First Legaspi Trans Leadership Award given to rising trans leader

Bliss Vasquez at the Gender Enders Meet table at a zine fest. (Photo courtesy Bliss Vasquez) Bliss Vasquez is the inaugural winner of the Julia Legaspi Trans Leadership Award and will be honored at Friday’s San Diego Pride Spirit of Stonewall rally. The new honor is named after the late Legaspi, who died this April at age 71 after decades as a pillar of the San Diego LGBTQ+ community. She was a proud Filipina transgender immigrant who served with many nonprofits as well as on the human rights commissions of both the city and county. Her appointment made her the first transgender person appointed to public office in San Diego and only the third in the nation.  Vasquez, 27, works at the San Diego LGBT Community Center leading the transgender and nonbinary service program.  Outside of their day job, they run Gender Enders Meet (GEM), an online space for queer people founded in 2021. It gives isolated members of the community – whether because they live in a rural place or they are immunocompromised – a chance to make friends in all their eccentricity.  “[Fighting transphobia is] an uphill battle, but… I feel fueled by the joys that I get to experience, and living my most authentic self and being with other transgender, queer people,” Vasquez said.  Vasquez is much younger than Legaspi, but in many ways is similar to the award’s namesake.  They share traits, such as being deeply spiritual people who radiate kindness while not being the loudest advocates in any space. Yet Vasquez, like Legaspi did, quietly serves others, accomplishing much.  I only met Legaspi once in the wake of the county human rights commission failing to pass a statement denouncing transphobia after a heated discussion in which a fellow commissioner and faith leader called trans people an “abomination.” Legaspi was shaken and teary after the incident, but still generous as she spoke to me.  The comments were all too familiar to Vasquez. Other than lack of housing, they see poor treatment as the top issue facing San Diego’s transgender community. “We need people’s attitudes towards trans people to get better and their attitude just towards difference period needs to improve,” Vasquez said.  Housing and discrimination can be connected though.  As a former frontline caseworker, Vasquez has seen it play out. “People applying for jobs or… going in person to apply for an apartment, getting turned away as soon as they get looked upon. That is so disgusting and ridiculous,” he said. Growing up in Southeast San Diego, Vasquez thought the only life paths for queer people was to live in Hillcrest, be a drag performer or to be homeless. Meeting a queer librarian in high school was life-changing.  Their own career path has been difficult, with issues getting job interviews and a CEO at a local nonprofit saying that if Vasquez could not get used to being misgendered, they needed to find another job.  They also know that even if a trans person is receiving accolades or appears successful, they still may be struggling to access gender-affirming healthcare or make ends meet. Despite the emotional and economic toll of being openly trans, Vasquez continues to fight for their community in practical ways, but also through joy and connection.  “I feel grateful just to be alive in that moment, because I know that so many of our trans (people) don’t get to have that moment or that there are just people out there who don’t want us to have joy, who want to see us dead,” Vasquez said. “That hate fuels me … I’m living out of spite.”  See more of our Pride coverage here, or page through the viewer here to enjoy the print edition of the 2025 Pride Guide.