In Conversation with Jersey Noah: Refusing to Be Erased

When silence kills and propaganda distorts: One trans activist's unfiltered truth about survival, resistance, and the fight for trans dignity.

In a world where our mainstream media remains silent and/or complicit in the most pressing issues facing marginalized communities, Jersey Noah emerges as a voice of clarity, resilience, and truth.

Jersey Noah (he/they) is more than just an author or organizer — he is a truth-teller. With a background that weaves together journalism, media studies, and hardcore research, Jersey has made it his mission to drag the most critical, often-hidden issues into the harsh light of day.

His work focuses on a range of crucial topics including: state repression, transgender healthcare, amplifying the voices of queer prisoners, standing with undocumented residents, and cannabis reform.

Yet, what sets Jersey apart is his communications style and the ability to deconstruct complex issues making them digestible and approachable for a broad audience.

Deeply committed to community-driven work, Jersey doesn’t just speak about change — he creates it. From forming and connecting online communities to embedding himself in local movements in the SF Bay Area, his approach is always collaborative and ground-level.

In the following interview with

Saira Rao

, Jersey Noah provides an unfiltered look into the current landscape of trans existence in the United States — a narrative of resilience in the face of systematic oppression.

Saira: In a recent Instagram reel, you said this: “Being trans in the U.S. is incredibly depressing right now. I want to clarify that being trans has never and will never make me depressed. What makes me depressed is society’s response to me being trans. To walking through a world filled with cis people and being othered.”

Your words are always so honest and beautiful and poignant. First of all, thank you for sharing your love and your humanity. How can WE show up right now for you and all trans people?

Jersey: Trans people are in a moment of severe and worsening repression. We have been stripped from the national missing and unidentified persons website, we are being forced to change our passports to more easily identify us as transgender, states are introducing bills that criminalize trans people as fraudulent and could result in felony charges, trans healthcare is getting stripped away from both youth and adults across the country, trans people have lost hate crime and civil rights protections in Iowa, trans people have been threatened with arrest at passport agencies, people have had their documents destroyed, and just last week, I was denied a bank account for being trans.

The chaos invoked by the state is deliberate; it gives individuals, institutions, and agencies the free will to discriminate and violate trans people. We are being dehumanized, degraded, and villainized. It is essential that our community stays true to and uplifts the legacy of trans revolutionaries throughout history who fought against the systemic oppression of trans people at a grassroots level and who envisioned a world where trans people have dignity and self determination.

Saira: Can you elaborate on what needs to happen right now?

Jersey: We are a diverse community and we need to build power and unity that is rooted in collective liberation by centering and uplifting those most directly impacted by state violence such as trans women, Black and brown trans people, disabled trans people, undocumented trans people, and trans prisoners. In this moment, trans people need to build knowledge amongst our community and train in a variety of ways (around healthcare, self defense, organizing, security culture, mutual aid, etc), so that we are prepared to care for ourselves and one another no matter the situation we find ourselves in.

We need true allies to identify themselves because there’s value in those who can offer skills so this fight doesn't all fall to us. For example, medical practitioners who will put themselves on the line for us — who either specialize in trans health or want to provide trans healthcare after being trained in how to do so. As well as allies who can provide us space and “cover” by doing the work alongside us because we are finding ourselves in a moment of severe repression.

Saira: Why do you think people and formations are remaining silent about the targeting and repression trans people are experiencing?

Jersey: To me, it feels very obvious why so many self-described leftist people, groups, and formations haven’t said a single word about the state rapidly increasing its violence and abuse against trans people. But it seems like it’s not obvious to everyone else, so I’ll explain:

1. People are waiting until the state’s attempt to eradicate trans people feels “real” to them (as opposed to listening to trans people telling you it’s real right now). They’ve told themselves that they’ll sound the alarms when a trans person they know is in immense danger.

2. Most non-trans people don’t hold actual relationships with trans people, especially not with transsexual people. There may be some who “care” about trans people from afar, or through parasocial relationships, but in their close, inner circles — there are very few trans people.

3. People do not actually understand collective liberation as a practice and therefore do not understand nor do they take the time to learn how to incorporate trans people into whatever their “focus” or “expertise” is.

4. Transness is seen as “divisive”. They do not want to create a divide in their followers, supporters, and “allies”. They don’t want to lose funding. They don’t want to “isolate anyone”. And yet, without taking a principled stance for trans people in this moment, you are isolating us.

5. What’s happening to trans people doesn’t “feel” as significant or crucial to them. But when will it? When trans civil rights are stripped away? When our existence is literally criminalized by law? When our community is killed and violated at alarming rates? We are already there.

6. They are weak and have folded to the propaganda. They are asking questions like, “well . . . is it fair to have trans women in women’s sports?” They are mindlessly moving along with the narrative of villainizing trans women and naming trans people as fraudulent deceivers.

Saira: What can people do to support your work and the trans community?

Jersey: Not enough people are speaking up, and I’m unclear what it will take for them to do so. We are seeing Black trans people being killed and violated at alarming rates. We are seeing gruesome torture and degradation of our community and siblings. At this point, speaking up is not enough. Our true allies need to look internally and ask themselves what they can offer to the fight and then prioritize making space in their life to provide those skills and resources to the fight for transgender self-determination.

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Support Jersey's Work

• Venmo: @jerseynoah

• Instagram: @Jersey.Noah

• X/Twitter: JerseyNoahx

• TikTok: @jerseynoah

• Substack: @jerseynoah

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This piece is dedicated to all trans individuals fighting for dignity, self-determination, and liberation.