Hello Comrades in Care,

I write to you at the beginning of Commencement Weekend at Smith College. You might be wondering why I think this is of any interest to you. Commencement and reunion are significant this year, because the federal department of education has opened a “legally bogus” investigation into Smith due to its definition of women (and thus admissions policies) including trans women. I am an alum of Smith College and have had a front row seat to the incredible organizing allies have done both to encourage Smith to stand up to the trump administration and to support the trans women and other trans students on campus. And before I get into my updates for y’all, I want to share this example of the kind of resistance and support that often doesn’t get noticed or reported on or is even intentionally happening in private, outside of the general public’s awareness.

First, a note if you’re new here because you took a course with me or we have otherwise connected: I know we live in an era with too many emails. I use this newsletter to provide monthly-ish updates on my offerings and published writing, paired with some reflection and usually a music share. It is different from my substack. If you do not want to continue receiving this update newsletter, I totally understand — you can scroll to the bottom of this email and unsubscribe. I will never re-subscribe someone who has unsubscribed!

So yes. Smith. The DOE’s investigation was announced on May 4. By the end of that day, alum networks on social media were buzzing with questions about how to organize a response. Chalk drawings appeared all over campus affirming that trans women and trans people in general belong at Smith (most likely drawn by current students). Within days, there were templates being shared so that alums could email the college to indicate their support for the current admissions policy and their commitment to trans women students and alums.

Alums and community members wrote notes of support for trans students, which were collected by the Smith College Schact Center for Health and Wellness to include in care packages. (My bike group wrote a bunch at the end of our coffee ride last Friday.)

And then I witnessed something pretty incredible, the effectiveness of which I honestly did not expect: multiple members of a particularly active facebook community of Smith alums who are also parents started coalescing into an organizing group focused around a two-pronged campaign: 1) pins and educational materials to be worn/spread at commencement celebrations (which also include a parade of alums) and reunion; and 2) a t-shirt and tote bag sale to display trans inclusion and raise money for trans students. The idea being that these initial efforts would lay the groundwork for building organizing networks that can be activated depending on how the investigation and the college’s response unfold… while also providing critical demonstrated support to students and alums who are being targeted and may otherwise feel alienated. I requested to join the signal thread where the organizing was happening.

And boy was it happening! I texted my friends to say that these Smithies (mostly cis women) were “Making. It. Happen.”

I also joked with my spouse that I sometimes think everyone has ADHD (whatever it means to “have” “ADHD”) and then I witness groups/activity like this and am reminded that some people actually really excel at that ol’ executive functioning. The time and focus that went into these efforts was incredible. There were a few days of nightly zoom meetings. There were spreadsheets and polls and shared documents. Within an incredibly short amount of time (we’re talking days!), a core group of organizers had done the following, largely through consensus decision-making if you can believe it:

• Ordered thousands of trans pride pins

• Created and printed note cards (at a locally owned print shop!) explaining the purpose of the pins and directing folks to a website for more information

• Purchased and set up the URL transsmithiesbelong.org

• Fundraised to cover the cost of materials, etc.

• Designed t-shirts and tote bags and launched a Bonfire where they can be purchased (see transsmithiesbelong.org)

• Held intentional discussion of where to direct funds raised by the sales so that the money is most likely to go to supporting trans women and other trans students, and connected with multiple Smith employees to assess various avenues

• Coordinated with class reps from each of the reunion years to determine how many pins were needed for each class and how to get them

• Created a list of roles and volunteers for sorting, distributing, and collecting the pins and note cards

• Created an FAQ document and a press kit

• Connected with current students, faculty, and the alum house to make them aware of our activity/plans

There was probably even more that happened that I don’t know about because I couldn’t keep up!!

As of writing this, all the pins have been delivered in time for alum check-in!

It is not lost on me by the way that most of the people leading the efforts I’ve been witnessing are moms. I wish our society didn’t function in such a way that required that moms be such rock stars and also I am very aware of how much moms really are rock stars. So no surprise to see them at the helm here.

And by the way, the efforts have been very well received. Members of every reunion year, including the Smith class of ‘76 have welcomed these pins being offered at their official check-in tables. The orders for shirts and tote bags are pouring in even before the campaign has been spread widely.

I’m hoping to join the parade on Saturday to show my support and be in community with people who are ready to demonstrate their love for trans people. I know it will be very meaningful to me. I have to think this could be the highest concentration of trans pride flags/paraphernalia outside of trans pride marches and events ever. THOUSANDS. While the point here is to show up for trans students and make it clear that there’s a world of people who know trans women belong in women’s spaces, being a part of such actions and witnessing allies really caring is also very healing and grounding for me. I am filled up and resourced by knowing this is happening.

And I only know about this because I happen to be in a facebook group where it started and got added to the private signal chat. I am reminded by how much good care and resistance is happening that I don’t see. In fact, when alums from our group went to drop off pins for the class of 2006, someone had already created another way to show support for trans people:

And this is just the beginning of what this network of alums and students will do for the trans women and people being targeted and affected by the government.

