I Didn’t Know How to Be Poor, Black, Biracial, AND Queer; So I Wasn’t

“I wasn’t in denial, I had just become extremely successful at compartmentalizing difficult emotions that I had no idea what to do with.”

Gender

Skye Mockabee Is At Least the Third Black Trans Woman Murdered In July, 17th Trans Person This Year

“Not even a week after I reported that Dee Whigham became at least the 16th trans person murdered in the United States this year alone, I’m devastated to have to report the murder of another much-too-young Black trans woman, Skye Mockabee of Cleveland, Ohio.”

Gender

Dee Whigham, Black Trans Woman, Becomes At Least The 16th Trans Person Murdered in 2016

At this point last year, we knew about fifteen trans women who had been murdered, which means that despite all the “progress” that trans people have been making in the media, in courthouses and in the halls of congress, trans people are being murdered at the same rate.

First Person Gender

What We Mean When We Say “Femme”: A Roundtable

We now live in a world where it is totally possible to claim the same word as someone else and completely disagree on what the word means.

Gender

OUR Restroom Dreams of Gender-Neutral Single-Stall Bathrooms

Kristin, co-founder of Everyone is Gay, and musician Allison Weiss have teamed up to bring you OUR Restroom, a campaign that works to educate businesses on the importance of unisex bathrooms.

Gender Music

Girl, It’s Your Time: Trans Artist Vivek Shraya On Finding Freedom and Wholeness

“Gender self-determination is vital and I can feel great about who I am when I am at home. But I live a life where I engage with other people and doing what feels good for me is a lot more challenging when I step outside the door. With pronouns specifically, it’s hard not to feel like you are dependent on others to ‘validate’ your gender, or rather, it’s hard not to feel like your gender is not valid when people use the wrong pronoun.”

Gender

Mercedes Successful, Black Trans Woman, Becomes 11th Trans Person Murdered This Year In US

As far too often happens, she was misgendered in death, with news reports using her birth name and incorrect pronouns, even when reporting that she was a transgender woman. Misgendering trans women like this continues and supports the violence that so many of us face.

Gender

Stigma and Sisterhood: Life for Trans Women Since 1994’s “I Don’t Wanna Be a Boy”

“It took watching I Don’t Wanna Be A Boy to show me that the negative attitudes towards trans women have always been pervasive in society, that from 1994 to 2016 there hasn’t been much change in how society views us. But it also taught me that we share a sisterhood of sorts. No matter what time and what place, trans women of color are connected by our similar experiences.”

Gender

Keyonna Blakeney, Just 22, Becomes the Latest Black Trans Woman Murdered in the US

Blakeney becomes the 9th trans person reported murdered this year, meaning that if this pace keeps up, 2016 will break the horrible record that last year set of most trans murders reported in the United States in one year.

Gender

Shante Thompson Becomes 8th Trans Person Murdered in US So Far This Year

Shante Thompson, a Houston native and Black trans woman, was shot along with a man named Willie Sims late last night and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gender

A Day of Visibility: Jen Richards Gets Deep and Personal About North Carolina

“I fire off a series of tweets to Governor Pat McCrory, as well as the North Carolina Values Coalition and some public supporters of the bill. The few replies I get make it clear that my arguments have zero impact. This issue will consume my consciousness for the following few days.”

First Person Gender

Skydiving in Two Genders: An Essay on Trans Visibility

“I decide I’ll test the durability of a BB cream by Tarte at thousands of feet in the air, then feel ashamed at worrying so much about how I look, then feel the dread again, that all this might go completely wrong, not because I’ll fall to my death, but because I’ll be reduced to my past.”

Gender Politics + Activism

Rebel Girls: Three Dismal Truths We Hold to Be Self-Evident About Women Political Leaders

Here are three completely undeniable and incredibly depressing facts about women, executive political power, and glass ceilings — and cliffs! — around the world.

Gender

A Day of Visibility: Mey Rude Feels Lucky to Call Trans Women Her Community

“I feel like every single trans woman of color I know is gorgeous and beautiful and so knowing that I’m one of them, that I’m a part of that community makes me feel infinitely more beautiful than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

First Person Gender

On Performing in The Vagina Monologues When You Don’t Have a Vagina

“There’s an annoying song that’s only playing all the way through all day long on some days. Others, I can barely hear the chorus, and others I can’t hear it all. But every day, I know that that song will be there again one day, maybe even tomorrow, maybe even later that same day. And I hate this song.”

Gender

A Day of Visibility: Luna Merbruja Loves Her Self Love

“My self love is my favorite thing about myself right now. Seeing my sometimes dry, sometimes crusty-eyed face first thing in the morning and automatically thinking, “Damn, you’re beautiful” is a joy I never thought I would experience.”

Gender

A Day of Visibility: Devan Diaz Is a Little Less Unsure

“I’ve been waking up just as the sun rises lately, and it allows me to feel like I have a life outside of my daily commitments. This is when I can check in with myself.”