WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2025
DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:
Kayla Gore
Kayla Gore puts the “T” first in the acronym LGBTQ, noting the priority she places on saving the lives of transgender people. Beneath her calm exterior lies the heart of a tireless, determined and effective advocate for transgender people throughout the Mid-South.
A Memphis native, Kayla earned degrees in business administration and sociology at Southwest Tennessee Community College. After moving to Phoenix for a job that did not materialize, she found herself homeless. But she learned from the experience. During eight months of living on the street, Kayla took careful note of what services were available – and what were not.
In Phoenix, she was going through another life transition – to her true self as a transgender woman. When Kayla returned to Memphis, she found her footing and her vocation as an organizer with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center’s Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (HOPE) program. From there, she worked remotely for the Transgender Law Center, the nation’s largest trans-led advocacy organization, and then for the Transgender Strategy Center, where she learned how other cities tackled issues such as homelessness. Kayla also worked for three years at OUTMemphis, providing services to transgender community members.
Despite her successes, the realities of life for transgender folks in Memphis continued to weigh on Kayla. Kayla knew firsthand that transgender folks were more likely to be poor, homeless and vulnerable. According to the National LGBTQ Task Force, 41% of Black transgender people have experienced homelessness – more than five times the rate of the general US population. The same study noted that 34% of Black transgender people live in extreme poverty – eight times that of the general US population.
A study by the Williams Institute reported that transgender people were eight times as likely to be homeless compared with cisgender adults. And transgender people often experience extreme violence. According to the Human Rights Campaign, in 2016 at least 21 transgender people were murdered in the US. Almost 95% of them were people of color and 85% were women.
Those grim statistics include several Memphians.
Kayla knew that a safe home and community support were key for Black transgender women to survive and thrive in Memphis. In 2016, using her own home, Kayla opened My Sistah’s House to provide temporary shelter for a few transgender individuals. Kayla continued to network and fundraise, to provide food, “survival kits”, bail funds, emergency housing, HIV testing, and advocacy. But Kayla saw the need for more, and knew the key to financial stability lay in home ownership,
In 2020, Kayla and My Sistah’s House raised more than half a million dollars primarily through grassroots fundraising – during the pandemic — to embark on an ambitious plan to build 20 “tiny homes” on a 30 acre plot of land in Memphis and give those homes to transgender community members. Her first houses were built on the South Memphis Street where she grew up – a true “full circle” moment.
As of 2024, Kayla reports, “We have successfully developed eight homes, including one fully accessible for individuals with disabilities. Two additional homes are currently under construction, one of which will be ADA-compliant, bringing the total number of completed homes to ten within two years. Our goal is to continue this momentum and complete the remaining ten homes while committing to replicating this effort in other cities across the south.”
In addition, Kayla served as lead plaintiff in a case filed by Lambda Legal against the State of Tennessee to allow transgender Tennesseans the right to change the gender marker on their birth certificates. And in this time of frightening political campaigns targeting transgender people, Kayla continues to be a passionate advocate, speaking out and fighting threats to the lives and well-being of transgender folks in Tennessee.
Of her work, Kayla has said, “I feel like I’m Harriet Tubman. I feel like I’m giving people a pathway to success in life. Harriet Tubman had to do her work in secrecy. We’re doin’ it out loud and proud.”
And for that Women of Achievement salutes Kayla Gore.