Janelle Vinson

Janelle Luster is a 29-year-old award-winning community organizer, transgender activist, and native of the San Francisco Bay Area, currently serving as Program Supervisor of Trans Vision, a specialty clinic within Bay Area Community Health (BACH). Janelle has been organizing and advocating for the rights of transgender people, PLWHIV, and sex workers locally and nationally. She has organized with the Decriminalize Sex Work California Coalition (DecrimSWCA), to help sustain out-of-work sex workers during to the COVID-19 pandemic. Janelle was also involved in the Mutual Aid Fund, a critical tool to ensure that California sex workers have access to essential services. Janelle identifies as a formerly incarcerated Black trans woman, one who has been impacted by the system due to the intersections of her identities. She has coordinated Black Trans Lives Matter protests and rallies, as well as empowering virtual social spaces during the pandemic. She has hosted a Virtual Vigil, honoring those lost to hate violence. Attending the 2020 Creating Change Conference, Janelle was able to expand her network and build national solidarity. Janelle served as Program Associate and Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender District. She also co-leads TRANScend retreat, an annual transgender empowerment event. In 2019, TRANScend Retreat facilitated the Muhlaysia Booker Travel Fund, bringing Black trans women from the South and Midwest to Northern California for the gathering. Janelle served as ambassador for the 2019 National Transgender March on Washington, D.C., and under her leadership as President of FLUX (Bay Area chapter), organized Oakland’s first Trans March that same year. In her work, she strives for the advancement of transgender folks of color, specifically Black transgender women and men. She is currently seated on the SF Pride board