"Being here, you could actually be yourself": Trans and gender expansive youth's experiences of affirmation within LGBTQ+ community-based organizations.

Across the United States, polarizing politics have contributed to the increased stigmatization of transgender (trans) and gender expansive (TGE) youth, reinforcing health inequities for this population. Although lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning (LGBTQ+) youth centers have often served as places of refuge for young people across the gender spectrum, literature has yet to show how practices and strategies used in these settings promote TGE affirmation. This qualitative study explores youth and staff experiences within these settings; identifies the services, policies, and environments needed to support TGE community members; and ultimately calls for the expansion of the limited research on TGE experience and affirmation across such spaces. Using data collected in a larger study on affirming practices for LGBTQ+ youth, this article presents findings from in-depth, semistructured focus groups and interviews with TGE (n = 12) youth and staff (n = 12) across four LGBTQ+ community-based organizations in two large urban centers. Study findings show these organizations provide TGE affirmation through language, programming, and atmospheres of openness to identity exploration. Essential to these offerings are organizational policy mandates, such as correct pronoun usage and TGE-specific programming. Youth often juxtapose their experiences of affirmation within LGBTQ+ spaces with experiences of invalidation from the cisheteronormative cultures within their school or home environments. Implications for future practice and research include administering ongoing training on TGE-affirming language and developing comprehensive accountability measures (e.g., TGE-inclusive community guidelines). Institutions with these systems in place are well-equipped to contribute to the fight for trans liberation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).