So this is my very feel-good reminder to you that there are so many allies of all ages who care deeply about protecting trans communities, and there are way more resistance and care efforts happening than any one of us is aware of. The story of being trans in America right now is much more than just the attacks and consequent fear and despair. That’s there, of course. And so are thousands of Smith alums letting trans women know they are beloved members of our community.

Writing Spotlight

I want to lift up a piece I published on Substack titled “This (Trans) Therapist Is Begging You to Divest from the Trans Panic Clickbait Economy.” Building off work from a trans journalist named Garrison Davis, I describe an ecosystem in which social media and news platforms incentivize users to generate and promote trans-related content that drives panic and rage, leading to what often looks like a game of fear-induced telephone, where speculation is treated as fact and catastrophizing and misinformation abound. I discuss the psychological and social impacts of this and make practical recommendations for how we can remove ourselves from these ecosystems and disrupt their harms.

I do want to note that while this has been by far my most popular and well received substack writing, it has also received more criticism than anything else I’ve written, with some folks concerned that I am promoting denialism or am ignorant to the threats trans people are facing. I disagree with these perspectives generally but may work on a revised version of this piece based on some feedback. As I think most of you reading this will know, I am well aware of the realities we are facing as trans Americans, and am very committed to resistance, and I want to be sure that comes through in the overall article. One piece of feedback that I for sure plan on addressing but haven’t yet is about the term “trans panic clickbait economy” and its similar phrasing to the trans panic defense which is something horrific and very different. So I’m currently workshopping another way to discuss this and for now have left it as is.

In the piece I emphasize that we have the power to continue to pay attention to news about trans people, rights, and policy without being complicit in and overwhelmed by this panic-inducing content. If you are sitting with clients who are routinely being dysregulated by catastrophic speculation and having that instigated and/or reinforced by the corners of the internet they’re in, please read this piece. I will be working this into upcoming trainings for therapists, as well. But of course, how we approach this in session is very different from how I am writing about it for a general audience.

Upcoming Trainings & Speaking Engagements

Spots Still Available for In-Person and Live-Online Course This Summer at Cape Cod Institute

This is a great segue into me reminding you that I am doing an 8-hour CE course on working with trans and nonbinary clients experiencing understandable sociopolitical distress. I’m really excited to be able to incorporate practical applications of some of what I’ve been writing about over the past couple years, as well as preliminary results from a research study colleagues and I have been conducting on this very topic.

Join me this summer for an interactive course across two half-days at Cape Cod Institute. Register using BARR2026 for discount.

Course Description: When clients’ distress is so clearly linked to systemic stressors and societal bias, it can be hard for therapists to identify ways to be useful. As such, many therapists have expressed a sense of helplessness and/or overwhelm in working with members of the trans community, as trans and nonbinary people face increasingly apparent sociopolitical hostility. But therapists are not helpless during this era of anti-trans rhetoric and violence. As Dr. Barr will make clear in this two-day training, we have a vital role to play in mitigating sociopolitical distress. With adequate knowledge and skills, mental health clinicians are actually uniquely equipped to support trans and nonbinary clients in living meaningfully amidst sociopolitical hostility. This course was built from Dr. Barr’s careful study of the work of BIPOC psychologists and community leaders who have long facilitated healing and resilience in the face of societal oppression, as well as evidence-based principles of psychotherapy, and his own experience and research in best practices for working with trans and nonbinary people’s sociopolitical stress. With a mix of engaging didactics and interactive opportunities to apply learning, participants will leave this course feeling energized and capable, even in the context of honest reckoning with the severity of the challenges these communities face.

Free Panel Webinar May 20 for LGBTQ+ Parents and Parents of LGBTQ+ People

Next week, I’ll be joining a group of incredible experts and community members for a panel discussion on well-being amongst parents in the LGBTQ+ community. This talk is part of a series from Brazelton Touchpoints, a Boston-based center for parenting education and support, and Equality Florida’s Parenting with Pride program. Registration for this virtual panel is free and open to folks regardless of where you are located. I’m really looking forward to this one because I will be speaking from professional and community perspectives, including as both a trans adult child of supportive parents and a trans new parent. Register here.

Recent Writing

Click each image to access the corresponding substack article. You can subscribe to my substack to have these emailed to you directly or to receive notifications in the substack app when I publish a new piece: sebastianmbarr.substack.com

In closing I will share a song that I’ll be writing a bit about on my substack in the coming days. It’s titled “U HAVE TO ACT (Queer & Trans Futures)” and is by trans musician STEFA*. The song was a bonus track on their most recent album, Born With An Extra Rib, released by Trans Music Archive (a non-profit label I wrote about it recently). You can stream the whole album on bandcamp: https://stefa.bandcamp.com/album/born-with-an-extra-rib. U Have to Act (Queer & Trans Futures) has been released as a single and in addition to being a sonically beautiful call to action and commitment to joyful futures, the track includes recordings of the artist’s friends and community answering the question “what is something about the future that brings you joy?” Listen below (or on bandcamp):

May this be the soundtrack to your own actions of resistance and care and to your own commitment to a joyful future for trans and queer people.