Most people do not consider a dressing room their friend. It’s where, under the harshest of lights when you are trying on clothing, the bags under your eyes look huge and your muffin top appears massive. But, for the most part, you can walk into a dressing room and walk back out without anyone giving you a second glance.
It isn’t always that easy for individuals who are transgender, nonbinary or gender-expansive. It shouldn’t be this way, but some members of the communities worry about which dressing room they should use to avoid possible confrontations. Men’s? Women’s? Unisex? Will they get unfriendly stares or insensitive comments from other customers and sales reps? An alternative to in-person shopping is buying clothing online, but we all know what a hassle that can be.
Margie’s Closet, a nonprofit thrift boutique at 1384 W. 117th St. in Lakewood, opened this past June. The shop welcomes everyone, but in a very short period of time, it has become a refuge and resource for gender nonconforming people. In addition to new and donated outerwear, dresses, jeans and wedding gowns, the shop also sells wigs, binders, gaffs (compression underwear) and other items not usually found at Target or Kohl’s.
Margie’s Closet was created by Jacob Nash of Akron and his wife, Erin, to give the transgender community a safe, affordable and comfortable place to shop. In addition to clothing and accessories, Margie’s Closet also offers resource lists of doctors, lawyers, contractors, real estate professionals and more who are allies of the LGBTQ+ communities.
The couple calls itself “accidental activists.” They fought for years in three states — Ohio, New Hampshire (where Nash lived for a few years) and Massachusetts (where he was born and grew up) — to become legally married. After facing strict judges, red tape and, sometimes, hostile reactions, they got legally married in 2004. They’ve been together for 22 years.
“I like to say our story helped transgender to become more visible in our world,” says Nash, identifying himself as a man of faith.
But, admittedly, it hasn’t always been easy.
“Erin has identified as a lesbian since she was 15. When we met through a Yahoo Christian dating site, I was just transitioning. I stopped using ‘Pam’ as my first name, and my facial hair was coming in. It was hard on her. She lost a lot of good friends,” says Nash, who believes the couple’s personal experiences and struggles encouraged them to help others.
Margie’s Hope is Nash’s nonprofit umbrella organization founded in 2011 that now includes several support groups and educational programs. Nash’s TransAlive support group for adults began in 2007. Since then, Nash’s outreach has extended to Margie’s Kids for transgender youth and Margie’s Pride for parents of transgender individuals of any age. Trans Youth Allied Task Force is a partnership with Akron Children’s Center for Gender Affirming Medicine that began in 2019 at Akron Children’s Hospital to help facilitate communication between organizations that cares for transgender youth.
“I don’t get paid for what I do,” says Nash. “But I try to educate others about the transgender community and create safe environments.”
