L.Jude Tantay

Pagsuyo Facilitator

My name is L. Jude Tantay (she/they), but you can just call me Jude. My mother’s family was from Lucena and my father’s from Pangasinan. I first joined CfBS as a volunteer for their summit in 2024 and took part in their reading group for Back from the Crocodile’s Belly. Check out a presentation I did for one of the sessions on “Chapter 4: Filipino Tattoos - Pigment as Spirit”  where I applied the wisdom of Manong Lane Wilcken to my ongoing journey of decolonizing my mind and living authentically as a queer and trans second-generation Filipina-American.

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I was involved in NYC Filipino community health for many years, working for APICHA Community Health Center, serving on the board of Kalusugan Coalition, and co-leading LYFE at FAHSI. As an applied theatre practitioner (with a MA in Applied Theatre from the City University of New York), I’ve been an actor and writer for Filipino-American projects - like Tagalogues - addressing the effects of acculturation, colonialism, and gender based violence. My career in applied theatre has also deepened my connection to my transness and trans history, most importantly as a co-director for NYC’s TransGenerational Theatre Project, which engaged trans youth, adults, and elders in devising pieces of theatre about our trans experiences.

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I have over 20 years of experience serving queer and trans communities, running multiple programs in NY for trans youth and in my racial and gender justice work at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Since moving from NYC to Southeast Michigan, my commitment to queer and trans communities has continued in my roles as a social worker (with a MSW from the University of Michigan) and therapist at S.C. Nash Counseling and Consulting.

Currently, I live in Ferndale, MI -  just outside of Detroit. This area was originally stewarded by the Anishinaabek, the largest tribes among them being the Ojibwe (also called Chippewa), the Odawa (also called Ottowa) and the Potawatomi (also called the Bode’wadmi), who together formed the Three Fires. Detroit is also a place built by Black labor and is deeply connected to racial justice. (Read more here about Detroit’s histories of anti-racism and about the Detroit Indigenous Peoples Alliance, who preserve indigenous culture in metro Detroit.)