Laura A. Jacobs

Laura A. Jacobs, LCSW-R, (she/he/they/none) is a trans and genderqueer identified psychotherapist, speaker, author, activist, and heretic specializing in transgender and gender nonbinary issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, and other forms of gender and sexual diversity. They recently concluded their four-year term as the first transgender and genderqueer Chair of the Board of Directors for the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, a multisite, $100M+ healthcare organization with the mission of providing quality, compassionate care to the LGBTQIA+ community of NYC regardless of ability to pay, and still serve on committees there and elsewhere. Laura is a prolific speaker in the media, at medical and mental health conferences, in medical schools, and for other organizations, having been featured in the New York Times, NPR, MSNBC, NBCNewsOnline, SiriusXM, CBSNews, Mic.com, TEDx, and more.

Laura was presented the 2019 Standard of Excellence Award by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. They are a member of the Kink Clinical Guidelines Workgroup, a coalition which developed the first best practices document for the mental health care of those who are interested and/or involved in kink, BDSM, and/or fetish eroticism. Laura also founded the Gender Dysphoria Affirmative Working Group and has published articles, contributed chapters, and authored or co-authored books about gender and sexual diversity. Earlier in life, she worked as a musician, composer, photographer, and in rather boring corporate middle management.

—Surviving Transphobia