We The T!

We’re telling our stories.

A few months ago, I quietly started this publication as my own little trans experiment on Medium. There aren’t many places where transgender people can speak freely to the concerns that matter most to us and communicate them to a broad audience — Medium was the perfect place to make that happen. Between Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and Caitlyn Jenner, trans people have become more visible this year than ever before. Yet, it’s debatable whether this visibility has improved lives in the trans community. Already this year, at least 20 trans people have been murdered, most of whom were trans women of color. Trans people continue to be discriminated against in practically every civic institution, including employment and healthcare — and the mainstream media.

As a journalist, it rankles me that the press views us as trendy objects of sympathy but deems us unqualified to tell our own stories. Last month, Vanity Fair devoted an entire special issue to trans people, but didn’t bother to include any trans voices in the editorial process. The same goes for the ongoing Transgender Today series in The New York Times. Like many other outlets, they published countless stories about Caitlyn Jenner, none of which were written from a trans perspective.

I figure the best way to address these problems is to lead by example. So I’m thrilled to announce the start of We The T!, a month-long conversation that combines the resources and experience of staffers at Medium’s flagship magazine, Matter, with the perspectives of the most important trans writers, artists, and advocates today. I’m proud to say that trans people were involved in the conception, the writing, editing, and art direction of every story in this series — and I hope you’ll join our conversations around the most vital issues in the trans community. The series also serves as a coming out party of sorts for Gender 2.0, which will remain a space for trans people to speak freely and openly about the things that matter most to us.

We’re kicking things off with What I Wanted To Wear (WIWTW), a visual dialogue about the complications of self-presentation. Inspired by poet and activist Alok Vaid-Menon’s experience of street harassment, we’ll shed light on the ways we censor how we dress in order to survive. We welcome you to join the conversation with Tyler Ford, Aaryn Lang, Kai Cheng, Alok, and I as we think about what we express and repress when we put on clothes.

Later this week, the actor, speaker, and advocate Cherno Biko will moderate a discussion on the intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality with Stonewall veteran Miss Major, agender poet Tyler Ford, sex-worker advocate Tela Love, and the GLAAD national spokesperson Tiq Milan.

So hey world, come listen to us, because We the T!

Follow Gender 2.0 + the transgender tag to see more posts
in We The T! this month.