Transgender

Tesseract at Portland Winter Lights Festival ©Skyler Lemay 2024 To become is to be part of a process by which the stable identities—the majorities—are dissolved in creative acts in which more fluid ‘identities’ are created, but only as the by-products of the process itself. ~ Todd May Milestones are an interesting concept, but I remain captivated by the impact of reflecting on the growth that has happened over the years. 3 years ago from today, I started HRT. I had finally started working through the chest of gender feelings that I had tried for so long to escape from. I could no longer avoid their haunting reminders of a truth that I had long known, but had repressed for far too long. I had just come out at work, and shared my name with my team. I was about to meet them for the first time, and it felt like a better time than any to share this news. ...

A reflection on transgender resilience throughout history and the strength found in community despite systemic erasure.

How historical transgender visibility has been systematically erased and the importance of solidarity in preserving our stories.

A personal reflection on how transitioning changed my awareness of safety and the stark reality of navigating misogyny.

It took a lot of internal reflection and discussions to recognize that my improving performance was due to the fact that I was steadily, and somewhat aggressively, increasing my training load. In retrospect, this seems obvious and the clearest answer, but the claws of societal transphobia had latched on deep.