An undated provided photo of the Rogue Trans open sign in Ashland, Ore. The resource center will be the first of its kind in Southern Oregon when it fully opens in spring 2026.
Courtesy Maeve Woulfe
A new resource center for trans, nonbinary and gender-diverse communities is opening soon in Ashland. The nonprofit Rogue Trans will offer a free clothing closet, activities, classes and more at the center. An open house was held March 14, and a grand opening celebration is planned for May.
Maeve Woulfe is the executive director of Rogue Trans. She joins us to talk about the importance of creating safe spaces for queer communities in Southern Oregon.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. The first resource center in Southern Oregon for people who are trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse is opening soon. The nonprofit Rogue Trans will offer a free clothing closet, activities, classes and more at its center in Ashland. There was an open house this past Saturday. A grand opening is planned for May. Maeve Woulfe is the executive director of Rogue Trans and she joins us now. It’s great to have you on Think Out Loud.
Maeve Woulfe: Thank you very much. Thanks for having me on the show. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dave.
Miller: Likewise. So, my understanding is that you were born and raised in Southern Oregon and came out as trans just three years ago. What was that experience like for you?
Woulfe: Oh, wow, that is such a great question. I grew up through the ‘80s and I grew up in a very homophobic home, and anytime I was mildly feminine as a child, I would get disciplined for it. I started stealing my sister’s clothes when I was eight and I just kept, well, what I thought was cross-dressing through junior high and high school on into my first major relationship, thinking that it was a phase and I’d grow out of it, and I must have just been a crossdresser. Because we didn’t really have any kind of term for being transgender, for wanting to be outside of your own self because it just wasn’t the right fit.
As time went on, I finally started learning about transgenderism when I was about 35, back in 2008, and I explored that for a really long time. I experimented with over-the-counter supplements that were supposed to increase breast size, butt size, things like that, and finally I started working at a place that was so accepting and welcoming and just kind. I started accepting myself, and realized that I could come out. I could be me, and I could show the world who I am. And that was very impactful.
When I came out though, unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of resources here in the Rogue Valley. My first gender affirming care provider was an online service with a provider out of the Portland area. They were really kind. They were transgender. They were very compassionate. I then swapped to a local provider and I still couldn’t get my primary care with my local provider and that caused issues because I would be told one thing by my primary care provider and then my gender-affirming care provider would tell me something different.
Eventually, I was able to find a clinic locally that offered both from the same provider and life has been so much better since. While I was with two different providers, I had dangerously high levels of estrogen in my body and it was dangerous.
Miller: How did your experiences, in particular the shortage of services and support just three years ago, how did they lead you to start Rogue Trans?
Woulfe: Well, Rogue Trans started just a little bit over two years ago, and what happened was, that first provider I had that was offering gender affirming care left the valley cause her contract was up at the clinic. And I was frustrated and another trans woman was frustrated and we’re both posting on the same group on Facebook and I said, “Hey, why don’t we get together and just start generating a resource list?”
Well, when we started generating that list, there was no resources here that we knew of. All the resources were out of Eugene, out of Portland, and it was frustrating. So that led to becoming a Facebook group of our own, which is still a program that we run, which is known as Rogue Trans Outreach, which is a group for transgender, nonbinary and gender diverse individuals and those who directly support us such as parents, partners, and very close friends. I like to call it our support humans.
And then from there, we started doing some events. Coffee get-togethers and bowling nights, some hikes, and I would spend time listening to members of the group, just to… what do we want, what is important? And one thing I heard over and over again is to have a space where we could be. Where we could be ourselves and not worry about judgment or discrimination, not worry about how people are looking at us when we’re shopping...
Miller: You know, along those lines, I’m curious, often with various LGBTQ+IA and other iterations of that acronym, the queer community can now get lumped into one monolith. I’m curious what you see as the importance of having a distinct space for a couple letters of that acronym, you know, for trans, nonbinary, or gender diverse people?
Woulfe: That is a great question. A lot of it is, we are accepted by everyone across the two-spirit LGBTQIA+ community and it is amazing. We aren’t always accepted. You know, certain subs just don’t really appreciate it. But we have our own kind of special needs. Healthcare is completely different for us as it is for any cis person. Relationships tend to be different.
