Tynan Power (born 1970) is a progressive

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

activist who advocates for

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

and

transgender rights A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is inconsistent or not culturally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to establi ...

in Muslim communities.

Early life and education

Tynan Power was born in 1970 in

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, to Carol Cargill and James Power. His mother was an applied linguistics professor and his father was a federal mediator and, previously, a Catholic priest. The couple divorced when Power was a baby. Power spent most of his life in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, before moving to

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1999. He was raised Catholic, but converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

in 1985 at age fourteen. Although he was designated female at birth, he recognized that he identified as male at an early age and transitioned from female to male as an adult. Power attended the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

in Tampa briefly in 1987, but moved to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

partway through his undergraduate education. After moving back to the

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, he returned to the University of South Florida and received his Bachelor of Arts in English in 1995. In 2000, at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, he received his Master of Arts in Mass Communication-Journalism.

Work and activism

Power was a founding member of the

Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD), founded in 2013, is an American support and advocacy organization for LGBTQ Muslims. History The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity was launched in January 2013 in Atlanta. ...

(MASGD), which works to support and connect

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

Muslims. He served as a program coordinator at MASGD's Trans Wellness Conference from 2012 to 2014. Power also served as co-chair for MASGD's retreat for two years and served on the retreat planning team for five. Before his work with MASGD, Power was an early member of Al-Fatiha Foundation, a similar organization that disbanded in 2005, and served on its or advisory council. In July 2015, Power was an invited speaker at the National Interfaith Service held in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, as part of the LGBT 50th celebration. He joined Bishop Gene Robinson, Rev. Jeffrey H. Jordan-Pickett, Rabbi Linda Holtzman, Rabbi Margot Stein, Rev. Timothy Safford, Rev. Susan Richardson and singer Jonathan Allen at the event. Power previously worked as the Muslim coordinator with Transfaith, which is a nonprofit based in Philadelphia that supports transgender individuals in religious communities. Power works for

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

School for Social Work as a communications specialist. He also gives speeches about transgender and Islam, LGBT Muslims, and progressive Muslims.

Publications

* ''Progressive Muslim Identities: Personal Stories from the U.S. and Canada''. Eds. Zahra Ayubi, Sara Farooqi, Vanessa Karam, Tynan Power, Olivia Samad & Ani Zonneveld. Oracle Releasing, 2011. * Margaret Price with Leah (Phinnia) Meredith, Cal Montgomery, and Tynan Power. "In/ter/dependent Scholarship" in ''Mad at School: Rhetorics of Mental Disability and Academic Life". University of Michigan Press, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Tynan 1970 births Living people American human rights activists American educators American Muslims Converts to Islam from Catholicism American LGBT rights activists People from Northampton, Massachusetts People from Tampa, Florida People from Washington, D.C. Transgender rights activists Transgender academics Transgender Muslims University of South Florida alumni 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century American writers