Ruby Corado

Corado immigrated to America at age sixteen to escape the civil war in El Salvador.[4] She settled in Washington D.C. on her own. As a member of the LGBT community as well as a young immigrant, Corado found it challenging to settle in her newfound community.[5] Her bumpy arrival and settlement also led her to discover how few resources were offered for the LGBT community within Washington D.C. This was one of her first motivators to be a part of creating a welcoming community for transgender people as well as the other people who make up the LGBT community.[5]

She came out as a gay man, a label that never felt comfortable for Corado. Eventually, she would come to terms with her identity as a transgender woman. After coming out as gay in her teens, Corado faced bullying from others since she was more feminine male. An incident that occurred was when she was tormented in her school’s bathroom. Other boys her age followed and attacked her for being a “feminine boy”. This was just the beginning for Corado. This is part of what sparked the call for action to protect those in a community that was not fully understood. Her home life was not much better than her school life. She was ostracised by her own family.

Corado would experience many setbacks because of her identity as a transgender woman and wouldn’t begin transitioning until the 1990s.[4] Some of these experiences would range from homelessness to being fired from her jobs because of her identity. Several acts of violence would be directed toward her one which would almost cost her life. Such experiences would make her realize that she needed to fight back against the oppression she was facing. In fact, it is these experiences that would provide the foundation for the actions she took in the future. Corado felt it was safe enough to finally live life as a woman full time. She had been living in what she had considered a well-rounded neighborhood. However, this all changed in 1995 with the death of Tyra Hunter, a transgender woman, who died of injuries sustained in a car accident after EMS personnel refused to treat her.[6] With the realization that people weren’t as accepting, it further fueled her to fight for transgender rights as she recognized people shouldn’t be living in constant fear for being who they were. She started volunteering at Whitman-Walker Health, a health center focused on HIV/AIDS care for LGBT patients, doing things like distributing condoms. A few years later once she made the transition from male to female, she won a pageant, Miss Gay El Salvador, which came with an expectation of community service. It is also worth noting that there was a point in her life where she worked as a sex worker. Her reasoning behind this didn’t have to do with survival. Rather it focused on being able to meet up with men without having to tell them that she was a transgender woman. She worked for an agency which would sell each encounter for three-hundred dollars. Although said agency would take most if not all of the profits she earned from her work as an escort. In fact, one of the greatest struggles she endured was overcoming some emotional trauma caused by her now ex-boyfriend who had broke into her house in 2008 beat and raped her. Although this attack on her was reported, the police never did any further investigation nor did the prosecute the culprit. In that same year in 2008, there was also an incident that occurred between Corado and her then boyfriend. There was a fight that had abrupted between the two. This landed them both a night in jail. During this time, she was subjected to be incarcerated with men rather than with women despite her identifying as a woman. She was forced to strip down her articles of clothing in front of the other men in the jail’s housing unit for men. She even had to endure the embarrassment of having to use the bathroom in front of the men in her cell. These incidences would cause her to leave her day job and spiral downward as she began heavily taking drugs and would become homeless. Overcome with a feeling of helplessness, Ruby would struggle with suicidal thoughts all while trying to continue her career as an activist. Eventually around 2011 she’d check herself into a mental hospital to seek out the help she needed. What fueled her to go on despite everything she had endured was the knowledge that other people similar to her would need her assistance. Corado has found herself to have overcome a long journey throughout her time in the United States. She had overall endured being a victim of the human sex trafficking industry, endured mistreatment from being transgender, spent time struggling with homelessness, battled to be able to change her gender on her identification card, and was almost killed in a domestic violence dispute. Overall, she has overcome a lot in her years and still continues to fight for others in her community. With even being close to having no money, Corado still put her efforts into creating a safe space for youth who were facing some of the struggle that come with being transgender and the need for another line of support.

