Trans Day of Visibility: An Autostraddle Community Photo Gallery

Laurel Powell / 30 / Washington, D.C. / She/Her

Digital Campaigns Manager at the National Center for Transgender Equality / Twitter / Instagram

Being trans, and a trans lesbian, has been a struggle. Truthfully, it always is. But, I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today without the experiences that I survived—and gosh, do I love being me these days.

Becklin / 27 / Seattle, WA / she/her/hers

My time in transition has taught me that I am worthy of love, most of all, from myself.
 
I posted this photo on Facebook after having a supreme time with my vibrator. The caption: “Ever part of me is a woman’s”

Jace Every / 28 / Long Beach, CA / He/Him/His

Instagram

I love my ability to find the good in all situations. I love that I represent a minority of queer trans people of color. I love paving the way for the next generation and bringing awareness to battling a mental illness as well as gender dysphoria. I’m filled with joy because I’m living my authentic life. I’m filled with joy because I was made the way I was always intended to be. The struggles, the fights, the depression everything I’ve gone through has taught me lessons that I can pass on to someone else. If I can touch and help even one trans youth I’m filled with purpose. I’m happy to be visible for those who can’t.

Amanda Ling / 28 / PHX / She+They

Love is a pretty strong word for how I felt about my bod telling everyone I was non-binary before I told myself that, but now that we’re in the same place about it, I love how confrontational I get to be without saying anything. I love to extra politely power through the confusion I cause to the reason the conversation is even happening, I love to hope it makes it easier for this stranger to skip over the awkwardness next time. I also love the sneaky pete smiles from other queers in the wild, as glad to see me as I am to see them. I loved learning that I wasn’t playing a game with a bunch of rules I didn’t know, I’m playing a game with a bunch of rules I don’t need.

Jordan / Chicago / they/them/theirs

I love that I found a way to be my most true self  and to have language (enby) that reflects that. I love being part of a community of strong, brave, incredible people. I love that I found my way to me.

Drew / 30 / Los Angeles / They/them

Instagram

I love that it took exploring my masculinity in order to be able to embrace my femininity and broaden my perception of my sexuality. I love my body more than ever, and my relationships with my chosen family have deepened as my love for myself has grown.

Ari Rivera / Puerto Rican / 26 years old / Northampton, MA / she/her

Facebook / LinkedIn / Venmo

Lu / 25yrs old / Edinburgh, Scotland / Student midwife

Instagram

As nonbinary person, there have many times when I have felt like I wasn’t trans enough. Right now I am at a point in which I have stopped thinking about gender that much, I dress how I like and I act as I feel. I know I am nonbinary and I know I am trans and that is all that matters. I feel super lucky that I am surrounded by people who love me and accept me for who I am. Luna who is the best dog in the whole world also loves me and she doesn’t seem to care at all about my gender identity.

K. R. / 23 / They/them

Youtube / Facebook / Venmo

I love being trans (and queer in general) because it’s amazing to be apart of a community and family of people who are different in the same way I am. I love that our community as a whole feels like home- I love that we’ve found a home in each other. I love being trans because no matter how alone I feel I am, I know I’m not because I have this whole other place that I belong to and that’s a part of me.

Andi / 53 / Melbourne, Australia / She, her, hers

I love being a trans athlete. I play Australian Rules football and my participation has helped me to feel included as well helping my football community learn more about the value of inclusion. Our national competition leads the way in Australia with its Gender Diversity and Inclusion Policy by recognising how much of a difference inclusion in community sport can make to the life of trans and gender diverse people. Being trans fills me with joy because I have been freed from inauthenticity.

Revan Athame / 40

Leigh Hendrix / 35 / Western PA / They/Them/Theirs

Website

I love the freedom I have to choose myself in the world. The expansiveness and pleasure to be found in being a body, moving.

