In Orlando, Florida, a gunman, after seeing two men kissing two days prior, decided to target a gay bar during Latino night with a trans headliner. There were a lot of cisgender LGB folks as well as trans LGB folks in the bar that night. He killed 50 of them and injured 53 others. This… Continue reading My Heart is Heavy with Grief and Anger
Tag: LGBT
A Primer on Writing Trans Characters
Introduction A question I’m commonly asked is: how does one write a trans character? I also get asked this question in regards to writing gay, lesbian, or bisexual characters, and/or how to write a person of color. There is a lot of overlap in these questions since a person can have a variety of skin… Continue reading A Primer on Writing Trans Characters
There is an unspoken epidemic
There is an unspoken epidemic in our country. Since January 1, 2015, there has been sixteen trans people, fifteen of them trans women, murdered in the US and one in Canada. Majority were trans women of color. Both race and gender play a factor in the deaths. The media often presents them as a novelty… Continue reading There is an unspoken epidemic
This weighs heavy on my mind
Note: I first posted this to Facebook. Placed it here with links as a call to action. I know a lot of trans people in my life, and in the past year, I had to convince several of them to please stay alive. At least two of them were unsuccessful in attempts. This terrifies me,… Continue reading This weighs heavy on my mind
Memorial to Those We Have Lost
On December 28, 2014, Leelah Acorn jumped in front of a truck and died. Not long after her death, a scheduled post to her tumblr appeared on the internet — her suicide note. Why did she die? She details it in her suicide note; how her parents forced her into conversion therapy, isolated her, and… Continue reading Memorial to Those We Have Lost
On Faith and Narratives
Throughout my coming out story, there’s a familiar thread of faith and the rejection of the narrative that faith original gave me. Within Let it Go, I described how I came to reject that narrative and the pain it caused. Then in Dusty Old Journals I described the struggle itself, wrought with my own words,… Continue reading On Faith and Narratives
To be Free
This is my final entry about my coming out story. See Let it go and Dusty Old Journals for the other two parts of my story. Thank you to all of my friends and family who support me and accept me as I am. This weekend, I stood in church for the first time in… Continue reading To be Free
Flashback 2012: Queer Monologues – My performance piece
I wrote the following in 2012 for the Queer Monologues hosted at my university by the UNI Proud group and the LGBT Student Outreach Coordinator. I wanted to post it here because it exemplifies the experiences of my trans* friends, and often what I encounter when I wear masculine clothing and cut my hair short.… Continue reading Flashback 2012: Queer Monologues – My performance piece
Dusty Old Journals
The trunk is dark green, and its lid slides off easily, the hinges broken. Tape mars the top of the lid from where I’ve tried to tape it in place during moves. Inside, dozens of journals are piled atop one another, many simple composition notebooks and others specially made. The dates in them range from… Continue reading Dusty Old Journals
Let it Go
I press my boot into the snow, the print crisp. The wind slices against my cheeks, sweeping through my coat to penetrate deep into my bones. I step into the cold when I want answers. It’s unavoidable in winter, where the cold seeps into every layer of my body; even in the warmth of a… Continue reading Let it Go