Having overcome so many horrible obstacles that come with being a transgender person in America, as well having struggled with the lack of support and resources for the LGBT community within Washington D.C., Corado set out to create a space where she could help individuals heal, and hopefully help prevent these hate crimes from happening to other transgender people as well as others within the LGBTQ+ community. With the help of her friends and her community, Corado was able to create and found Casa Ruby, her non-profit organization that helps house, treat, and support mostly LGBTQ youth in 2012. In 2012 the first Casa Ruby center had opened.[7] The first building occupied three floors of a house in Park View on Georgia Avenue NW, the center primarily aimed to serve the Latina-trans community, but plenty of races and gender variants of the LGBTQ community have heavily relied on the Casa Ruby organization. Today there are now multiple establishments with approximately 50 employees and an outreach that affects the lives of over 6,000 people annually.[7] It provides services to a range of marginalized groups who, due to language or immigration status, often don’t know what resources are available to them. This program does what it cans to locate the available sources for those struggling in the community. The support from Casa Ruby also includes services for violence, poverty, HIV risk and testing, as well as discrimination. A big idea for Casa Ruby is that they do not want to make anyone fear exclusion, discrimination, and discouragement for being who they truly are on the inside and out.

Aside from her organization, Casa Ruby, Ruby is also a bilingual motivational speaker, and a nationally acclaimed sensitivity trainer who speaks mostly towards the social justice issues pertaining to transgender people, gender-nonconforming individuals, as well as the rest of the LGBT community. She does her motivational speaking as well as her sensitivity training in both English and Spanish to help spread her message on both ends of her communities, as well as educate those of the LGBTQ+ community within the U.S. who are at a disadvantage in terms of education and history because they do not speak or understand much English. This work coincides well with her activism that also consists to fighting for more rights, tolerance, and greater protection for the LGBTQ community, even more specifically transgender individuals.[7]

Corado became widely known after the August 16th, 2003 murder of Bella Evangelista,[8] a 25 year old transgender Latina killed during a month that included the murder of another transgender woman in Washington, DC. Corado helped organize daily vigils[9] and a march to demand an end to the violence and recognition of human rights of transgender people. Corado was part of the Coalition to Clarify the D.C. Human Rights Act (later renamed the D.C. Trans Coalition),[10] which changed the D.C. Human Rights Act to include protections for gender identity or expression, a change that took effect in March 2006.[11] In June 2012, she established Casa Ruby[12] in the Park View neighborhood and in 2018 the organization moved to Shepherd Park. Corado married David Walker in 2014, and was walked down the aisle by D.C. mayor Vincent C. Gray.[13]

One of Corado’s main goals with Casa Ruby was to create a movement led by people society deemed disposable.[14] She aimed to make a loving and nurturing environment that showed people acceptance for their identity. This idea of hers was conceived thirty years ago and was founded by Ruby with the help of friends and community.[15] Ruby’s aim was to provide an environment in which people didn’t feel the need to hide their true selves. In helping others, she aims to provide the help and services that weren't available to her when she was first adjusting to her life in the United States. More than that, however, Corado wants to show that it is possible to live a successful life as an LGBT person.

Another motivation Corado would have for making Casa Ruby was the enormous lack of resources for transgender people within Washington, D.C, more specifically transgender people of color. In making Casa Ruby, Corado was able to ensure a space where people could relate to the experiences of those around them. Casa Ruby is also the only bilingual and multicultural LGBTQ+ center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The mission statement for Casa Ruby reads as “Our mission is to create success life stories among transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals. Our vision is to create a world where transgender, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming people pursue their dreams and achieve success in their lives without fear of discrimination, harassment, or violence due to their sexual orientation and or gender identity/gender expression.”

As a result, Casa Ruby has been described with descriptive adjectives such as multicultural and bilingual. That is to say, the establishment primarily places its focus on offering services that can allow people to get a grasp of their lives and adapt to life in the United States. Casa Ruby has services that try to aid others in a variety of different methods. Some examples being some services that help those who might be in need of housing, or helping others obtain a job through their connections with local restaurants. Casa Ruby tries to help people adapt to their situation by offering emotional and financial support. Furthermore, it teaches English to those who don't know are unfamiliar with the language. Another unique trait Casa Ruby offers through their numerous programs and resources is outreach and assistance for those of the multicultural LGBTQ+ community who are immigrants and have a criminal record and/or criminal convictions. The organization provides these people with resources, support, and representation to fight their deportation and access within the United States.[7]

The community in which Casa Ruby serves typically falls within the annual income range that falls below 10,000 dollars. Their organization also runs career employment services, crisis intervention, and other support groups targeted towards the homeless and immigrant transgender individuals of their community. Another service that they offer a 24 hour drop-in/respite service to those who are either abandoned, homeless, or are in a need of a place to stay, which is a huge testament to Ruby’s welcoming attitude and focus for her organization.[7]

