Renner is a communications professional and LGBTQ+ advocate. He lives in University Heights.
The term icon can be overused these days. Not everything an influencer posts online is “iconic” and not every community figure is an icon, but Tracie Jada O’Brien is certainly deserving of icon status. In San Diego and nationally, Tracie is well known for her advocacy for the transgender community. Her resume of advocacy is long and reflects decades of pushing for visibility, access and equity for trans people. You’ll find her picture hanging on the San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Wall of Honor, she has a scholarship named after her, and April 2, 2021, was officially Tracie Jada O’Brien Day in the County of San Diego.
I sat down with Tracie at InsideOut to learn more about her personal journey and how exactly she feels about being called an icon. When I asked her about that moniker, she paused, got choked up and replied, “I used to walk up and down University Avenue here in Hillcrest, and as a homeless sex worker, I was lost. Now I’m sitting here reflecting on my sobriety, on my work with Family Health Centers, and my work for the trans community. Back then, I had no one to look up to, now I’m an elder. My journey is about trauma and self-acceptance. While I am still a work in progress, you know what. I am an icon.”
Tracie’s story is one of gender transition, performing as a showgirl, sex work, addiction, sobriety and activism. It would be impossible to capture it all in one column. Thankfully, she’s shared her story in a number of ways, including for the University of Minnesota’s Tretter Transgender Oral History Project.
She grew up as the “invisible youngest child” in St. Louis. In 1969, the same year as the Stonewall riots, she began to live her truth. By 1971, she ended up in San Francisco. During her time there, Harvey Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors and tragically assassinated. The history of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement was being written and she was focused on finding community with other “femme queens” in the queer nightlife scene.
Eventually, Tracie relocated to San Diego and life on the street led to her being arrested. She avoided prison but served six months in county jail. That served as the wakeup call that led to her journey of sobriety. Thanks to Stepping Stone of San Diego, one of the nation’s only alcohol and drug treatment programs specializing in LGBTQ+ care, she was able to get the affirming support she needed. That eventually led to a new identity: advocate.
From there, she began working in hospice care for AIDS-diagnosed individuals. She constantly witnessed friends and community members die, often after being rejected by their biological families. The emotional intensity of that led to burnout. When Tracie got tested herself, to her surprise, she tested negative for HIV. God’s protection, as she sees it, was in full force. She knew she had been given yet another chance to do more with her life. Tracie went to San Diego City College and started a professional career as a drug and alcohol counselor back at Stepping Stone.
She’s always stood out, literally standing at 6 foot, 3 inches tall. Around 1998, she used her height and striking looks for advocacy as well. The San Diego AIDS Foundation asked her to serve as a cover model for one of the first HIV Prevention brochures targeting trans women of color; that was the launch of her using her visibility for activism.
As the trans community gained wider visibility, she and other advocates approached Family Health Centers with the goal of providing hormone therapy to the transgender community. That goal and more were accomplished, and over the last 20 years, she has worked with scores of advocacy groups to increase access to gender affirming care.
At 72 years old, her legacy has already been cemented by the Tracie Jada O’Brien Trans* Student Scholarship, which is celebrating its eight-anniversary next year. The scholarship awards funds to transgender, nonbinary and gender diverse students in higher educational programs from or residing in San Diego County. Each year, the scholarships are given out at Transgender Day of Empowerment, a community event she founded. The event celebrates the lives, resilience and joy of the trans community. When the event is held on April 5, 2024, it will celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Tracie has survived intense racism, transphobia, and the AIDS epidemic, found her authentic self, shared her journey publicly, increased access to life-saving care for her community, and she continues to inspire and uplift others. Sounds pretty iconic to me.
To donate to the Tracie Jada O’Brien Trans* Student Scholarship Fund, visit: sdpride.org/tdoe.
