In a grisly attack that has appalled Kenya, a non-binary lesbian reportedly was raped and murdered by six men in their home.
Sheila Lumumba, a 25-year-old hospitality worker, was found dead in their home in Karatina, a town in Nyeri County, earlier this week, LGBT+ groups and activists and BBC Africa reported.
K24TV said that it is understood that the gang also broke Lumumba’s leg during the incident, according to an autopsy report.
They were discovered four days after the attack by colleagues from FK Resort and Spa. Karatina police have not yet determined a motive behind the killing.
Their alleged killing has touched off intense outrage and despair online among national rights groups.x
Under the hashtag #JusticeForSheila, activists expressed a disturbing sense of familiarity over Lumumba’s death. To campaigners, Lumumba has become the latest example in a long legacy of violence against LGBT+ people in Kenya, where same-sex activity is illegal.
LGBT+ people in Kenya face fierce and relentless discrimination, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported, from arbitrary arrests to mob justice.
“It bears mentioning that unfortunately these are not isolated incidences [sic] and are part of a pattern of attacks and violence against LGBTIQ+ persons in the country,” Kenya’s National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission tweeted.
“No one deserves such cruel treatment. Sheila didn’t have to experience all this pain,” Amnesty Kenya tweeted.
More than 86,520 Kenyan shillings (£580) have been raised to cover Lumumba’s funeral costs on M-Changa, Africa’s largest online fundraising platform.
“Sheila and I are both 25 and lesbians. I can’t rest because I am one statistic away from being this,” tweeted Afrika, director of the queer-led women’s group the Kisumu Feminists’ Society.
“I can’t rest because I know my silence will mean Sheila’s death goes unpunished. I can’t rest because Sheila and I experience violence both as ‘female-presenting bodies’ and lesbians.
GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, and Sony Music announced a partnership in March to amplify LGBTQ voices and representation in the music industry.
According to Variety, the partnership includes several initiatives to advance advocacy and inclusion at Sony and within the broader industry. The initiatives include the following:
GLAAD Media Institute will implement consultation and education for Sony Music Group, including LGBTQ-focused education sessions for Sony employees and leadership in an effort to help build greater awareness and competency around LGBTQ issues and people.
GLAAD will consult Sony on its campaigns and programs that seek to highlight contemporary LGBTQ people and/or issues.
Sony will be an official sponsor for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on April 2, and New York City on May 6.
Sony’s artists and songwriters nominated for the Outstand Music Artist award include: Brockhampton, Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine (RCA Records/Question Everything), Kaytranada, Intimated (RCA Records), Lil Nas X, Montero (Columbia Records, Sony Music Publishing) and Arlo Parks, Collapsed in Sunbeams (Sony Music Publishing).
GLAAD and Sony will launch “Icons,” a three-part interview series that will bring together LGBTQ musicians, songwriters and producers across generations for discussion about LGBTQ inclusion in music, history of and the future of the industry.
“Over the past several years, many LGBTQ artists have made major strides within the music industry, but there is still significant room to improve LGBTQ inclusion, representation, and awareness at all levels,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO. “Sony Music Group continues to be an incredible leader for diversity, equity, and inclusion in music, and we’re grateful to partner with them to both amplify diverse LGBTQ voices and establish greater pathways to grow LGBTQ inclusion within the industry at large.”
Charlie Sprinkman traveled to 42 of the 50 states for work as a representative of an organic beverage company in 2019 and kept Googling “queer hangouts here” when he would arrive in a new town. But he would often come up empty.
“I couldn’t find a resource for it,” Sprinkman, 25, said of a centralized directory of LGBTQ-owned businesses.
Charlie Sprinkman, creator of Everywhere Is Queer.Katie Hope / The Wild Within Us
Then, in the summer of 2021, he was a counselor at a queer leadership camp for 12- to 18-year-olds outside Los Angeles, and he said being surrounded by 100 LGBTQ people for 11 days was “euphoric.”
“I was like, ‘How do I create this space?’ Maybe not as grand as a camp, but like a space where people can feel this energy and not be judged for who they are,” said Sprinkman, who currently lives in Bend, Oregon, and works in customer service.
