The Miami Valley Transgender Association

Abridged Version of our Charter

The text below contains the representative sections from the MVTGA Charter that will illustrate the group's structure and governing procedures for Meetings, Membership,  Duties of All Members, Association Officers, and the Guidelines of the MVTGA. 

The traditions are to be read at the beginning of each and every support meeting to remind us of who we are and what we are trying to accomplish.

Back to Home Page.

Mission Statement:

The mission of the Miami Valley Transgender Association (MVTGA) is to provide social, educational, emotional, and functional support for all members of the Transgendered (TG) community, including partners, families, and friends. We also promote equality, understanding, and acceptance of all transgendered people in our society.

Support meeting are formal meetings to provide area TGs, their spouses, significant others, family, friends, and supporters with a method of obtaining peer-to-peer support for their gender-related issues. The format of such meetings is described below.

Our long-range plan is to hold two such meetings per month. The first meeting will be open to everyone, including members, spouses, significant others, family, friends, and supporters. Everyone will be welcomed so that they may also interact with other TGs and their spouses, significant others, family, friends, and supporters so that they may also freely express themselves and any views or discuss any matters important to them.

The second meeting will be declared closed to members only with no outsiders allowed. This is to allow those needing one-on-one support the ability to freely express themselves and any views or discuss any matters important to them.

However, in the initial startup phase of the group, we will begin with only one support meeting a month, and will implement the second meeting as the membership warrants its need.

During a meeting, only ONE person has the floor at a time. It is the chairperson’s responsibility is to keep the group on topic and not let any one person dominate the comments. If necessary, the meeting chair may consider the use of a “talking stick” or similar aid to facilitate this rule.

In addition, whatever a member says during a support meeting in confidence, especially at closed meetings, does not leave the room – ever. Privacy, and security are essential to the proper function of our support group and all members must uphold the principles of confidentiality, understanding and acceptance at our meetings.

Social meetings are simply member gatherings in a public place. There is no formal meeting format, chairperson, fixed time and date, or such. Examples of such meeting would be where a group of members goes out to dinner at a restaurant, attend an event such as a play, or movie; has a shopping trip to a mall or to a store that is closed to the public, have a night out on the town at a bar or similar place, or other such group activities. The key here is we are out in public as a group all together to have a good time. This can be vital to feeling comfortable when out as yourself. (Safety in numbers, so to speak.)

Social meetings will be announced ether at the support meetings in advance or through member communications as mentioned above (i.e., web site, newsletter, e-mail, etc.) and may occur at any time as appropriate, except for the time(s) designated for support meetings.

A member is any person with a gender conflict or an interest in gender issues. This includes, but is NOT limited to, the following individuals: Transgender, Transsexual, Crossdresser, Agender, Gender Queer, Intersex, Two Spirit, Drag King, Drag Queen, Queer, Straight, Butch, Femme, Homosexual, Bisexual, Heterosexual, and of course - You!

All members have one vote. No one has more than one vote or more “say” in anything than any other member. This is a team effort; in short, our basic ideal is “principles before personalities.”

There are two classes of members: New or probationary Members and Full Members.

New Members (may also be known as Probationary Members) are persons who have been previously screened by the New Member Coordinator and regularly attend meetings.

If the person meets the basic criteria for membership, as decided and screened by the New Member Coordinator, then that person is entitled to attend meetings and other group functions, and to vote when eligible. The group always has the right to amend the rules of the group as necessary.

Although it is not a requirement, most of our members do "dress" for meetings, and greatly enjoy the socializing afterwards. If you are coming to a meeting for the first time, you may wish to consider coming as however you normally present gender-wise unless you are already comfortable being dressed in your alternate gender.

New Members may become Full Members after attendance at three support meetings. Full Member privileges and voting rights become active at the start of the fourth meeting.

Although currently limited, the list of privileges may be adjusted upon at any time by a vote of Full Members only. This list may eventually include items like: newsletter subscriptions, access to a lending library or a library of TG-related information, and so forth.

Your personal security is of primary importance to us. Therefore, we do not publish names, addresses, etc. of members to anyone. While we do require a legal name and address (a PO Box is acceptable) for membership registration, be assured such information is held as confidential and can only seen by the Director, the New Member Coordinator, and the Secretary/treasurer. Anyone violating someone’s privacy will be asked to permanently leave the MVTGA.

What name you use is up to you; it is your decision as to how you are known and what personally identifying information (address, phone number, e-mail address, etc.) you give out to others. If you would rather not use your real name, consider adopting an alternate "femme" or “”boy” name at to use meetings and parties, which we will also use in our newsletter and in any other reference to you.

The date, time, and/or location of any meeting is for members only and NOT for general knowledge or distribution. As such, this information will not be published on public web sites or in other public media.

The following is a list of officers for the MVTGA. Except as noted, all positions are elected by the membership. A term of office is considered to be a period of one year.  No elected person may serve more than two consecutive terms of office; however, the membership may override this by a 2/3 majority vote.

• Elected - Director:
• Elected - New Member Coordinator:
• Elected - Director of Community Outreach (DCO):
• Elected - Secretary/Treasurer:
• Appointed - Meeting Chair: