Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance (INTRAA)

Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles

Monday, 06. 29. 2009

Vision Statement

We believe that every individual has an equal right to the self-determination of gender, gender expression, and gender/body congruency and that the exercise of such self-determination is a basic right of all persons.

Mission Statement

The Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance (INTRAA) seeks to organize the transgender community and works through education and legislative efforts to create a society that values and protects freedom of gender expression and the right to gender self-determination for all.

Specifically, INTRAA works to:

• Insure freedom from social and government sanctioned discrimination against gender variant people in the areas of employment, housing, insurance, public services, health care, public safety, child protection and advocacy, and education.
• Eliminate harassment and violence motivated by ignorance, fear and hatred of transgender, intersex, bisexual, lesbian, and gay people.
• Change the law to incorporate advances in medical science and current standards of care with regard to the legal status of people who are transgender.
• Join in efforts to create a society free of shame, secrecy, and unwanted surgery for intersex people.

Guiding Principles

In carrying out its mission, INTRAA is guided by the following principles:

• All people, regardless of individual socioeconomic condition or degree of technological sophistication, should have an opportunity to participate fully in organizational activities.
• The interests and concerns of all classes, subgroups and minorities within the transgender community in Indiana are valuable and should be heard and fairly represented.
• Societal change should be attained through democratic, legal, and non-violent means.
• Mutual benefit can be achieved by working with other organizations in the pursuit of civil and human rights.
• “The rights of every person are diminished when the rights of one are threatened.” – John F. Kennedy