On the long drive back from the camp to his then-home in Colorado, Sprinkman said the phrase “Everywhere is queer” came to his mind. A few months later, in January of this year, it became the name of his LLC.
Everywhere Is Queer consists of both a website that houses a worldwide map of LGBTQ-owned businesses and an Instagram page that shines a spotlight on some of these companies. Three months after the launch, the map has more than 500 businesses listed, and the Instagram page has nearly 5,000 followers.
The Everywhere Is Queer map.Everywhere Is Queer / Google maps
Sprinkman said the project is personal for him, not just as a queer traveler but as someone who didn’t know of any LGBTQ-friendly spaces in his small suburban hometown about 30 miles west of Milwaukee.
“I didn’t have any out cousins, aunts, uncles, anyone as like an influence, so I didn’t really have a space as a child to find queer spaces around my hometown,” he said. “As I was building Everywhere Is Queer, I was thinking about youth, my hometown, trying to find and build spaces for them to just, even if they’re not out, just sit in a queer-owned coffee shop and just see queer people. You know, that subconscious layer of just like seeing queer people is what I hope Everywhere Is Queer will provide for so many.”
Charlotte Tegen
So far, Sprinkman said most of the LGBTQ-owned businesses on the map are concentrated in the U.S., and that there are only four states that don’t have an LGBTQ-owned business listed yet. He said there are also businesses listed in Germany, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica and Mexico.
One business owner listed on the map said she has seen more queer people come into her restaurants. Mel McMillan is the owner of Sammich in Oregon, which sells sandwiches made with house-smoked meats. Both of her Sammich locations, in Portland and Ashland, are listed on the map, as is her food truck, also in Portland.
“If you Google ‘lesbian meat maker,’ you’ll get a real touch of what’s going on with me,” McMillan said. (It’s true: An article about her is the first thing that comes up in the search results for that phrase.)
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McMillan, 39, said that one of the things she loves about Everywhere Is Queer is that it’s bringing together queer people from different generations.
Last month, Sprinkman and McMillan invited about 20 people to Sammich’s Portland location.
“The first thing that I thought was so cool about this was it’s bridging the gap between older queers and younger queers,” McMillan said. “That was really cool, because there were 20-somethings and 40-somethings, and there’s not even a place really for that either.”
Sprinkman said he’s also building a job board that allows businesses that are on the map to share job opportunities.
“I also have been searching for a queer-owned business job board, and I cannot find one, so we’re building one,” he said.
In the future, he said, he hopes to build an app to house the map and travel around to visit many of the LGBTQ-owned places listed.
“I would love to hit the road and visit and really hear the authentic stories of these queer-owned businesses,” he said, adding that “uplifting” the voices of queer business owners is a dream of his.
He said he also hopes that it helps LGBTQ travelers feel safer — and some have told him that it already has. He’s received hundreds of messages from people who have thanked him for filling a void.
States across the U.S. have a variety of laws regarding whether businesses can refuse service to LGBTQ people. Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., have laws that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, such as businesses, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank. Eight states interpret their laws to protect LGBTQ people or provide partial protection. The remaining 21 states and five territories don’t provide any protection based on LGBTQ status.
From left, Mel McMillan, Charlie Sprinkman and the owners of catering company Two Spoons PDX, Laura Taki and Rachel Arenas.Charlie Sprinkman
As of this month, the map has been viewed more than 100,000 times, and Sprinkman doesn’t make any money off it.
“I’m building this just out of my own little queer heart,” he said.
He hopes that the map can ultimately just help people find the spaces that allow them to be themselves.
“I hope that a queer-owned business that was maybe unknown before can provide a space and a little bit more confidence, less judgment for anyone that’s struggling with figuring out their most authentic self,” Sprinkman said. “We’re always constantly on a journey, all of us.”
Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, announced endorsements of seventeen pro-equality candidates Friday, including eight openly LGBTQ+ candidates for local office and nine pro-equality allies running for the California Legislature and U.S. House of Representatives.
