---

Our Organization

Mission

Three queer friends taking a picture together with a poloroid camera.

The MWTSN is organized exclusively as a community-based, grassroots organization working to support the transgender, nonbinary, intersex, gender-nonconforming, and gender-ethnic minority communities, as well as their direct families, tribal relations, and kinship systems.

Two queer folks playing in the park with their tiny dog.

Vision

We envision a world where basic human rights are guaranteed for all. By fostering understanding and acceptance of the transgender community, we aim to create spaces where transgender individuals can speak for themselves and be heard.

We want to empower and uplift the transgender and gender and sexually diverse communities by fostering understanding, acceptance, and advocacy. Through education, support, and collaboration, we aim to build a world where every transgender person is respected, valued, and heard.

Our Story

• 2016 – Ada, one of our founders, took over a support group run at the local Unitarian Universalist church. Our main support group has been running since then. She then created other events for our community including a clothing swap and potluck. We became the Corvallis Trans Support Group

• 2019 – Ada left to move to Portland but asked Elijah, our founding Executive Director, to make the Corvallis Trans Support Group into a nonprofit. Elijah could not do this alone. At the end of 2019 we received nonprofit status with the help of our founding board members Cammi, Castiel, Erin, Elijah, and our special Vice President mascot Mae (Elijah’s cat).

• 2020 Our support group went online and some services ceased to exist.

• 2023/24 – We worked hard on getting grants with the help of our first grant writer Dharma. We were able to hire our first contractor employee and then hired more contractors and an Executive Director

• 2025 – We got our first office at 260 SW Madison Ave Suite #110 in Corvallis, OR.

Thank You to our QTIBIPOC Support Group founder Xander for the art for our swag!

Nature is Trans Buttons. you can get at our booths out in the community!

Gender Diversity in Nature

Across the animal, plant, and fungal kingdoms, there are countless examples of species subverting the paradigm of strict male and female roles. From female lions growing manes to male seahorses carrying eggs, nature exists far beyond the gender binary. Nature is trans, nonbinary, intersex, queer, and so much more.

Lions: Female lions can grow manes, too! These lionesses can also roar, scent mark, and mount other females.

Poppies: Matilija Poppies are bisexual, which means that have male and female reproductive organs on the same flower.

Snakes: Male Red-Sided Garter Snakes can mimic females by releasing pheromones that attract other males.

Seahorses: Seahorse fathers carry fertilized eggs in their pouches until they give birth to live fry.

Chickens: A female chicken can become masculinized if the left ovary regresses and the right becomes an ovotestis.

Butterflies: A butterfly can look like it is split down the middle with a female side and a male side.

Hummingbirds: One in six White-Necked Jacobin hummingbirds with male plumage is female in sex.

Parrots: Changes in hormones can cause a male budgerigar’s normally blue cere to become brown like a female.

Maple Trees: Researchers found that over four years, most of the Striped Maple trees they observed changed sex.

Frogs: Sex isn’t just determined by chromosomes. For Wood Frogs, higher temperatures will produce more males.

Bearded Dragons: Genetically male bearded dragons can lay eggs if they are exposed to warm temperatures early in their development.

Sunflowers: Bearing both a pistil and stamens on each flower, sunflowers are classified as bisexual.

Fungi: Some types of fungi have way more than just two sexes. The Schyzophyllum fungus has over 23,000!

Cardinals: A scientist observed a Northern Cardinal that was red on its left side (like a typical male) and gray on its right side (like a typical female).

Ginko Trees: A male Ginkgo tree can undergo localized sex conversion and grow a branch that produces seeds.

Dragonflies: Some female dragonflies avoid mating with aggressive males by mimicking male behaviors and appearances in defense.

Damselflies: Androchrome damselflies are females that have male-like coloring, which may help them avoid excessive mating.

Conifer Trees: A conifer tree can start out bearing female cones for many years before switching to producing male pollen cones.

Hyenas: Female Spotted Hyenas have a pseudo-penis, through which they mate and give birth.

Lobsters: In 1730, a scientist described a lobster that appeared female on its right side and male on its left side.

Clownfish: When the dominant female clownfish dies, the dominant male will change sex to take her place.

These are only a few examples. Nature has plenty more!

Gender diversity is all around us. Pictures of animals , insects, flora, and mushrooms in trans flag colors

---