Call for nominations for the 1st Annual Keira Kristine DeSantis Award for Transgender Advocacy in Pennsylvania - Due March 13

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is proud to announce the call for nominations for the 1st Annual Keira Kristine DeSantis Award for Transgender Advocacy in Pennsylvania. Nominations should be submitted to Jamie Magee at jamagee@phmc.org by March 13th, 2020. The award will be presented at the 2020 PA LGBTQIA Health Conference being held at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie June 2 & 3, 2020.

Keira announced herself to the world as a transgender woman in Spring of 2017 after years of internal struggle and quickly found her voice as an advocate for the transgender community in her hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. Keira was employed as a Customer Service Representative and Transgender Liaison at UPMC Health Plan and served on the UPMC Transgender Task Force. Keira was a visible fixture in the community, fighting for the rights of trans communities. Keira joined the board of TransFamily of NWPA and advocated for improvements in trans healthcare in the NW PA region, including proudly serving on the first planning committee for the Erie County LGBTQ Health Conference in 2019.

Keira was a poet, as well as a prolific and very talented writer. She documented her journey through articles written for the website Medium and The Transition Transmission, videos

on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and any other medium she could find. Through this, she helped many people in the community through their gender journey. In the Spring of 2019, during recovery from gender affirmation surgery, Keira suffered unexpected complications and passed away. Her sudden passing was greatly felt by her family, friends, and a global community she developed.

In honor of the tireless efforts of Keira to illustrate the societal barrier experienced by trans communities and advocate for advancements in the social and human rights of the trans community, the KEIRA KRISTINE DESANTIS AWARD was created. This award is meant to recognize others like Keira who do whatever it takes, without question, to make the path easier for those who follow a similar journey.

Requirements for Nomination

1. Nominees must identify as transgender/nonbinary.
2. Nominees must reside and work in Pennsylvania.
3. Nominations may be submitted either by people who recognize the impact of the work done by the nominee, or by the nominee themselves.
4. The nominee must demonstrate a history of advocacy work to improve the services available to transgender people in historically underserved areas, where services are not readily available or served with cultural competence.
5. Advocacy work must demonstrably show real, lasting, and significant change in the nominee's geographic area of residence.

All nominations should include the following:

1. Name
2. Organization (if applicable)
3. Address, phone, e-mail address
4. A description of the advocacy work performed by the nominee to advocate for the rights of trans communities, including the lasting impact of the work (500 words or less).

PLEASE SUBMIT NOMINATIONS TO JAMIE MAGEE AT jamagee@phmc.org by March 13th, 2020