CASATRANS represents a community's desire to fight for its rights and the hope of Colombian society, which, though divided, managed to come together to support a cause beyond its own interests, becoming a symbol of the struggle for a more inclusive, equitable, and fair country.

In March 2021, amid the quarantine caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we were forced to leave our home. It was a house that provided shelter to various people, including transgender sex workers, gender non-conforming individuals, transgender women who were victims of armed conflict, those who had been incarcerated, homeless people, and activists who had fought for this place through their struggle for safety and well-being. This refuge stood as a bastion against police violence and transphobia, offering a safe and welcoming space. It's important to note that we, transgender people, face a higher risk of suicide compared to the rest of the population, emphasizing even more the significance of these refuges as crucial places of support and resistance.

Therefore, losing our home, which supports more than 600 transgender people by providing legal, psychological, and even healthcare access, creates a huge gap in the pursuit of equality and respect for our fundamental rights.

- Situation

We were evicted against our will from the house, due to pressure from neighbors and the police.

- Brief

To reclaim our space to continue working for the transgender community.

- Objectives

To have a physical space that shelters our community and continue to work for the rights of people with diverse gender identities.

CASATRANS.CO is an e-commerce platform for donations, but at the same time, it's a space to fight for a cause. So we build a virtual house and sell it piece by piece through an e-commerce site where people could navigate the different rooms, choose from over 250 illustrated objects, and symbolically donate money to support our cause. A project like this wouldn't be possible without the community. That's why we invited artists and writers to join the cause and donate their illustrations and stories. These narratives tell the tales behind each object with a fun and lighthearted tone, far from the misery often associated with these stories. Each room, including the "Hall of Memory," pays tribute to our murdered sisters and to everyone who suffers from gender-based or identity-based violence. Now, every trans community in the world can replicate it selling the house they don’t have to build their own.

Even though we had already come out and had a well-established organization which brought together the entire transgender community, the context of the eviction put us in a very difficult situation where we needed to reclaim our home without any means to obtain resources. It was precisely out of nothing that the idea emerged to sell a house we didn't have to get the one we needed.

"We sell the house we don't have to get the one we need."

Raising funds for a social cause is a challenging task, but it's even more difficult for a community like ours, which faces constant rejection and discrimination.

That's why we decided to launch CASATRANS.CO by using the most powerful tool we have: art. Because ultimately, it doesn't matter if someone decides to "come out of the closet" if there's no house that welcomes, offer support or help when they might need it.

Our e-commerce featured 14 different rooms, where we symbolically sold each part of a house: bricks, tiles, doors, faucets, toilets, and more than 250 unique objects. These elements were designed by artists with diverse backgrounds, mostly from the LGBTIQ+ community.

We reopened CasaTrans operation using the most powerful resource: art. A place dedicated to protecting trans rights, where we were able to once again provide health, psychological, and cultural services to over 600 trans women, sex workers, webcam performers, community artists, leaders from social organizations, trans women living on the streets, and trans women in detention.

Additionally, the visibility generated by our initiative served as support for the efforts being made to present the Trans bill before the congress of the republic.