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“The fire is still there -- we just need a reason why,” she said.
I first met Trish “Devi8” through roller derby, where she volunteers as a medical staff member to keep us safe during all the collisions and chaos of the sport. A 40-something Minnesota native and a nurse at a local children’s hospital, she is the most cynical optimist I’ve ever met, with a dark humor and a bright, genuine laugh.
When not working long night shifts, Devi, as she’s affectionately known in the roller derby community, volunteers at the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition shot clinic and speaks about queer issues anywhere and everywhere she can.
Most recently, Devi was an instrumental part of a movement to change the name of our Minneapolis derby league, North Star, from “Roller Girls” to “Roller Derby,” as a major step toward welcoming non-binary, trans and queer skaters to the sport, and validating those already participating.
“Derby is a very alternative, grassroots and progressive community,” Devi said. “I have been involved in North Star for five years, and we’re a bunch of misfits. I mean that in the best way possible.”
In spite of her tireless work ethic and strong voice, she doesn’t claim the term leader, at least not for herself.
“I think of it as advocacy -- I choose to use my voice for good because there are some people that can’t, because it’s not safe for them to do so. It’s an opportunity and a privilege,” Devi said. “After being out for 23 years, it would honestly kill me to not use my voice. It’s ingrained in me, it’s so much of who I am.”
“I have always known I’m queer, not like anyone else, and that has never bothered me,” Devi said.
With a high school graduating class of just 48 people in the tiny town of Warren, Minnesota, “it was intimidating being a queer kid.”
She didn’t come out formally, however, until college. At age 18, while studying to be a paramedic, Devi was outed by someone else.
“Instead of being angry, I embraced it. I ended up meeting some very good friends that way,” she said.
Devi hasn’t missed a Pride celebration in the Twin Cities since, and often takes the stage as her flamboyant and sassy persona, Miss Trish, to MC the festivities.
On or off the stage, Devi said being queer is just a part of her, and she’s not afraid to show it.
“I am pretty much in your fucking face, and I have been spit on, hit, had things thrown at me, been called ‘demon spawn’,” Devi said. “I just take that ill will and turn it around.”
As a nurse, and as former EMT, Devi has seen difficult, awful things, sometimes experiencing first-hand the effects of transphobia and homophobia.
“I am a nurse first. Most of the time when trans kids are in the hospital, it’s because they’ve attempted suicide. The worst thing you can do is misgender them,” Devi said.“So much of nursing is social justice. I wanted to change healthcare from the inside out.”
Outside the hospital, she aims to make sure no one ends up there in the first place.
Like a modern day Joan of Arc, Devi’s resilience and courage makes her seem born to take on the pain, physical and emotional, of others, and to stand up to protect those that need protecting.
“I do not think I’m wired the same way as everyone else. I just try to find the lesson in everything, do what I can to help, and accept what I cannot,” she said. “I do not identify as a Christian, but I do believe in goodness and in karma. I try to be very present for the people I care about.”
After more than two decades of being loud, proud and queer, Devi said she hopes the next generation of young, ambitious and determined queer advocates won’t forget their history.
“When I first came out, we did not have rights. You could lose your job, your housing, for being queer. It was not safe. I feel like queer youth do not understand where they come from, the people that did boots on the ground work for things we take for granted today.”
She added, though, that there’s still plenty of hope for the future, just as long as we remember where we come from.
(Photo credit where due: the first and last are mine - the second and third are Devi’s. The fourth picture is from Twin Cities Pride, by Rebecca Jean Lawrence Photography: and the fifth photo credit goes to Timothy Knox, one of our wonderful volunteer photographers)
