Chastity Bowick assumes new role as executive director of the Ohio-based Marsha P. Johnson Institute

Chastity Bowick – former executive director of the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts – has assumed the role executive director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI), which offers fellowships, resources and support for transgender people across the country.

Bowick will replace the Columbus-based non-profit’s founder and first executive director, Elle Moxley, a Columbus native.

Moxley named and founded the institute in honor of the iconic transgender rights activist and veteran of the Stonewall Uprising and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) co-founder, serving transgender people in the spirit of Johnson’s legacy.

For Bowick, the “passing of the brick,” from one Black transgender woman to another is both a moment of trans joy and one of somber and necessary reflection.

“This is a pivotal moment for the agency and for our supporters to see how we move and how we operate,” she told The Buckeye Flame. “I’m taking on this role to help break down barriers within our own community, so we can move forward together in creating the programs that we need for our community to not only survive, but to thrive.”

“This is a time for new leadership, which also comes with change,” Bowick said. “I am building upon Elle’s foundation and legacy and just taking it to another level.”

Making transgender history

Much like Johnson, Bowick became an advocate for other transgender people after experiencing abuse and homelessness herself.

“After leaving an abusive relationship, I became homeless. I was indulging in survival sex work and survival drug use, and not able to find the resources I needed at the time,” Bowick said. 

After receiving assistance from the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts, Bowick’s life and work changed forever.

“That gave me time to realize what I want out of this life, and one of those things was to be the resource for my community that I didn’t have,” she said. “That started my journey into trans housing and activism.”

In 2015, Bowick became volunteer executive director for the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts. 

In 2020, she became the organization’s first paid employee – increasing the group’s budget by $70,000 and opening the first transitional home in New England for trans and gender diverse people.

‘We have a target on our backs’

Founded by Moxley in 2019, MPJI currently offers three separate fellowship programs: The Starship Fellowship program “to empower BLACK, trans creatives,” the Community Organizing Fellowship and the Coalition to End Violence Against BLACK Transgender Women.

The institute also hosts a massive online list of trans-specific resources organized by state – including housing assistance, legal services, social supports and health care professionals.

In 2025 alone, Ohio Republican lawmakers have proposed at least 38 pieces of anti-transgender legislation.

Since 2022, anti-transgender legislation across the country has jumped by more than 450%, despite evidence published by the American Psychological Association finding overwhelmingly negative health outcomes for transgender Americans directly linked to the bills, including an increased risk of suicide.

In order to survive, Bowick said, trans and LGBTQ+ people must build coalitions and relationships within their own communities.

“We have a target on our backs,” Bowick said. “We have to have unity within community. We have to do this together.”

Progress and possibility 

In a political climate rife with anti-transgender sentiment, Bowick said she is prepared to meet the moment.

“I think this is my calling,” she told The Buckeye Flame. “To be able to have that national reach, to be able to provide our community with what it needs during these critical times.”

Later this year, the group plans to release a community assessment in order to help gauge the needs and fears of trans communities across the state.

“I feel like the possibilities are endless,” Bowick said. “We just have to get past this hump – and what I mean by that is this three-year hump that we have ahead of us. Still, there’s going to be a lot of cleanup work to do. In the meantime, how can we survive? How can we prevent more deaths within the trans community? How can we prevent more youth suicides knowing that they’re having their rights stripped away from them when it comes to HRT?”

Next year, MJPI will host its first major event, Family Gathering, in collaboration with the Sisters of Eternal Essence.

“We’re partnering with them to bring 100 trans and gender diverse people, all expenses paid, to some sort of resort space where they are given a weekend of healing, restoration, and most importantly, resources,” Bowick said. “The three pillars are going to be housing, health and employment. We want to zero in on those and make sure people know what’s available and how to access it.”

Supporters will be able to register as volunteers for the retreat via MJPI’s website within the next 60 days.

“It would be amazing if all our volunteers could be allies,” Bowick said. “This is a community effort and we need the community to continue doing this work.”

‘That’s what keeps me going’

In particular, Bowick said her personal relationship with iconic trans elder and activist and one of the mothers of the American transgender rights movement, the late Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, has been an ongoing source of strength and resolve.

“I don’t take this work lightly,” Bowick said. “I feel like I was chosen to do this work. First and foremost, I want to say it’s the utmost honor to be able to lead an organization in Marsha’s name. Without her– and Miss Major and Sylvia Rivera and Gladys Bentley and so many other people who have knocked down different barriers – I wouldn’t be having an interview with you today.”

“There are many times when I wanted to give up, when I had suicidal ideation, because the world is up against me. They’re telling me I shouldn’t exist,” she added. “But it’s Marsha P. Johnson who got me to keep going. It’s being able to call Miss Major and hear her say, ‘Girl, fuck that shit up and get back to work.’ In my heart, that’s what keeps me going.”

In spite of the challenges, Bowick said she is grateful to work in the legacy of the Black trans women who came before her.

“I wake up every day proud and honored to be able to carry on their legacies by doing this work,” she said. “They’ve done so much to get us to where we are. It’s up to us to move it forward, even on those rough days.” 🔥

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Ignite Action

• To make a donation to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, click here.
• To subscribe to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute’s newsletter, click here.
• To learn more about the Marsha P. Johnson Institute’s fellowship programs and other resources, click here.
• If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
• If you are an transgender adult in crisis, please contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860