Emmett
Schelling
Trans
Rights Are Human Rights...
and Trans Justice Cannot Wait
Emmett
Schelling was born in Seoul, South Korea, he was adopted and moved with
his parents to Ohio where he was raised.
Schelling studied Business
Management and Marketing in college and moved to San Antonio in 2015
to work in corporate management.
In the summer of 2017, the community was faced with the Texas Legislature's
unprecedented attack on LGBTQ+ people, specifically targeting trans
people. Coupled with his experiences as a Trans man, Schelling took
on full-time activism to fight bills that were harmful, discriminatory,
and unnecessary.
Schelling is the Executive Director for the Transgender Education Network
of Texas (TENT), the largest trans-led, trans-focused policy organization
in Texas. TENT is dedicated to furthering gender diverse equality in
Texas through policy, education, and advocacy at the local and state
level.
He serves on the Community Council for Transform Houston and as a board
member of Deeds Not Words, an organization galvanizing the power of
young people
through organizing, policy, art, and voting in Texas.
He is a 2020 Trans Justice Funding Project (TJFP) Grantmaking Fellow,
is a member of Transgender Law
Center, and a strategic planning committee member for Transgender Legal
Defense Education Fund (TLDEF).
Schelling serves on the board of directors for The House of Tulip in
New Orleans, which strives to create housing solutions for trans people
in the south, and is a Co-Director for TransFORWARD, a statewide trans-powered
research collective in Texas with Texas
Health Institute and Equality Texas.
Schelling has had the honor
of receiving a myriad of awards for his work. These have included: Equality
Texas's 2019 annual "Monica Roberts Trans Advocacy" award,
2020's "Trans Advocate of the Year" from Transgender Legal
Defense Education Fund (TLDEF) and Texas Diversity Council's annual
"Trans Advocate of the Year" (2022).
He is also the 2023 Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality (GLMA's)
Achievement honoree. Schelling is currently The Mahogany Project's "Man
of the Year". He was named as one of TIME Magazine's
100 list of Most Influential People in the World in 2022.
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