BY SOFIA LUCIANO SANTIAGO
House of Tulip is unlike any other organization in the world. Providing more than community resources, the non-profit organization has created a community center through its walls and its support for the trans and gender non-conforming community in Louisiana and across the South.
Founded by Milan Sherry and Mariah Moore in 2020, amidst a peak during the pandemic in the pre-existing housing crisis in New Orleans, Sherry and Moore saw a necessity amongst their community for accessible housing and created a mutual aid initiative to assist community members at the time.
“Many of our TGNC community members who not only work in hospitality and within some of the entertainment spaces, but we also had a vast majority of our community who also engaged in survival sex work. So when everyone was pretty much laid off their jobs and we were told to stay in place, we saw that even in the midst of the pandemic a lot of landlords were still requiring folks to pay rent. And the thought of many of our folks, were facing housing disparities close to evictions, and some of them you were getting put out. Of course, we knew that there were many places that accommodated TGNC folks, but many of our community members found themselves to be rejected from those spaces due to some of the requirements and just overall violence that they received once they entered into those spaces,” said director of community support & outreach and co-founder of House of Tulip, Milan Sherry.
From there, the project grew beyond mutual aid assistance, Sherry and Moore gathered a community town hall where they first introduced a housing component to provide no-cost housing for the TGNC community in Louisiana, known as House of Tulip.
“We were able to buy our first property off of funding that was not received by any federal or any grants. This was money that was raised from community poured into this vision and most importantly, poured into black trans leadership. So to see more spaces created for us by us was very important and vital to our survival as TGNC folks.” said Sherry.
House of Tulip provides short-term and long-term housing for TGNC folks, a clothing closet, a hygiene closet, three meals a day, and a stabilization center where folks are assisted with acquiring what they need; from birth certificates to recovery resources provided by The Odyssey House in New Orleans.
Outside of their resources, House of Tulip fosters community through their events and different community initiatives. Holiday celebrations like their past Friendsgiving event on Thanksgiving day, their monthly support group HOT Wednesdays, to the annual Trans March of Resilience started by House of Tulip in the city of New Orleans held on the Trans Day of Remembrance.
“The beauty about House of Tulip is that none of the residents are required to pay out of pocket to be housed. The only way we always tell folks, you know how you pay us back is by paying it forward, but most importantly doing what you need to do to get where you need to be for yourself,” said Sherry.
In-kind donations specialist at House of Tulip, Meloney Washington, said House of Tulip tries to provide a safe and warm space created by their community for their community.
“Most community members just want to feel wanted, want to feel seen, and the events that we provide are so that community can have a place for them to be able to link with other community members and to know that there's a community out there to just love on each other and to be able to freely express themselves,” said Washington.
Housing is only one of the issues House of Tulip focuses on. The core of the organization was built from the collective lived experiences of its members, seeking to end a repetitive cycle of violence and disregard for TGNC folks' needs and provide the necessary resources for the community to thrive.
Sherry said she often thinks about when she first started her transition as a young trans youth. Her mother, allies, and faculty in her school who championed her helped her from entering the school-to-prison pipeline many TGNC folks find themselves in.
“People have to realize that not only are we providing this service to folks, but we're also part of the community that we're serving. We come from a lot of things those same backgrounds and experiences that folks that are coming through our doors. Things that we have navigated already. Like, especially for myself and Mariah, as the founders of this organization, we talked about we're very transparent about our history, being young trans women, natives of New Orleans coming from survival sex work. We talk about the violence, disparities, hurdles, and challenges that we have faced and overcome and how to navigate. And why is it important we pay it forward. I know, I have had a lot of conversations, especially with our elders and community and it was like, ‘well child, we did it why can't they do it? But they shouldn't have to because you shouldn't have had to do it,’” said Sherry.
“We deserve everything.
We deserve every motherfucking thing that
the world decides that we cannot have.
We don't have to keep rallying for these spaces, if we're building our own. We don't have to ask to be a part of this table, if we build tables of our own. We're always asking and we're demanding for these things. Which we shouldn't have to, because this is not work. This is not what we want to do. We should be all living our lives, all figuring out what we want for our futures. We shouldn't have to be sitting here debating for a better future, compromising our lives. I'm not going to ask you for this. I'm gonna do something brighter and bigger. Notice that you're gonna see it because now you're gonna want to be a part of my table. You're gonna want to come to my castle that I've built with this empire that we've created for a better utopia,” said Washington.
Sherry said organizations like (STAR) Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries started by activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in New York made it possible for organizations like House of Tulip to exist.
“When I think about the work that Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) did, that Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera put into that housing component, that philanthropy component, and made it possible for organizations like House of Tulip to flourish and exist. And I will hope to see more models across the country. That House of Tulip can be a blueprint that folks can model after, that folks can see the need, and how important the model is for us by us. The endless possibilities that comes with it, the gratitude. House of Tulip is not the first of its kind and its not last of its kind, but it is so unique and precious,” said Sherry.
From TBD Issue 3: 'AGE OF RESILIENCE', Available Now!
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRENITY J. THOMAS
CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING BY LAURYN HINTON
MAKEUP BY TAMARA CAMILLE SOUBLET
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