“Just 67 days out from California’s June 7 primary election, we are proud to endorse these 17 pro-equality champions, including eight openly LGBTQ+ leaders,” said Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang. “Equality California is committed to building the bench of out LGBTQ+ officials across our state and electing pro-equality allies who will fight alongside our community in Sacramento and Washington, DC. We are confident that each of these candidates will be champions in the fight for full, lived LGBTQ+ equality.”
The full list of endorsements can be found below:
U.S. House of Representatives:
Congressional District 3: Dr. Kermit Jones
California Senate:
Senate District 28: Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
California Assembly:
Assembly District 10: Eric Guerra
Assembly District 12: Sara Aminzadeh
Assembly District 27: Esmeralda Soria
Assembly District 30: Dawn Addis
Assembly District 35: Leticia Perez
Assembly District 39: Andrea Rosenthal
Assembly District 69: Josh Lowenthal
Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder:
Devin Murphy
San Diego City Council:
District 2: Dr. Jen Campbell
Pasadena City Council:
District 7: Jason Lyon
Sacramento City Council:
District 1: Nate Pelczar
San Jose City Council:
District 3: Omar Torres
Monterey Park City Council:
District 1: Thomas Wong
Monrovia City Council:
Sashary Zaroyan
Pasadena Community College Board of Trustees:
District 7: Alton Wang
Bold names indicate openly LGBTQ+ candidates.
For a complete list of Equality California’s 2022 endorsements, visit eqca.org/elections.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org
The majority of US voters oppose using the slur “groomer” to describe LGBT-inclusive teachers and parents, a new poll has revealed.
The Data for Progress poll surveyed 1,155 likely voters and asked them about the spread of anti-LGBT+ legislation across the US.
While the dangerous and ignorant conflation of homosexuality and LGBT+ identities with paedophilia goes back decades, there has been a recent surge in Republicans and religious conservatives using “grooming” language to describe LGBT-inclusive education, or just queer folk in general.
The Data for Progress poll noted: “Some groups have been describing teachers and parents who oppose banning discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in schools as ‘groomers’ – a term used to describe someone who gets close to and builds trust with a child or young person with the intent of sexually abusing them.”
Respondents were asked whether they agreed that “teachers and parents that support discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in school” were “groomers”, and a majority of 55 per cent said they did not.
However, there was a stark political divide.
While just 15 per cent of likely Democrat voters supported anti-LGBT+ “groomer” language, this figure jumped to 45 per cent for likely Republican voters.
The poll also revealed some serious cognitive dissonance among likely Republican voters.
Asked whether the US government should “have a say in personal matters like a person’s sexual preference or gender identity”, the overwhelming opinion across the political spectrum was that it should not (88 per cent of Democrats and 86 per cent of Republicans).
However, when asked about the hundreds of bills across the country which aim to limit the discussion of LGBT+ topics in classrooms, as well as “limit transgender people’s ability to play sports, use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, and receive gender-affirming health care”, 63 per cent of Republicans said they supported such legislation, compared with just 15 per cent of Democrats.
The same trend appeared in a question about gender-affirming healthcare for transgender children, with 59 per cent of Republicans saying the government should deny them this care, compared to 15 per cent of Democrats.
Transgender medical treatment for children and teens is increasingly under attack in many states, labeled child abuse and subject to criminalizing bans. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.
Many clinics use treatment plans pioneered in Amsterdam 30 years ago, according to a recent review in the British Psych Bulletin. Since 2005, the number of youth referred to gender clinics has increased as much as tenfold in the U.S., U.K, Canada and Finland, the review said.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, a professional and educational organization, and the Endocrine Society, which represents specialists who treat hormone conditions, both have guidelines for such treatment. Here’s a look at what’s typically involved.
Puberty Blockers
Children who persistently question the sex they were designated at birth are often referred to specialty clinics providing gender-confirming care. Such care typically begins with a psychological evaluation to determine whether the children have “gender dysphoria,″ or distress caused when gender identity doesn’t match a person’s assigned sex.
Children who meet clinical guidelines are first offered medication that temporarily blocks puberty. This treatment is designed for youngsters diagnosed with gender dysphoria who have been counseled with their families and are mature enough to understand what the regimen entails.
