As most Kentuckians agree, Evangelical Christian backed and/or owned coffee shops pop up constantly around Louisville and the Bluegrass…especially in Louisville. These establishments cause a weary feeling within the LGBTQ+ community because of the homophobic tension in the air and lack of LGBTQ+ literature laying around. The coffee shop choices are limited and the only […]
This weekend, I had to ask a favor. A big one. I needed someone with a truck to help me move four one hundred and twenty pound restaurant booths and an undetermined number of wooden chairs and tables down from the second floor of a restaurant under construction and across town. And I needed to […]
LGBTQ folks face alarmingly high rates of harassment and discrimination in the workplace. These experiences are often traumatic; they trigger our acute stress response and desensitize us to subtler injustices. Consider exploitation: the type of injustice that all workers under capitalism experience regardless of race, ethnicity, sexuality, or gender. Exploitation is the reason many LGBTQ […]
Pre-transition, I didn’t know any actual trans people. So in the months prior to coming out, I spent hours each day combing the digital archives of FTM Subreddit, Trans YouTube, and other obscure discussion forums existing on the margins of the internet. An obsessive planner with a propensity for tunnel vision, I was simply trying […]
The following speech was written for the 2021 Trans Day of Remembrance event put on by QueerKentucky in partnership with The Blend and Trouble Bar. Featured Art: Kah Yangni Trans People Are DivineSource: https://www.saveartspace.org/tpas My queerness and my transness are important parts of my identity, because the obstacles I have faced and overcome in order […]
Never in my thirty-four years have I dreamed of marriage, children, a house with a yard, an impressive job, or a fancy car. Once or twice in long-term committed relationships, I have entertained one or two of these, for my partner’s sake. “The reason is… you don’t want kids,” said an ex during The Breakup […]
My first encounter with Parker was definitively intimate. They were responding to a call I had put out for trans protestors who had spent time in the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections. I explained to them that I was a trans man who had been arrested at a direct action a few weeks prior, and […]
The gym has always been my sanctuary. To this day, nothing alleviates stress, depression, or gender dysphoria (i.e., unease with one’s body or sex assigned at birth) than leaving the gym soaked in sweat with pumped muscles. Even pre-transition, gym clothes made me feel confident and affirmed in my gender, the way that my boy […]
For many trans folks, myself included, visibility is a hard-won privilege. For some it is a moral imperative. For others it’s a gesture of defiance. But whatever it means for each trans person on an individual level, visibility is crucial for our community. Without some of us stepping out and being loud and proud advocates, […]
My Loves. I hope I am not overstepping. I am just concerned that you might not be aware of how incredible you are. That once upon a time you truly loved yourself, but as you’ve walked through the world you’ve slowly succumbed to the belief that you are inadequate, or less-than, simply because you are […]
