JP, Age 20, Massachusetts
JP: I think all this legislation makes a lot of us angry. However, I don’t think I would use the word anger for myself. I just want to ask why. Why is it that we have to declare who we are? Why is it that we have to demand these certain rights? Why is it that we can’t just live? If we’re constantly pressing, if we’re constantly showing up, that’s going to force people to see us, force people to hear us. Anger is frowned upon, but in the end we’re just tired of fighting.
I can never leave my queerness at home, I can never leave my Blackness at home. Those of us who are brave enough, or are courageous enough to walk into our light—that’s what’s gonna keep us alive, and that’s what’s gonna keep this movement alive. Every trans person lives their own trans experience. Just existing as a queer trans man, someone who doesn’t conform to gendered society rules, that’s something that I’ve had to push and fight for.
Doing advocacy feels awesome. I’m doing a lot of DI training right now. I have a workshop coming up; it’s how intersectionality actually affects our health. That’s something that I’m very passionate about, because I do live an intersect life. I think we all do. We don’t live single-issue lives. Your truth and your destiny is attached to so many others.
Even in my generation, we weren’t allowed to be curious about who we were. We weren’t being taught that that was OK. I didn’t even know trans men existed when I was younger. To know of trans Black men, that wasn’t a thing. The only figure that we’d ever heard of in my generation was Caitlyn Jenner. That was, for me, a poor representation of trans people. To be honest. Laverne Cox, that’s the new Barbs!
CHOSEN FAMILY:
Just be true to yourself. Don’t try to feed into what people think, or what people’s perceptions of you are. Just be true to yourself. Follow your own dreams. If you want to be something different than what you were told you were, do it. Experience it. Just follow what you want.