Twin Cities transgender activist Barbara Satin, 88, to receive national recognition for advocacy work

Maraya King, Pioneer Press
·4 min read
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Barbara Satin was in her 60s when she gave a performance in Chicago detailing her gender-identity journey. The performance began with her entering the stage dressed as a man in a flowing black robe before a communion table.

“At the end, I dropped the robe and I was wearing a gorgeous gown, I put on a wig and I introduced them to Barbara Satin,” she said.

That performance fueled nearly 30 years of continued advocacy work for the LGBTQ+ community, Satin said, culminating in a ceremony this Saturday in San Francisco, where she will be honored with the Advocacy Award for Excellence on Aging Issues from a national advocacy and services organization, Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders’ (SAGE)

A Twin Cities native and current St. Paulite, Satin said her advocacy work spans three key areas: trans affirmation, faith issues and aging issues for transgender communities.

Satin, 88, worked as a faith director for the National LGBTQ Task Force for the past 15 years, retiring in 2022, and still serves as a consultant. In 2016, former President Barack Obama appointed her to the President’s Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships, citing her work with the Spirit on Lake elder housing project in South Minneapolis.

Spirit on Lake housing, which celebrates its 10-year anniversary this fall, is an LGBTQ-affirming residence with 46 units, Satin said. The apartment complex occupants are 65 percent LGBT and 35 percent East African residents, and the community “has been a marvelous journey towards acceptance and understanding,” Satin said.

One of the biggest issues facing the trans community is access to health care, Satin said, which becomes vital as individuals age.

“The idea of having to depend on health care or social services to be understanding and to provide respectful services was a real stretch,” she said, noting that many transgender individuals fear being misgendered, refused treatment or laughed at.

That’s why Satin helped to develop an organization called Training to Serve, which is running at Rainbow Health in St. Paul, and is designed to help senior care providers understand trans folks as well as their fears and expectations when seeking medical help.

Satin’s advocacy work is expansive, including leading a prayer for President Joe Biden’s inauguration, but what she said has been most surprising throughout her journey is the impact of sharing one story — her story.

“My life has been a life-changer for others in understanding our community,” Satin said. Six months after her Chicago performance when she was back in the Twin Cities, Satin said she was approached by a stranger who was in the crowd that day and upon hearing her story, was able to reconnect with and better understand her father.

“Our silence is killing us and we need to actively tell our stories,” Satin said, quoting the Rev. Rodney McKenzie Jr. “That is what I have been doing,” she said.

In Minnesota specifically, she said “it’s been a wonderful experience to live in a state where you don’t have to be fearful you will be pulled over and arrested because you don’t look like the gender you are portraying.” But she said the protections that exist in Minnesota don’t extend to other states like South Dakota or Wisconsin.

“Once you say it is a crime to provide hormones to young people who are trans, how long will it take before the state says you can’t provide hormones to people who are in their 70s and 80s who have lived full lives, aided so much by their ability to have hormone therapy?” Satin posed.

Looking at the future for trans individuals, Satin said, “I am very hopeful, but it isn’t going to be without a lot of tears and anger on both sides.” She said she believes the younger generation will play an important role in changing society’s understanding and the government’s role in supporting trans communities.

This weekend’s award is not the first Satin has received for her advocacy work around LGBTQ+ aging issues. In 2007, Satin was awarded the Allen R. Morrow Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, now known as the LGBTQ Task Force.

As for this weekend, she said, “It’s like the opening and the closing of a book for me.”

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