9March 31 is Trans Day of Visibility – a day of focus, love and support for trans people and issues. One in which our community actively stands defiant and visible against all of those who would much rather us be neither seen nor heard. There are various events, activities and calls to action led by trans people all with the aim of supporting the community.»
Gay transgender activist Lou Sullivan spent years researching the life of Jack Garland, an obscure early 20th century transgender man who evidently loved men. He rifled though archived newspapers and letters in local libraries for any scrap relevant to Jack, and finally managed to get the completed novel published only very shortly before his death by AIDS in 1990. The book made a single run from a now-defunct publishing company, so a very limited number of copies of the book exist today. Approximately 30 libraries carry it across the US and certain sellers have another handful of copies available for upwards of $200+ each.
However, I could afford to shell out that $200, and I think Lou would want his book to be accessible to the modern trans population. So I’ve bought a copy and scanned it and converted the pages into a PDF,
Actor Brian Michael Smith’s speech against the increasing anti-trans bills in Texas and across the country.
Trans actor Brian Michael Smith speaks about the need for firefighting trans allies in America
Smith is the first out black trans man in a series regular role on network television, playing firefighter Paul Strickland in the Fox network’s “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
At the 2022 LA Human Rights Campaign dinner he said this and more:
“In case you missed the news, Governor Greg Abbott [of Texas] recently directed his social services agency to investigate the families that give medically necessary, age-appropriate, gender-affirming care for their kids — and call it child abuse.
“The governor’s directive also calls on teachers and medical professionals to report the family to the state, and threatens the removal of their professional licenses if they fail to do so. … Ot breaks my heart, for the children and for the people that love them, that this is what they’re up against…
“Now, my character Paul runs into burning buildings. He put himself into harm’s way and fights to save lives. Those of you who know a thing or two about firefighting know you don’t run into a dangerous situation without making sure that your colleagues on your force have your back. So it’s an apt metaphor for the position that we’re in right now, because right now in Texas and Florida and Alabama and North Dakota, and unfortunately many other places, the house is on fire for our community. …
“Now HRC and other amazing organizations, including state and LGBT groups, are like the firefighters. They are rushing into battle to fight this. It’s exhausting, but it’s vital. And the tyranny of this is that people like me and the trans kids around the nation need to know the same allies who had our backs when it came to marriage equality are stepping in to have our backs right now.”
When you’re talking about trans men, you need to remember that we’re not truly viewed as men to many cis people. We do experience misogyny, because transphobes don’t see us as men. We’re either women in men’s clothes or freaks that are neither man or woman but once-women. We are the targets of misogyny, not collateral damage. Transphobes who are aware we are trans men and comprehend that do not respect us and will be both misogynistic and transphobic. This is because they mistake us for women, but because they know we are trans men.
I see some people treating the concept of men (as well as masculine people) being pregnant as a joke or even treating it as a disgusting or unsightly thing, and I have to wonder:
Do these people know that there are real men and masc people who are pregnant, and who hear what they say?
Because the idea that we should be repulsed by the pregnancies of men and masc people are going to end up hurting people. This repulsion and disgust already manifests as excluding trans people from care (e.g., a trans person being barred from the gynecological care they need). It’s come to the point where I don’t really think people care all that much if there are people who will be hurt by these ideas, because their repulsion and their amusement is too important to remember that actual people will hear these sentiments.
If you’re reading this, I need you to remember that pregnant trans people deserve healthcare that includes them and is good. These people are not jokes. They are real people, with real feelings, with real needs. Your comfort doesn’t matter more than their literal lives. And if you’re a pregnant trans person reading this: you are precious. You deserve great healthcare. You deserve to be respected for who you are. You are not the butt of any joke. I love you, and I believe you’ll make for a beautiful parent.
heartbreaking to read a comment from a young man, probably a teen, on one of my videos, talking about how he, as a cis male, feels discouraged when he hears trans men talking about how T affects them.
We like to think that our discussions about HRT and gender roles stay within the community, or that it doesn’t affect cis people in any way – after all, how can it? They inherently have power over us by being cis! – but this is proof towards the opposite.
This kid has seen discussions of HRT from trans men and has internalized the same fear and anxieties that many young trans guys have pre-T. Because of how T is discussed and fearmongered.
And why is T so stigmatized? Because of radfem ideology that permeates every corner of this fucking community. When I see a kid upset because a trans girl said in a general channel “sorry but I’m right. T is poison,” or people mock trans men and trans masc enbies or talk about how they just were so aggressive on T and now they’re all uwu soft.
No, I’m sorry. It wasn’t just the T that was making you that way. Stop harming children and scaring them because your hormones weren’t right and you let yourself be out of control. It’s disgusting.
A cis kid came to my youtube channel and posted how “nature will prevail” because of what we say about testosterone.
I’m upset.
The Myth of Testosterone Rex
Cordelia Fine has written a great book discussing the myths of testosterone. It is not a transgender book, but it puts the role of T in biology and culture into a broader perspective.
Let us not forget the transgender people we lost this year.
Many of them were lost to violence, much of it transphobic. Black transgender people are especially exposed. Below find some tributes presented by TransLash Media.
Briana Hamilton, 25-year-old Black transgender woman, Chicago. Remembered by family and friends as an “amazing daughter loved by many”, died via shooting.
Jessi Hart, 42-year-old White transgender woman, Banks. Remembered as a loving mother, cause of death unknown.
Kiér Laprí Kartier, 21-year-old Black transgender woman, Arlington. Remembered by family and friends as an accomplished makeup artist, died via shooting.
Mel Roberts Groves, 25-year-old Black transgender man, Jackson. Remembered with love and care as appreciative of life, died via shooting.
Royal Poetical Starz, a 26-year-old Black transgender woman, Miami Gardens. Remembered by family and friends as the “life of the party”, died via shooting.
Shai Vanderpump, 23-year-old Black transgender woman, Trenton. Remembered with love and care as a “fierce LGBTQ advocate”, died via shooting.
Haven A. Bailey, a 21-year-old White transgender man, died in Chicago, Illinois, on May 24th, 2021, shot by a police officer.
Last year Amanda Mancino-Williams’ 13-year-old kid left her a hand-drawn comic book to let her know that he is now her, “sun.”
Text on illustrations:
Dear Mum,
I have created an extremely cringe crange little book to tell you something. I was originally expected to be an artist who speicalised in pointillism, but I have discovered that being a ball of gass suits me better.
This is a daughter. (dot-er) [picture of girl making a pointillist drawing]. This is a son. (sun) [Drawing of boy’s face with sun rays].
The difference between me and the sun:
me. 99% oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. [Stick drawing of boy] <- is a boy, does have a gender.
Sun. 89% helium [drawing of sun] <- not a boy, the sun does not have a gender
Things the sun and I have in common: Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and being your son (sun).
Conclusion: (1) I am a trans boy. (2) I am very cringy [Drawing of smiling sun]
I cannot even express the joy I get from trans men and trans masc people. I’m AMAB, I grew up assuming I’d always have to live with the connotations of masculinity, and all my life I felt trapped. I felt like I was forced to live with a condition I didn’t want, and I felt guilty about it, guilty that I’d always bring this awful masculinity with me wherever I go.
And then I see trans mascs, people who look at masculinity and see something they like. Knowing that some people can look at masculinity and see something good, that they can look at masculinity and think “yes, this is right for me,” it gets to me. I cannot even find the words to express the the joy, the gratitude, the relief I feel knowing that there’s something good in there, something people can see in themselves and love.
So shout out to all the trans men out there. I love you.
