Kiara St. James

Kiara St. James
Kiara St. James at a podium speaking into a microphone
St. James in 2020
Born1973 or 1974
Beaumont, Texas, U.S.
DiedMay 8, 2026(2026-05-08) (aged 51–52)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
OrganizationNew York Transgender Advocacy Group
Known forTransgender and HIV advocacy

Kiara St. James (1973 or 1974 – May 8, 2026) was an African-American transgender activist. She was the co-founder and executive director of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group.[1][2][3]

Life and career

St. James was born in 1973 or 1974,[4] and grew up in Beaumont, Texas.[2][3][5] Her family was Christian fundamentalist, and she experienced condemnation and "a lot of gender policing" during her childhood when she wanted to play with girls instead of boys.[2] After a schoolteacher noticed she frequently had bruises from being beaten, St. James was removed from her birth family and put into foster care in Heidelberg, Germany, where she lived from the age of 11 through high school graduation.[2] Following graduation at the age of 17, St. James returned to the U.S. and made an attempt to reconnect with her birth family, but did not feel connected to them. She enrolled in business school and underwent job training as a security guard, then as a nurse assistant in San Marcos, Texas. During this time, she began to meet other queer and gender nonconforming folks.[2]

In 1990, St. James moved to Atlanta with her then-partner, Kevin, and took on jobs in nursing and waiting tables. The pair moved to New York City in 1995, where she did odd jobs to help pay the bills. She began her gender transition after connecting with other trans women, who then referred to themselves as "femme queens". She also began to engage in sex work to make a living.[2][6] In 1999, during a period of living at a homeless shelter on Ward's Island, St. James was invited to take a Housing Works bus to Washington, D.C., to join a rally for HIV funding.[2][7] This trip inspired her to get further involved in activism, and she honed her skills in advocacy while working in the Housing Works donation warehouse in Queens.[8]

She helped advocate for the successful passage of New York's Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) in 2002[2] and co-founded the New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) with "four other black and brown trans women" in 2014.[3] The efforts of St. James and NYTAG, which became a nonprofit in 2015, were instrumental to the passage of New York's Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA).[1][3][7][9] In 2020, City & State included St. James in the Pride Power 100 list of the most influential people in the New York City LGBTQ community.[10] The following year, St. James succeeded in her work with other activists to end a New York City loitering law known as the "Walking While Trans" law, as trans women were disproportionately targeted.[9]

Among her other roles, St. James served on the New York City Commission on Gender Equity,[11] and the national advisory board for the Transgender Law Center's Positively Trans program.[12] During Transgender Awareness Week in 2023, St. James was honored by the New York City Comptroller, Brad Lander.[1]

St. James was open about having HIV.[13] In 2022, she was diagnosed with anal cancer, and was hospitalized for months.[14][15]

St. James died of cancer in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 8, 2026.[16][17] New York governor Kathy Hochul was among those offering condolences, calling St. James "a champion for the LGBTQ+ community", and stating that she was "proud to know her and to fight alongside her".[16][18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lau, Tandy (November 23, 2023). "Black and brown trans activists honored by Comptroller Lander and Public Advocate Williams in Harlem". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 O'Brien, Michelle Esther; St. James, Kiara (March 6, 2017). "Kiara St. James Oral History". Digital Transgender Archive. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Murphy, Tim (December 19, 2019). "Black Transgender Activist Kiara St. James on Her Strategic Vision for 2020—and on Getting Help With Holiday Depression and Anxiety". The Body. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  4. ↑ Schwirtz, Michael (September 8, 2013). "Embarking on a New Life, Transgender Woman Has It Brutally Taken". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 7, 2026. Retrieved May 10, 2026. Kiara St. James, 39, a transgender woman who lives in Brooklyn
  5. ↑ "June 2020 Shero of the Month: Kiara St. James". Positive Women's Network USA. June 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  6. ↑ Murphy, Tim (May 21, 2026). "Farewell to Kiara St. James, a Prominent Fighter for Transgender Rights". TheBody. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  7. 1 2 Young, Matilda (November 14, 2019). "Policy for Equity and Equality: The Leadership of Kiara St. James". Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  8. ↑ Reyes-Jimenez, Valerie (May 9, 2026). "Rest in power, Kiara. You will be remembered". Housing Works. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Henning Santiago, Amanda Luz (June 21, 2021). "How New York repealed the 'walking while trans' law". City & State. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  10. ↑ "The 2020 Pride Power 100". City & State. June 29, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Kiara Saint James". New York City Commission on Gender Equity. Archived from the original on May 11, 2026. Retrieved May 11, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Positively Trans National Advisory Board". Transgender Law Center. Archived from the original on February 23, 2026. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  13. ↑ Porter, Juan Michael II (March 24, 2023). "Words of Wisdom from a Black Woman of Trans Experience". TheBody. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  14. ↑ "More than 500 bills restricting trans medical care threaten LGBTQ+ people with cancer". The Cancer Letter. Vol. 49, no. 32. August 11, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  15. ↑ "This Transgender Cancer Survivor Is Fighting for Her Health & Her Community". NYU Langone Health. June 24, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2026.
  16. 1 2 Schatz, Amy (May 13, 2026). "Trans community mourns loss of NYTAG executive director Kiara St. James". Gay City News. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  17. ↑ Murphy, Tim (May 21, 2026). "Farewell to Kiara St. James, a Prominent Fighter for Transgender Rights". TheBody. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  18. ↑ Hochul, Kathy [@GovKathyHochul] (May 8, 2026). "Kiara St. James was a champion for the LGBTQ+ community. The founder of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group, Kiara played a vital role in making New York's historic Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act a reality.

    I was proud to know her and to fight alongside her. She will be dearly missed"     (Tweet). Retrieved May 10, 2026 – via X (formerly Twitter).
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