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Jonah Murray, 23, currently serves as the treasurer for Finn’s Place in Fort Worth. The community center helps transgender and gender diverse people in Tarrant County find resources and supportive connections. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)
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Growing up, Jonah Murray, 23, had limited opportunities to engage in topics about the LGBTQ+ community in Fort Worth. 

While attending Texas Christian University, Murray began to meet people who stimulated new conversations, and that sparked a lot of self-reflection. 

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“I didn’t come out as trans until I was in college,” he said. “Growing up in Fort Worth, I didn’t know what the word ‘transgender’ meant or that trans people existed. I realized how much more we needed for the community.” 

In early 2022, Murray heard that Galileo Church, which seeks to “do justice for LGBTQ+ humans,” was planning to create a trans community center in Tarrant County. He knew he had to get involved. 

Murray became the board president of Finn’s Place in April 2022. Finn’s Place, which officially opened in May of that year, helps transgender and gender diverse people in Tarrant County find resources and supportive connections. The center is named after Finn Spicer, a trans boy who attended Galileo Church and died in 2018. 

Finn’s Place operates to pass on a message Spicer lived by: “Bee yourself.” The way Spicer always elongated the “e” sound inspired the community center’s logo — a bee. 

As board president, Murray’s main focus has been to get the word out about Finn’s Place and build relationships with other LGBTQ+ organizations in Tarrant County. 

“I often have referred to the work that we’ve done at Finn’s Place as building an airplane while you’re flying it,” said Murray. “There’s a lot of moving parts behind the scenes. There’s a lot we all had to learn about how to establish and run a community center.” 

 Fort Worth trans community center provides ‘open space for self-discovery and self love’

Murray recently registered Finn’s Place as a 501(c)(3) organization, which would make it an officially recognized nonprofit charitable, religious, or educational organization with tax-exempt status from the IRS.

“Our goal was to have our independent (501(c)(3)) status within three to five years, and we did it in a little less than two,” he said. “We’re super proud of that.” 

Even with all the work Finn’s Place has accomplished, it’s not easy creating a space for trans people in Tarrant County, especially with a lot of negativity toward LGBTQ+ communities, said Murray. 

“It’s really important work, but it’s really hard work, especially here in Texas during legislative seasons and now during a presidential election, when trans people’s identities are a political football,” he said. 

Aside from serving on the board at Finn’s Place, Murray also represents District 11 on Fort Worth’s Human Relations Commission. The commission’s goal is to advise the City Council and the city manager on issues involving racial, religious or ethnic discrimination and offer feedback on how to eliminate discrimination. 

Valerie Martinez-Ebers, a political science professor at the University of North Texas, previously found that Fort Worth had a weak human relations commission. The commission’s inability to create policies and change related to inequality had the potential to deepen divisions between the city and its residents, according to Martinez-Ebers’ study. 

Murray, who was appointed by the City Council, assumed his role on the commission in December 2023 and will serve until October 2025. He hopes to establish a LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee within the commission but knows it won’t be easy. 

“We need to be engaged with the city, and the city needs to be engaged with us on a continual basis,” Murray said. 

As a leader in all his roles, Murray strives to serve with joy and be a uniter. He believes it is important to get everyone behind a shared cause and work toward solutions. Communities can’t afford to fight with one another or else nothing is going to get done, he said. 

Zoe Wilkerson, administrative director with Finn’s Place, sees Murray lead by example. Murray is hands-on with projects and events at the community center but is careful not to micromanage, they said. 

“He’s had to do all these jobs, and it can be really hard to hand that off to an individual. But he’s put a lot of trust in me. If he tells me to do something, he isn’t constantly following up and lets me take the reins,” Wilkerson said. 

Through his advocacy, Murray has been able to achieve one of his biggest accomplishments: launching the Queer Professionals Network in Fort Worth. The group hosts monthly networking events at Hotel Dryce for LGBTQ+ businesses and entrepreneurs in Fort Worth. The network hosted its first event in June 2023, drawing a small group of attendees. Since then, the network has grown to over 100 people. 

“Although the North Texas LGBT Chamber of Commerce exists, we didn’t really see anything that was uniting the small, local entrepreneur community,” said Murray. “In the workforce, it can be hard to be the only queer person at your job, and sometimes you just need to be around your people.” 

In February, Murray moved into the treasurer role at Finn’s Place, allowing fellow board member Robin Avery to take the helm as president. Even though his position is different, the work remains the same. 

“(Robin) is a fantastic, intelligent trans woman who is going to bring a lot to this organization,” he said. “I’m just really excited to keep helping (Finn’s Place) grow as much as I can.” 

Jonah Murray bio: 

Hometown: Born and raised in Fort Worth 

Education: Bachelor of Science in political science and philosophy, Texas Christian University 

Work experience: treasurer, Finn’s Place (2024-present); project manager, JBJ Management (2021-present); board president, Finn’s Place (2022-2024); fundraising manager, Mission Partnerships (2021); concierge, The Stayton at Museum Way (2020-2021)

First job: “It was a customer service job. I worked as a front desk concierge at a retirement living community called The Stayton at Museum Way. I did that in college.” 

First inspiration: “My family is very important to me. I grew up Catholic, so I had godparents that were really close to me. My godfather was Dr. John Richardson and he was a really influential figure in the community as a pediatrician at Cook Children’s. He was somebody who helped establish a lot of nonprofits, like The Warm Place, and I really looked up to him as a kid … and still do. I hope to be as good of a person as he was.” 

Advice for someone learning to be a leader: “You have to jump in head first to everything and don’t be afraid of the hard work. You’ll eventually start to see it pay off.” 

Best advice you’ve ever received: “Don’t be afraid of the grind. Especially as an out and open trans person in Texas, it can be really hard to keep going when almost every news article is about how your identity isn’t real and you might lose your healthcare and all these things that are beating you down every day. You have to find the strength and the courage to get up and keep going every day. I really find strength in my community, because we’re out fighting this together.”

David Moreno is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports on X, formerly known as Twitter.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.