The medication isn’t started until youngsters show early signs of puberty — enlargement of breasts or testicles. This typically occurs around age 8 to 13 for girls and a year or two later for boys.
The drugs, known as GnRH agonists, block the brain from releasing key hormones involved in sexual maturation. They have been used for decades to treat precocious puberty, an uncommon medical condition that causes puberty to begin abnormally early.
The drugs can be given as injections every few months or as arm implants lasting up to year or two. Their effects are reversible — puberty and sexual development resume as soon as the drugs are stopped.
Some kids stay on them for several years. One possible side effect: They may cause a decrease in bone density that reverses when the drugs are stopped.
Hormones
After puberty blockers, kids can either go through puberty while still identifying as the opposite sex or begin treatment to make their bodies more closely match their gender identity.
For those choosing the second option, guidelines say the next step is taking manufactured versions of estrogen or testosterone — hormones that prompt sexual development in puberty. Estrogen comes in skin patches and pills. Testosterone treatment usually involves weekly injections.
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Guidelines recommend starting these when kids are mature enough to make informed medical decisions. That is typically around age 16, and parents’ consent is typically required, said Dr. Gina Sequiera, co-director of Seattle Children’s Hospital’s Gender Clinic.
Many transgender patients take the hormones for life, though some changes persist if medication is stopped.
In girls transitioning to boys, testosterone generally leads to permanent voice-lowering, facial hair and protrusion of the Adam’s apple, said Dr. Stephanie Roberts, a specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital’s Gender Management Service. For boys transitioning to girls, estrogen-induced breast development is typically permanent, Roberts said.
Research on long-term hormone use in transgender adults has found potential health risks including blood clots and cholesterol changes.
Surgery
Gender-altering surgery in teens is less common than hormone treatment, but many centers hesitate to give exact numbers.
Guidelines say such surgery generally should be reserved for those aged 18 and older. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health says breast removal surgery is OK for those under 18 who have been on testosterone for at least a year. The Endocrine Society says there isn’t enough evidence to recommend a specific age limit for that operation.
Outcomes
Studies have found some children and teens resort to self-mutilation to try to change their anatomy. And research has shown that transgender youth and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal behavior when forced to live as the sex they were assigned at birth.
Opponents of youth transgender medical treatment say there’s no solid proof of purported benefits and cite widely discredited research claiming that most untreated kids outgrow their transgender identities by their teen years or later. One study often mentioned by opponents included many kids who were mistakenly identified as having gender dysphoria and lacked outcome data for many others.
Doctors say accurately diagnosed kids whose transgender identity persists into puberty typically don’t outgrow it. And guidelines say treatment shouldn’t start before puberty begins.
Many studies show the treatment can improve kids’ well-being, including reducing depression and suicidal behavior. The most robust kind of study — a trial in which some distressed kids would be given treatment and others not — cannot be done ethically. Longer term studies on treatment outcomes are underway.
Thursday, May 5th, 2022 @ 7PM, Friends, Sonomans, and the culturally curious! Occidental Center for the Arts’ Literary Series is thrilled to present An Evening with Andrei Codrescu, star of page, screen, and NPR who will talk, read, and generally hold forth. Tickets $25 GA/ $20 for OCA Members. Ticketholders will receive a poem by Andrei Codrescu in a limited handset letterpress broadside edition of 100, designed and printed by Pat Nolan and Eric Johnson at North Bay Letterpress Arts Limited tickets available – get yours today! Refreshments for sale. OCA: 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental, CA. OCA’s facilities are accessible to people with disabilities. For more info: occidentalcenterforthearts.org or 707-874-9392. Thank you for your continuing support of OCA by posting our listings.
