SF Self-Defense Class Helps Transgender Community Build Bonds

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, December 26, 2025…

• In San Francisco, advocates for transgender people are trying to beef up protections for their community, in the face of anti-trans policies from the Trump administration. This work isn’t just about legal threats, but also fears of physical violence. 
• A new analysis warns the Colorado River could fall to dangerously low levels next year. The river supplies water to cities and farms across San Diego and Imperial counties.

Amid Rising Threats, Transgender Community Builds Bonds At SF Self-Defense Class

Alexis Jimenez said a stalker came to her house and knocked on her door years ago. “[It was] kind of scary,” she recalled. “After that incident, I thought about scenarios of what could have happened and whether or not I’m prepared to defend myself in those situations.”

Jimenez, who had taken a few years of taekwondo, wanted to gain new skills, so she registered for free self-defense training offered by the Transgender District, a nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood founded by and for trans women.

Carolina Osoria, program associate with the Transgender District, helped launch the inaugural training with support from the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives and the nonprofit LYRIC SF. She said the goal of the class is to empower trans people during the second Trump administration. “Trans people are really resilient,” she said. “I hope that’s a facet we’re able to feed into because there’s a lot that’s trying to diminish us.”

President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders targeting the gender-expansive community, including defunding gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth and banning trans, intersex, and nonbinary people from using the X gender marker on their passports. There are legal challenges to these efforts, but Osoria said the federal actions have had an impact already, creating a climate of fear even in a transgender sanctuary city like San Francisco. Research shows that trans women of color disproportionately bear the brunt of violence. According to a 2021 study, more than half of the physically violent crimes reported by trans women in the Bay Area were committed against Black and Latina trans women.

Experts Call For Immediate Cuts To Water Use From The Colorado River

The mighty Colorado River, which supplies water to cities and farms across Southern California, could again dwindle to dangerously low levels next year.

That’s the finding of a new analysis published earlier this month by a group of prominent scholars. They claim the river is closer than previously thought to running into serious infrastructure complications that could stop water from flowing.

Around two-thirds of San Diego County’s water — and all of Imperial County’s water — comes from the imperiled river. Four tribal nations in California and the cities of Tijuana and Mexicali also rely on it heavily as a water source.

Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies and lead author of the new analysis, said the group is asking the Trump administration to force all seven states that rely on the Colorado River to slash their water use. “An immediate crisis has crept up on us,” Schmidt said.