THE TRANS ANGELS

- You wake up. You lay in bed with that special beautiful person by your side, and you hold them against you, skin tight. You are shirtless, flat and comfortable with your body. You couldn’t be a happier person than you are right now.

- You wake up and put a shirt on, only a shirt. You haven’t owned a binder for many years now. You no longer have to layer yourself. You feel free.

- You can now wear those clothes you really liked in the shop. You bought them; they fit and suit you perfectly. No more baggy, ugly clothes.

- You look in the mirror and see your sharp jaw line, facial hair and adam’s apple. Your eyebrows are thick and your hairline is masculine. You smile, because you finally love and feel comfortable with the way you look. You feel attractive.

- You are walking down the street and the warm breeze hits your chest from underneath your shirt. You can feel the wind, it gives you shivers.

- You can stand up straight, run, swim and hike. You are no longer in pain. You enjoy being able to use your body and exercise to its potential.

- You can sleep over at another person’s house, hug, dance and cuddle without worrying about your binder.

- You speak in front of your family, friends and peers; your voice is deep and mellow, you feel confident. You are no longer afraid to speak, nowadays people can’t shut you up!

- Your family sends you birthday cards: “Son!” / “Brother!” / “Uncle!” / “Father!” - They accept you for who you are.

- You look down and touch your chest. You no longer find your body unnatural or misplaced. It is now what it was always meant to be.

- You use the men’s toilets and locker room. You no longer feel scared or paranoid, it’s just a toilet/locker room. It’s natural.

- You look at your birth certificate, ID and passport, it has “M” next to sex.

- The elderly neighbour asks, “How are you, son?”

- The shop keeper asks, “Would you like a bag with that, sir?”

- Your peers all refer to you as “He” and “Him”

TW// ab**e mention, SW mention

Hate posting for help but I’m so desperate to leave my ab***r

I need to escape my abuser who I’ve been forced to live with out of desperation, I’ve been unable to save any of the money I’ve been making for nearly 2 years now due to him pocketing it all

The LGBTQ community has seen controversy regarding acceptance of different groups (bisexual and transgender individuals have sometimes been marginalized by the larger community), but the term LGBT has been a positive symbol of inclusion and reflects the embrace of different identities and that we’re stronger together and need each other. While there are differences, we all face many of the same challenges from broader society.

In the 1960′s, in wider society the meaning of the word gay transitioned from ‘happy’ or ‘carefree’ to predominantly mean ‘homosexual’ and was an umbrella term that meant anyone who wasn’t cisgender or heterosexual. The community embraced the word ‘gay’ as a mark of pride.

The modern fight for queer rights is considered to have begun with The Stonewall Riots in 1969 and was called the Gay Liberation Movement and the Gay Rights Movement.

The acronym GLB surfaced around this time to also include Lesbian and Bisexual people who felt “gay” wasn’t inclusive of their identities. 

Early in the gay rights movement, gay men were largely the ones running the show and there was a focus on men’s issues. Lesbians were unhappy that gay men dominated the leadership and ignored their needs and the feminist fight. As a result, lesbians tended to focus their attention on the Women’s Rights Movement which was happening at the same time. This dominance by gay men was seen as yet one more example of patriarchy and sexism. 

In the 1970′s, sexism and homophobia existed in more virulent forms and those biases against lesbians also made it hard for them to find their voices within women’s liberation movements. Betty Friedman, the founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), commented that lesbians were a “lavender menace” that threatened the political efficacy of the organization and of feminism and many women felt including lesbians was a detriment.

In the 80s and 90s, a huge portion of gay men were suffering from AIDS while the lesbian community was largely unaffected. Lesbians helped gay men with medical care and were a massive part of the activism surrounding the gay community and AIDS. This willingness to support gay men in their time of need sparked a closer, more supportive relationship between both groups, and the gay community became more receptive to feminist ideals and goals. 

Approaching the 1990′s it was clear that GLB referred to sexual identity and wasn’t inclusive of gender identity and T should be added, especially since trans activist have long been at the forefront of the community’s fight for rights and acceptance, from Stonewall onward. Some argued that T should not be added, but many gay, lesbian and bisexual people pointed out that they also transgress established gender norms and therefore the GLB acronym should include gender identities and they pushed to include T in the acronym. 

GLBT became LGBT as a way to honor the tremendous work the lesbian community did during the AIDS crisis. 

Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, movements took place to add additional letters to the acronym to recognize Intersex, Asexual, Aromantic, Agender, and others. As the acronym grew to LGBTIQ, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAA, many complained this was becoming unwieldy and started using a ‘+’ to show LGBT aren’t the only identities in the community and this became more common, whether as LGBT+ or LGBTQ+. 

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oh perfect, thank you! that's exactly how i would describe it! i would say that's exactly what happened to me- it made me more confident in myself, which helped me become more confident in discussing and exploring my attraction. thank you so much for sending this, i would say that is the effect a lot of people get after starting the correct HRT for them!

While there is no neutral pronoun in Arabic (yet), Mashrou’ Leila attempts one version of trying to neutralize the language by switching back and forth between using female and male pronouns in their song “Kalam.” We are left imagining this person as someone on the gender spectrum, someone in between, or someone very genderqueer in their presentation. The lyrics in the Arabic of my youth, mutating into the queerness of my present, gives me a spaceless, borderless home.

It’s trans, not trans*

It’s trans men and trans women, not transmen and transwomen—trans is an adjective that answers “what kind of men/women"—cis works the same way

Never call trans men FTMs or trans women MTFs without their permission

Trans is short for transgender, it’s not plural for anything—trans person and trans people are both correct

Never use “born in the wrong body” or “used to be a boy and became a girl” or “biologically/genetically male/female”—all are just fancy ways to misgender someone (self identification with these phrases is different)

Transgendered is wrong, so is “a transgender” and “transgenders”

Being trans is not a sexuality nor is it a “sexual disorder” or any kind of disorder at all—gender identity disorder is not a real thing, and being trans isn’t a medical condition

“Transsexual” is generally considered an offensive term and should never be used to describe someone without their permission

Don’t refer to a trans person’s gender as their gender identity, it’s just their gender