Their housing placement program spans far beyond their 24-hour shelter policy as well. Ruby has organized multiple housing programs that span from 24-hour open housing services that are open during weather emergencies to prevent hypothermia and other weather-related injuries to the homeless community. They also provide short term living placement which offers short term consistent housing services for three to six months at a time. This program is for 18 to 24-year-olds and is created to help people transition into permanent living situations. Casa Ruby’s last offer within their housing program is their transitional living program. This offers stable housing and support for up to 18 months and is also in place in order to help clients find educational and foundational backing before they pursue independent living.[7]

Not only has Ruby created an organization where transgender people and people of the LGBTQ+ community can stay the night, get employment counseling, and housing placement, they also offer numerous other connections for the LGBTQ+ community. These services include preventative health care which is specifically focused on sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and AIDS. There is also another program within Casa Ruby that helps with the emotional and mental trauma that comes with the abuse that can stem from being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, especially being a transgender person. This program is called the “Support Services for Victims of Violence” and provides one-on-one counseling and aid to any victims that have suffered from physical, mental, or emotional abuse. Casa Ruby also offers Social Services which can connect people with Social Workers to help them attain government-issued identification and many other legal acquisitions.[7]

It is important to note that the motto for CasaRuby is “Everyone’s Home” meaning that is not limited solely for the LGBTQ+ community but rather all people who are in need of its services. This could mean the families of someone within the LGBT community or other members within or involved in this community.

Casa Ruby is working to make themselves known over social media through their facebook page. This is done in order to make their community presence more known. To add on to this, this allows for the group to be found through the internet. The page is often updated to keep everyone informed on current issues and events within their group as well as the LGBTQ+ community. Currently, almost 12,000 people are following this page. Another form of social media that they are on is Twitter as well as Instagram. Having a larger online presents makes for their community to be stronger. Corado works tirelessly to make her establishment seem like a home away from home. This is both displayed within the numerous programs she has in place for her clients, as well as the vast amount of support she is able to provide from both herself and those who volunteer within the organization. She tends to refer to residents as sons and daughters to emphasize the idea of a chosen family. She emphasizes the idea of a chosen family to make up for the fact that some families can be extremely unaccepting at times. She has created a community in which everyone tries to help one another as they overcome their struggles.

Currently, Corado's work has the most presence in regards to the Trump Administration. In particular, she has spoken out against the administrations consideration to define one's gender based on the genitalia that individual was born with. In response, Corado would talk about the issue at hand to the media and generally anyone who would hear her. She would also be a part of a crowd holding signs along the lines of : Enough we will not be erased. She’s aware of the seriousness of the issue and strives to continue to bring awareness to the issue because it is one that is so important. Despite the hardship she has to overcome, she seems enthusiastic about the work recognizing that it has brought people together and emphasized the support that is present for the transgender community.[16]

In this particular case like many others, Corado uses her identity as a transgender woman, as well as her cultural and bilingual background to reassure others that everything will be okay despite the hardships they have to face. She uses herself as an example to highlight that transgender people can live successful lives, as well as dedicating her own life to the betterment of other transgender youths to help them lead their own successful future. Ruby is also still an active participant in Casa Ruby which is continuing to grow in size and client base. There are now currently fifty employees and the program reaches about six thousand clients annually.

Corado's awards include: The Capital Pride Heroes 2005 by Metro Weekly, Trans America 2006, Latino LGBT History Project Heroes Exhibit 2007, 25 Most Influential Latino LGBT activists by Latino Voice 2009, Stein Democrats Heil-Balin Community Service Award 2011, Capital Pride Engendered Spirit Awards 2011, Gay And Lesbians Activists Alliance GLLA Distinguished Service Award 2012, The Activist Of The Year By the African American Prism Awards 2012, Ten LGBTQ Latin@s That Make us Proud By XQSi Magazine 2012, The DC Center Community Center Service Award 2013, and Gays And Lesbians Opposing Violence Community Service Award 2013.[17]

• Casa Ruby's website

• Knutson, Gabriela (2018-11-30). "Trans activist Ruby Corado speaks at SU for Trans Day of Remembrance event". The Daily Orange. Retrieved 2020-02-24.

• "Grantee Spotlight: Casa Ruby". Elton John AIDS Foundation. Retrieved 2020-02-24.

• "Casa Ruby, Inc". Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice. Retrieved 2020-02-24.