With a deep, rich laugh, long red tinted hair and manicured nails, Ruby Corado holds court most days on the front porch of Casa Ruby, a nonprofit agency located in Washington, D.C. Corado greets the trans men and women who come here, looking for help with housing, health care, legal services and jobs. She calls them her sons and daughters, because she knows why they’re really here. “Most of the people who come to Casa Ruby don’t have a family that accepts them, or that loves them for the most part. So we have a family here, and it is the concept of a chosen family,” she says. Corado also has two 22 beds in transitional housing for transgender adults and youth who would otherwise be homeless.
