On Trans Day of Visibility

On this Transgender Day of Visibility, I am praying for more visibility for the infinite manifestations of gender.

I am bone-deep tired of encountering non-binary people who feel “not trans enough” to call themselves trans, or who are weighed down by the mainstream mythology that being trans means you have to be binary-identified, or you have to medically transition (or want to), or you have to have dysphoria, or you have to be gender nonconforming.

I am tired of the worn-out falsehood that trans women aren’t women and trans men aren’t men, a falsehood that particularly stings when it comes from lesbian, gay, and bi folks.

I am tired of non-binary people who lack understanding of binary trans people, binary trans people who lack understanding of non-binary trans people, young or newly-out binary and non-binary trans people who lack understanding of older binary and non-binary trans people, white trans people who lack understanding of trans folk of color, academic trans people who lack understanding of trans folk who are on the streets or locked up, U.S. trans folk who lack understanding of trans folk elsewhere in the world — and who hold judgments and assumptions based on this lack of understanding. Our enemy is not each other. In the words of Rev. T Soto, all of us need all of us to survive.

I see you. You who don’t feel “trans enough” to call yourself trans. You who owned your truth in 1942 in the only ways you had access to. You who don’t know who you are but know who you aren’t. You who are 3 years old and know exactly who you are. You who just want to blend. You who can’t stand the thought of blending. You who never get perceived as who you perceive yourself to be. You who always do. You who have to compromise pieces of yourself in order to survive. You for whom life is transition. You who are visible (for so many different reasons) and you who are not (for so many different reasons). I see you. You are holy, and whole, and real.