Nina Chaubal

Nina Chaubal (born 1992) is the co-founder and former Director of Operations at Trans Lifeline,[1][2] the first transgender suicide hotline to exist in the United States[3][4][5] and Canada.[6][7] As a leading LGBTQ+ activist and trans woman,[8] when Chaubal was held in immigration detention, the story made national headlines in publications such as The New York Times[9] and Chicagoist.[8] In 2019, Chaubal was the subject of the first episode of America in Transition, a documentary about transgender people of color.[10]

Early life

Chaubal grew up in Mumbai, India.[1] At 13 years old, she discovered the word 'transgender' and realized it described her. She found connection with other trans people through the internet.[1]

Education and career

In 2009, Chaubal immigrated alone to the United States on a student visa to attend college[11] at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.[12] She undertook an internship at Riverbed Technology in 2011 as a quality assurance software engineer. In 2012, she interned at Google in a similar capacity. Also in 2012, she worked as a programmer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois.[12] In 2013, she came out as trans. As her family was not supportive of her transness, the familial relationship was fractured.[1]

Chaubal earned her H1B, a visa for foreign workers employed in the U.S. in order to work at Google as a software engineer, a position she accepted in January 2013.[13] In 2014, Chaubal co-founded the 501(c)(3) Trans Lifeline with Greta Martela.[1] The organization was the first transgender suicide hotline to exist in the United States[3][4][5] and Canada.[6][7] The cause was close to the pair, as Chaubal had struggled with suicidal thoughts and Martela had been hospitalized for being suicidal.[1]

Chaubal remained in her post as a Google engineer through April 2015.[14] The same month, she took the post of Director of Operations at Trans Lifeline. In February 2015, Chaubal attended the National Conference on LGBT Equality, overseeing a Trans Lifeline booth there.[15] In June of the same year, Chaubal was the subject of one of Miley Cyrus's Happy Hippie Presents #InstaPride Portraits Campaign.[16][17] In the photos, Chaubal appears with her wife and Trans Lifeline co-founder Greta Martela, as well as Cyrus.[18] On August 30, 2015, Chaubal was among the Happy Hippie Foundation representatives to speak onstage and introduce Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards.[19][20]

On Nov. 20, 2015, Chaubal and Trans Lifeline launched the Canadian branch of their operations.[7]

On Feb. 22, 2016, Chaubal appeared on KGNU 88.5 FM to discuss the continued need for trans crisis support.[21] In April 2016, Chaubal appeared on the panel "Suicidality Among Transgender Populations: New Directions in Understanding and Treatment" at the American Association of Suicidology Conference.[22]

In 2018, Chaubal took a post at Hustle as a software engineer, then transitioned to work at Even.com in the same capacity, all the while heading up Trans Lifeline's operations.

In 2019, Chaubal was the subject of "Where Is My Refuge?", the first episode of America in Transition, a documentary about transgender people of color.[10] Also in 2019, Chaubal began organizing an intentional living community, art space, and small business incubator in the Mojave Desert.[23]

ICE detention and release

On Dec. 28, 2016, while driving from California to her home in Chicago through a checkpoint in Wellton, Arizona, Chaubal was stopped and detained by ICE agents, who asked for her passport. She produced a photo of it, which is when they saw that she was designated as male on it, contrasting with her gender expression in-person. They also noted that she was in the country on an expired work visa, although she was legally married to a U.S. citizen, Martela. She was then transported to a holding facility in Arizona, eventuating in her admission to Eloy Detention Center,[8] which has a reputation for violence against LGBTQ+ detainees.[24][25] She was released Jan. 2, 2017 after posting $4,500 bond, which she was able to do with the help of an online crowdfunding campaign.[13]

Awards and honors
  • In 2017, Chaubal was designated a Trans Justice Funding Project Community Grantmaking Fellow.[26]

Personal life

Chaubal married Greta Martela in 2015.[11]

References
  1. "Nina Chaubal helps build community, save lives with Trans Lifeline". NBC News. Archived from the original on 2019-06-29. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  2. "Trans Lifeline needs help to continue saving lives". GLAAD. February 24, 2015.
  3. Mechanic, Jesse; TheOvergrown.com, ContributorWriter Founding Editor of (December 22, 2017). "America's First Transgender Suicide Hotline Is Now Live". HuffPost. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  4. "A Volunteer With Trans Lifeline Talks About Why People Are Scared—and Dialing". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  5. "The Only Crisis Hotline by Trans People, For Trans People". PAPER. July 22, 2019. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-12-18. Retrieved 2020-01-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Transgender support line launches for Canadians as creators look to expand | canada.com". January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on June 7, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  8. "ICE Is Detaining A Leading Local Trans Activist & Supporters Are Urging Help". The Chicagoist. Archived from the original on 2019-04-07. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  9. Santos, Fernanda (January 10, 2017). "Transgender Women Fear Abuse in Immigration Detention". Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020 – via NYTimes.com.
  10. "TV Review - America in Transition - DelmarvaLife". Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  11. "'Being denied what is integral to you': The struggle for transgender rights". Hindustan Times. July 2, 2016. Archived from the original on July 1, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  12. "Alumn – Innovative Software and Data Analysis".
  13. "Trans Lifeline co-founder released from ICE detention". The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc.
  14. "Trans Suicide Hotline Founder Heeds the Call". SF Weekly. December 3, 2015.
  15. "LGBTQ Denver conference draws thousands, rallies activists". February 6, 2015.
  16. "Miley Cyrus: 'You Can Just Be Whatever You Want to Be'". Time. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  17. "Nearly 3 Months In, Here's the Impact Miley Cyrus Is Having on LGBT and Homeless Youth". Mic. Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  18. Nichols, James Michael (June 25, 2015). "Miley Cyrus And Instagram Launch #InstaPride". HuffPost. Archived from the original on April 23, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  19. Paoletta, Rae. "Here Are All The Beautiful People In Miley's Happy Hippie Squad". MTV News. Archived from the original on 2019-06-10. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  20. "Gigi Loren Lazzarato, Tyler Ford, Nina Chaubal, Greta Gustava..." Getty Images.
  21. "Outsources: Trans Suicide". February 23, 2016.
  22. "#AAS16 – Summary of Conference Proceedings as Curated from Social Media". April 8, 2016.
  23. "ReelQ: America in Transition". March 31, 2019.
  24. December 8, Tim Warner; pm, 2016 at 5:02 pm EST at 5:02 (December 8, 2016). "LGBT detainees describe harrowing life inside Eloy". Archived from the original on August 10, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  25. Gómez, Laura. "Transgender women describe journey of fear in ICE detention in Arizona". azcentral.
  26. "Introducing 2017 TJFP Community Grantmaking Fellow, Nina Chaubal!". April 26, 2017. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
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