Rahliek, Age 20, Virginia
RAHLIEK: People meet me and don’t see me as a trans guy, so I don’t tell them I’m trans. You ask me who I am – I’m a man, I’m a Black man, that’s all you need to know. I hear about these laws and think ‘Dang, that’s messed up,’ but I don’t let it affect me.
Regardless of what you think is right, or what you think God said, I’m alive. And I’m very blessed to be alive. When it comes to stuff like this, people should just mind their own business because we’re not bothering nobody. If I was able to talk to these politicians, they would have a whole other thought about life. Who gave them the power to do what they’re doing? This is supposed to be a Democracy yet they control us every chance they get.
Most politicians are older people, and most older people believe whatever the Bible says, but that same Bible has been rewritten many times. And these same people have sinned many times. So whatever the case may be – if I’m sinning, you sinning. I just stay out the way and do what I got to do to survive
MOM: It’s easy to believe something about someone when you lump them in with a whole group of people. It’s hard to continue believing that when you have proximity to them. It’s scary having three kids with such different backgrounds and wanting to honor all of them equally, but knowing that the world will not.
DAD: Rahliek came to live with us when he was 17, and we’ve learned a lot since that time. We didn’t know what the transgender experience was like until we had a child that was going through it. You can feel powerless when things are happening that you can’t control. We can’t change the minds of a lot of people, but what we can do is be supportive of our son.
Mom: I also feel a greater responsibility to advocate for the community that Rahliek represents racially and through his experience living as a transgender man. There’s definitely an element of protectiveness that comes out that I don’t think we’ve felt before.
RAHLIEK: I know that a lot of people are trying to take away trans rights, but safety is in numbers. They can do whatever to one, two, three or maybe four of us but there’s no way they can continue to throw stones at the whole community and not receive any backlash.
I really don’t think most people have a problem with us. I feel like their problem is we aren’t scared to do what they were scared to do at one point. We just want to be happy and that’s what intimidates them the most. This is my family, these are my parents now. They support me and that’s what matters. Go where you're wanted, go where you’re accepted.
Be you, because whether you die today or 20 years from now, whenever you go, you want to know that was happy when you was here. At the end of the day, we have the most power because we love ourselves. When you have you, you have everything.