Prevention Grant to El/La" (PDF). San Francisco Human Rights Commission. City and County of San Francisco. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

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