Discrimination is a lot higher when you look at some of the statistics out for the LGBTQIA+ group, and when you sub down that into the transgender group. Cisgender heterosexuals tend to be at 2%. The generalized LGBTQIA group tends to bump up to between 5 and 10%. And when you break it down into a subsection of the transgender, that goes up to 30%. So things such as depression and anxiety, substance use disorder, one I really don’t like is suicidal ideation. All of those jump up to three times what it is just for the LGBTQIA+ group.
Miller: Can you give us a sense for the services that you plan to offer?
Woulfe: Oh, yes, the first thing is our free clothing closet. When you’re transitioning, one of the most expensive things is clothing. It is so important to be able to express yourself as you see yourself to the whole world. Building a wardrobe is very expensive. I came up with the idea when I was going through my closet, going, “Oh my gosh, I have way too many clothes. I gotta do something with this.” And I thought I could just give to other trans girls like me.
I started talking to some people and I had a friend say, “You could put together a closet here, let me have you talk to this person.” I wound up talking with a couple of different individuals and found a local nonprofit that gave us space and gave us some storage room to open a pop-up closet a couple of times a month. Well, that has been so popular because it’s for the entire trans community and those who directly support us. We have anywhere from 75 to 100 people coming through monthly just to get free clothing.
Miller: A few weeks ago…
Woulfe: Oh… Yeah, I didn’t even go into the other services. That’s just the first one that got us.
Miller: Sorry. What are some of the other important ones?
Woulfe: Support groups on Thursday nights, family activity nights, community activity nights. The focus of the center is going to alternate between family and then community, because I have a lot of parents of transgender kids and I think that they could all come together and just model for each other, just the love and unconditional acceptance of their family.
Miller: I’m talking right now with Maeve Woulfe, the executive director of the nonprofit, Rogue Trans, which is opening Southern Oregon’s first resource center for people who are trans, nonbinary, and cis gender-diverse.
A few weeks ago we talked to the executive director of a new place called The Lavender Network. It is a new LGBTQ+ resource center in Eugene. I asked her about security concerns, and this was part of her answer:
Laura Henry [recorded]: That’s always something that we have to consider, the balancing act between visibility and a little too much visibility for kind of the wrong people, in a way. We even considered that when we were considering the name. We ended up settling for The Lavender Network because of the historical connection, but also because lavender, if you know, you know it’s associated, but without putting the word queer in there or without putting LGBTQ front and center or even rainbow, maybe we fly under the radar a little bit with just this name.
Miller: Maeve, how did you think about these questions of visibility versus safety for Rogue Trans?
Woulfe: Wow, safety and security has been always a high priority of mine. I have made sure that any location that we show up at is secure, it’s on private property so if we need to we could trespass people off. I have a very solid relationship with local law enforcement. So any needs that I have, I can let them know and they will definitely follow up through the law enforcement side of things.
At the new center, I have various cameras up. It is a relatively off the beaten path spot, but it’s on a main strip so it isn’t super easy to find. Last year I stayed under the radar, and in 2026 I think it’s very important to have that visibility and let people see that we’re human and there is no differences between us. So I’m getting a little louder.
Miller: What has community response been like so far?
Woulfe: Ninety-nine percent of it has been phenomenal. There is just so much love and generosity here in the Rogue Valley. And there are some people that just are not fans and that’s okay. Everyone has their own opinion on things.
Miller: What example are you hoping to set for other relatively rural or small scale urban parts of the state?
Woulfe: What I really want to do is let them know that, “Hey, this is possible. We don’t have to hide.” The acceptance here in the Rogue Valley has been just so much more than I expected. We are a relatively conservative area and it’s been amazing.
I know other organizations across the state of Oregon, like up in Wallowa and stuff where they have organizations with just 75 people, and they were able to get that up and going just to get together and have community because community is really what’s important. I think feeling accepted and feeling like you belong somewhere changes your whole perspective on life and really brings joy and that sense of living.
Miller: Maeve, thanks so much.
Woulfe: Thank you.
Miller: Maeve Woulfe is the executive director of Rogue Trans. The nonprofit is opening Southern Oregon’s first resource center for people who are trans, nonbinary and gender-diverse.
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