Browsing Tag

transgender

Transouthern Youth: Meet Nicholas Hooten

A photo of transouthern youth Nicholas Hooten.

One thousand miles—that’s how far Nicholas Hooten journeyed to find his identity. Three years ago, the now 18-year-old genderqueer college student left his childhood home in Indianapolis to plant new roots on southern soil, deep within the Sunshine State. The move, Hooten says, felt like a homecoming. “Indiana is such a small state, everyone knows everyone there,” he explains. “I wasn’t out while I was there, and then I moved [to Orlando] and met so many different queer friends. It…

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Cell Lust: Emilý Æyer and Traci Lavois Thiebaud Explore Transience of Nonbinary Identity

A photo of Cell Lust.

“You can call me ‘she’ today. Ask me again tomorrow.” This is the concluding line of Cell Lust | a body |, a one-hour performance art piece exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH). Cell Lust, in its transitory existence, shares enlightenment on the topics of our cosmic bodies (and their requests for relational discourse between sex, gender, and nonbinary identities) through an intense, invasive experience. Its two creators, Houston-based artists Emilý Æyer and Traci Lavois Thiebaud, compacted narrated…

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Why Are Straight Folks Obsessed with LGBTQ Folks’ Bodies and Sex Lives?

A photo of LGBTQ bodies.

So, who is the man and who is the woman? We’re both males. We’re partners. We share duties and don’t subscribe to traditional gender roles. At least, that’s how it is in my own relationship. And here we are, six years together, and people still believe it’s okay to ask me if my partner or I shapeshift into a lady behind closed doors, as if the notion that two people of the same gender can live together and share their lives,…

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The Queer Doula: Adventures in Providing Support and Education Around Birth, Abortion, and Pregnancy

A photo of a queer doula.

I have always loved birth. As a teen and young adult, I would spend hours glued to TLC’s A Birth Story and other ER shows that depicted live births with a twist of trauma and terror. I found every unique birth story endlessly fascinating. What was this family’s journey? How would this birth be different? What would the baby look like? As I observed birth after birth, I came away with one clear conclusion by the age of 14: I…

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‘I’ Will Not Be Erased: Activist Alicia Roth Weigel Gets Intersexy in the Lone Star State

A photo of intersex activist Alicia Roth Weigel.

What is intersex? It’s the ‘I’ in LGBTQIA, but it’s still something that not many folks know about. Intersex is a condition in which individuals are born with reproductive and sexual anatomy that does not fit into the institutionalized “male” or “female” boxes. In honor of Intersex Awareness Day (October 26), we caught up with Alicia Roth Weigel, an “intersexy” “policy, advocacy, and campaign strategist for the progressive movement.”…

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Be Kind: The Kind Clinic Provides PrEP, Gender Care to Austin’s LGBTQ Community

A photo of the Kind Clinic CEO.

The Kind Clinic is a new force in Austin, Texas. I was informed of their existence and services when my general provider, a private practice MD who has some experience in gender care, mentioned them during our conversation on PrEP. I asked her how much the prescription would cost out-of-pocket, she pulled the information up on her laptop, and we both leaned over her desk in dismay.…

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Why I Won’t Gentrify My Career

An illustration of a queer career.

In June 2018, I started my consulting and expert witness firm, The National Center for Equity and Agency, which specializes in sexual misconduct prevention and increasing cultural inclusion. Starting my own business meant building a brand, not only for the business, but a brand for me personally as well. What was the image I wanted to portray? Who did I want to impress and connect with? What was the vibe that I wanted our logo, language, and colors to exude?…

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Trans Latinx Liberation: Ana Andrea Molina Headlines Gender Infinity Conference

A photo of Gender Infinity keynote speaker Ana Andrea Molina.

Gender Infinity is a transgender- and gender-variant-focused conference that takes place annually in Houston, Texas. This year, it spans the weekend of October 5-6, with both days crammed full of programming that caters to the specific needs of the trans and gender-diverse population. Now in their eighth year, the conference offers workshops, discussions, community and health education, and keynote speakers on hot topics that are affecting the gender-diverse population, and specifically has included many spaces for the queer Black, indigenous, Latinx,…

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