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 January 2018, Trans Lifeline's Board of Directors dismissed Chaubal and Martela, after an internal audit discovered that they had misdirected over $350,000 of the organization's funds. Chaubal subsequently took a post at Hustle as a software engineer, then transitioned to work at Even.com in the same capacity.

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]

Embezzlement

In January 2018, a Trans Lifeline internal review involving independent legal and financial professionals revealed that Chaubal and Martela had made $353,703 of unauthorized purchases for personal benefit and side projects. The Board of Directors immediately removed the co-founders from the organization and began seeking mediation.[26][27][28] Chaubal and Martela were able to repay $8,585, and in June 2018, agreed to repay the remaining amount over the next ten years, in lieu of lawsuit or other recovery attempts.[28]

Awards and honors

  • In 2017, Chaubal was designated a Trans Justice Funding Project Community Grantmaking Fellow.[29]

Personal life

Chaubal married Greta Martela in 2015.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nina Chaubal helps build community, save lives with Trans Lifeline". NBC News. 8 March 2017. 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. 1 2 Mechanic, Jesse (December 22, 2017). "America's First Transgender Suicide Hotline Is Now Live". HuffPost. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
  4. 1 2 "A Volunteer With Trans Lifeline Talks About Why People Are Scared—and Dialing". Willamette Week. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  5. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "Transgender crisis line launches in Canada". Archived from the original on 2019-12-18. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
  7. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 "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". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  10. 1 2 "TV Review - America in Transition - DelmarvaLife". Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  11. 1 2 "'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. 1 2 "Alumn – Innovative Software and Data Analysis".
  13. 1 2 "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. 30 July 2015. 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. ↑ Warner, Tim (December 8, 2016). "LGBT detainees describe harrowing life inside Eloy". Washington Blade. 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. ↑ Trans Lifeline Executive Team & Board of Directors (2019-02-21). "The Leadership Transition, 2017 Taxes, and How We're Moving Forward". Trans Lifeline. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  27. ↑ Trans Lifeline. "An Update on the Trans Lifeline Leadership Transition". us12.campaign-archive.com. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  28. 1 2 Roberts, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, Andrea Suozzo, Brandon (2013-05-09). "Nonprofit Explorer — TransLifeline — Full Filing". ProPublica. Retrieved 2022-09-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ↑ "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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