May 6, 7, 8,14, 15. Occidental Community Choir Spring Concerts 2022. Born around a bonfire in Occidental in the winter of 1978, OCC is thrilled to emerge from the recent darkness to present an exciting Spring 2020 concert series titled Common Ground . Under the inspired direction of Gage Purdy, we offer a unique blend of original compositions and contemporary and classical songs from outside composers, plus some poetry and theatrics, to highlight themes that unite us all. They include caring for an aging parent, social and political injustice, environmental warriors, personal responsibility, airport security announcements, the diaspora of refugees… even raccoons! And you won’t want to miss our rendition of Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’ as an English madrigal! All concerts will be held at Occidental Center for the Arts, following current Sonoma County public health guidelines for masking and capacity. Friday, May 6 @ 7pm – Community First Night $10,Saturday, May 7 @ 7 pm, Sunday May 8 @ 3 pm, Saturday, May 14 @ 7 pm, Sunday May 15 @ 3 pm . Tickets are $25 . Kids 12 and under FREE. Available @ OccidentalChoir.org/tickets after March 21. Get your tickets early! Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465. Accessible to persons with disabilities.
Looking for fun, free things to do over Spring Break? We’ve got you covered, with everything from video games to Regional Parks Discovery Packs—all free, all the time. There’s something for everyone at the Sonoma County Library, and springtime is a great time to try new things or reconnect to what you love. Visit a branch near you and get inspired, or check out our roundup of free online events and library resources below to get started right now!
Free Online Resources Learn a new language. Choose from over 70 languages like Spanish, Japanese, or Italian with Mango Languages! This cutting edge language-learning tool is free for all library card-holders and can be accessed anywhere with an Internet connection.Explore new ideas. The Great Courses Library Collection includes 250+ video courses led by the world’s top experts, covering a broad range of subjects, from science, mathematics, philosophy, and history, to literature, fine arts, music, and travel! Become a film buff. Stream and enjoy more than 30,000 of the world’s best films with Kanopy! This streaming service includes award-winning documentaries, rare and hard-to-find titles, film festival favorites, and world cinema, available to view for free!
Discover new stories. MakeMake is a digital library with 200 Spanish language eBooks for children and resources for parents and educators to help develop Spanish language literacy in children from birth through elementary school.Want more? Check out all of the library’s eResources here.
Events for the Whole FamilyAges 5-11. Join us for our new book club, Reading Justice: A Family Book Club, on Friday, March 25, at 4:30 pm! Reading Justice is a program designed to give families an opportunity to talk about potentially challenging topics. Each month features a new book topic and access to a video of children’s librarian Ms. Adriel reading a book and discussing it. Tweens & Teens. Get your code on with SoCo CoderDojo! Young people ages 12-17 are invited to join us on Tuesday, March 22, at 6:00 pm to learn how to code or brush up on your coding skills! Classes take place every Tuesday.Teens. Start your Spring Break off right with a yoga class! Join other teens and yoga teacher Ozlem on Monday, March 21, at 4:30 pm for mindful movement and beginner-friendly breathwork.Looking for more? Explore the full calendar here! Spring Into Your LibraryThank you for being a member of the Sonoma County Library community. Visit us online or in person at one of our branches. Be sure to check out open jobs at Sonoma County Library here.
Pruebe algo nuevo esta primavera ¿Busca cosas divertidas y gratuitas para hacer durante las vacaciones de primavera? Te tenemos cubierto, con todo, desde videojuegoshasta Paquetes de descubrimiento de Parques Regionales, todo gratis, todo el tiempo. Hay algo para todos en la Biblioteca del Condado de Sonoma, y la primavera es un buen momento para probar cosas nuevas o volver a conectarse con lo que amas. ¡Visite una biblioteca cerca de usted e inspírese, o consulte nuestro eventos en línea gratuitos y recursos de la biblioteca a continuación para comenzar ahora mismo!
Recursos en línea gratuitosAprender un nuevo idioma. Elija entre más de 70 idiomas como inglés, japonés o italiano con Mango Languages. Esta herramienta de aprendizaje de idiomas es gratuita para todos los titulares de tarjetas de la biblioteca y se puede acceder a ella desde cualquier lugar con una conexión a Internet.
Explora nuevas ideas. La Colección de la Biblioteca de Grandes Cursos(Great Courses Library Collection)incluye 250 cursos de video dirigidos por los mejores expertos del mundo, que abarcan una amplia gama de materias, desde ciencias, matemáticas, filosofía e historia, ¡a la literatura, a las bellas artes, a la música y a los viajes! Conviértete en un aficionado a la película. Transmite y disfruta de más de 30.000 de las mejores películas del mundo con Kanopy! Este servicio de streaming incluye documentales galardonados, títulos raros y difíciles de encontrar, los favoritos de los festivales de cine y el cine mundial, disponibles para su visualización gratuita.
