Every day, I meet new faces from the trans community. They come for name changes. Job issues. Housing. And sometimes, just to talk. I'm a public trans person, successful and accepted. Like I did starting out, we seek examples of lives that show us possibility of who we can be. 2/
Because what every trans person knows, setting out on this journey, is that there is a headwind. Knowing whether that is a steady breeze or hurricane, requires taking that first step. It's scary to not know what the world thinks of you. It can be scarier to find out. 3/
If you had your eyes open this week, and you happen to be trans, you might think the world's esteem of us has become a little bit clearer: JK Rowling and her academic reasoning for the goodness of transphobia. The Trump administration killed heath protections. This week hurt. 4/
It's been hard as an attorney advocate not to notice a fading of hope from the eyes of my trans clients recently. Two weeks ago was the six year anniversary of @Lavernecox on the cover of Time. What a moment. Yet it still seems like the world has no better understanding of us. 5/
Transphobia. It means they are afraid of us. It means they have no other context for our existence except their fear. We're taking something from them. We're intruding. We've trespassed into the security of understanding the world as they see it. 6/
But I think we're still working on that tipping point. What I see every day in my legal practice is the thing that gives me hope. And I'm convinced it's the cure to transphobia. My practice takes me all over the state. Alabama is...Alabama. 7/
So many times I've found myself in front of a judge or a district attorney, politician, or some official - the people who make policy - likely as the first trans person they've ever encountered. There is no revelation in their politics, but there is a shift. I'm seen as human. 8/
That's not nothing. Showing the world our humanity is part of the equation. I'm not naive. I have clients, especially those that are POC, who are at greater risk in being open. Change won't be a seismic shift. But the more the world sees us, the more bigotry against us erodes. 9/
In my practice, I've met hundreds of trans people from all walks and backgrounds. Despite Trump, despite a world that does not want to take the time to find some empathy or understanding of us, one thing has become profoundly clear: 10/
The trans community isn't going anywhere. In my practice alone, our intakes have grown exponentially. My quarterly trans name change clinics usually have 20 or so attendees. Our sister company, a full-service medical clinic that specializes in trans health has a waiting list. 11/
Despite everything, we're still stepping into our truth. Into the world. Becoming. Our lives won't be dictated by the opinions of the fearful or the tyrannical. We are a force of existence and nothing can stop what is from being. More than ever before, I am hopeful. 12/fin