Brennan Johnson / 24 / Memphis, TN / She/her

Instagram / Blogspot

Being in my old body was like being stuck in a loveless marriage with myself. Admitting that I wanted to change allowed me to learn to love myself. Learning to love myself has taught me to love everyone else more completely. I have a wardrobe that reflects my personality much better. My crowning achievement in fashion is a woman tell me “I wish I was cool enough to wear that color.”

Benny Hope / 33 / Eugene, OR / They/Them

Website / Patreon

I love how my relationship with my body has changed since figuring out I was nonbinary. I feel less pressure to look a certain way since I am not trying to fit into society’s ideas of what a man or a woman looks like.

KAI / 27 / ILLINOIS / He/Him

Venmo

When I first came out, there was so much uncertainty. I didn’t know if anyone would ever fully accept me, personally or professionally. Now, ten years later, I’m married to my partner (we’ve been together 12 years!), we live with our two equally queer friends (and eight animals), and I’m working as a teacher (my dream job). Best of all, I’m finally learning to love everything about my trans self! And I’m surrounded by people who love and support me, too!

Cee (a.k.a Dad) / 40 / Portland, OR / they/them

Instagram

I love not participating in gender like I was supposed to! It’s so freeing.

Emmett / 32 / Denver, CO / he/him/his

Twitter

I love getting to be my whole self. I love how my presence and visibility forces to people to reassess their assumptions about masculinity and gender. I used to be a teacher and I love that my former students are getting to see my living out and proud.

Sharli Love / 26 /PNW / She/they

Instagram

look in the mirror and finally see myself becoming the woman I’ve always wanted to be and I love myself a little bit more every day because of it. It brings me joy to be trans and still do the things I love, like exploring outdoor spaces, building relationships, and fostering community. I hope that by visibly existing in my trans body, I can show others what’s actually possible for folks like me. Stay beautiful, my darlings. You already are 💜

Jay / 28 / Tennessee / They/them/theirs

Instagram / Twitter / Etc

At the most basic, I love being able to confuse adults and then turn around and inform kids on gender. I look as genderless as I feel and I love it. I love being queer and being beyond the binary as fuck. I love feeling like I have something that’s so powerful that it makes people uncomfortable. Being trans is like like that line in Janelle Monae’s “Make Me Feel”: “Powerful with a little bit of tender”. Plus I really only think about my gender when shopping for pants with pockets at Old Navy.

Sydney Shackelford / 48 / NYC Metro / She/her

Instagram / Website

I love the fact that I’m totally me now, my true self. Transitioning was about me loving myself. I’m no longer hiding who I am. I am a lesbian girl in a queer world who just happens to have a trans history.

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Ari

Ari is a 20-something artist and educator. They are a mom to two cats, they love domesticity, ritual, and porch time. They have studied, loved, and learned in CT, Greensboro, NC, and ATX.

Ari has written 330 articles for us.

31 Comments

  1. Shawty! I love your choice of pronouns Al(aina) lol.

    You / we are all valid and fabulous. That goes to those of you who can’t be visible today. I see you all and I love you all.

  5. Thank you for this article so, so much. Signed, lesbian mother of a teenage trans son <3

  6. Omg this is so beautiful. Just over here weeping with joy at this celebration of trans life. Thank you for putting this together. Happy TDOV!

  19. This is amazing. Thanks for putting this together, Al, and thank all the participants for being visible.

    I see you today, tomorrow and always.

  20. Does anyone have any tips on what to do when you’ve just fallen in love with ~100 strangers in a very short amount of time?

  22. Love this, love you all!!

    Anna ~ it’s lovely to see you here and I didn’t realize we share the same eye colour!

    This is my favorite post so far this year 😄

  27. i love this so so much, thank you for putting the gallery together al(aina) and thank you to everyone who participated <3 y’all are beautiful.

  28. What an uplifting experience to see so many beautiful kind sexy babes saying Hello.

    The messages of Joy and Freedom and Love, Wow !

    Thank you to each and every one of you.

  29. I’m a few days late, but this article and all of the amazing words/pictures shared filled my heart with so much joy!

Comments are closed.