Descubra nuevos cuentos. MakeMakees una biblioteca digital con 200 libros electrónicos en español para niños y recursos para padres y educadores para ayudar a desarrollar la alfabetización en español en niños desde el nacimiento hasta la escuela primaria.¿Quieres más? Revisa todos los eRecursos de la biblioteca aquí.Eventos para toda la familiaDe 5 a 11 años. ¡Únase a nosotros para nuestro nuevo club de lectura, Reading Justice: A Family Book Club,
Now is the time for the larger progressive movement to connect the struggles for LGBTQ and reproductive rights more deeply, especially for those who are transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary.
Trans people get pregnant. Trans people need abortions. Trans people deserve access to culturally competent medical care. Trans people must have the freedom to live, something that is currently under unprecedented direct attack through hundreds of pieces of legislation across the country. Despite all of this, trans people have been marginalized in the mainstream fight over body autonomy. That must end. The reasons why are right in front of us.
Take Idaho as a recent and obvious example. Headlines there within two days of each other make the point: “Idaho House passes Texas-style abortion ban” and “An Idaho bill would criminalize medical treatments for trans youths. It echoes abortion bans.” These links are undeniable.
As is often the case, the forces opposed to body autonomy for cisgender women also oppose it for trans people. It is clear that this is one fight, but for decades, there has been an over-emphasis on cisgender women in the reproductive rights movement and transgender people have been left out and left behind. Restricting a women’s right to choose, curtailing sexual freedom, homophobia and transphobia are all inextricably linked with common roots.
The right wing mainstays of the anti-abortion movement, including The Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Liberty Council are at the forefront of the anti-trans movement, especially the ability for trans people–including children–to have equal access to health care.
TransLash’s investigative series last year, the Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot Against Equality discussed how these very organizations, many of whom have been designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, are targeting the trans community as the next wave in the war over who gets to control our bodies.https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gh3rPqhWLXo?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
For these organizations, the fight against abortion and the fight against trans rights are increasingly one and the same. And as was detailed in a recent Time Magazine piece, anti-trans forces are borrowing tactics from the anti-abortion movement in targeting doctors who provide gender-affirming healthcare.
By missing these obvious connections and denying a broader civil and human rights frame, the mainstream reproductive rights movement is playing into the hands of the right wing.
At the December 1, 2021 protests outside the Supreme Court hearing on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Task Force witnessed hundreds of protesters but the ones hoping to see Roe v. Wade overturned were not just holding anti-choice signs, but also anti-LGBTQ placards. They clearly get the connection.
Each of us who wishes to decide what we do with our body is in the crosshairs. As individuals, we know that our humanity is larger than the physical forms we are born into. A coalition of people with this understanding, in addition to a deep commitment to racial, disability and economic justice, would create a powerful force for human rights grounded in body autonomy. And that force is needed now to preserve and extend hard fought gains made over the past fifty years.https://www.youtube.com/embed/2oDMaQ0Wwqg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
But there is a solution. Visibility. Conversation. Education. Advocacy. The need for us to end this erasure is why Translash created the “Trans Bodies, Trans Choices” short-film series. Putting transgender people and their stories at the center of the discussion is essential if we are going to create the understanding necessary to bring people together both cis and trans. This is about transgender people rather than “transgender issues”.
“Trans Bodies Trans Choices” tells powerful stories of trans people whose lives were changed forever because they had access not only to abortion but also reproductive services and trans-affirming medical care. These are stories that tens of millions of people can relate to, and they bind us all together in a common cause.
Telling our truths and leveraging our collective power is how we will create the change required for us all to live whole and with dignity. Storytelling is the first step in creating a common bond but there are so many other steps that must follow.
The only way we will make progress is if we are in it together.
Imara Jones is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist, intersectional-news producer, and creator of TransLash. Kierra Johnson is the Executive Director of the National LGBGTQ Task Force.
