The Trouble with Black Folk, Trans Issues and Intersectionality

[Article originally posted on http://www.subscript.it – 10th March 2017]

As proud as I am to be black during times in which the global black community stands together in the wicked face of struggle, it’s disappointing when black people refuse to acknowledge the evil that goes on in our own communities – especially when it affects those of LGBTQI experience.

We’re only three months into a new year, but there have already been seven reported murders of Trans women in the US alone, all of which have been black. In 2016 more than 21 murders of black Trans women were reported, with around the same figure reported in 2015. It’s important to know that these were only the deaths that were reported and in the US, it’s a global issue that we don’t often acknowledge and it’s about time we woke up.

If you’re viewing this statistically, black people are already killed on a level that’s extremely disproportionate; so when looking at a minority within a minority – we’re seeing a number that is even more disproportionate. However, the aim of this article (or rant, it depends) is not about looking at statistics. We are dealing with real people with a real problem and what’s even more disappointing is the fact that the number of those in support is considerably less than it should be.

#BLACKLIVESMATTER has now become a global organisation that has sought to raise awareness in regards to the senseless, unlawful murders of black people and the blatant racism we face on a daily basis. Further to that, it has now become the hub for the advancement and protection of black people. Before I get into this, it is important to know that this is not in any way an attack on the organisation – #BLM has done amazing work in the community and I will continue to support in any way I can. Two of the co-founders of the organisation identify as queer and the protection of black people who identify as LGBTQI is built into the framework of the organisation and they put every effort into making sure that it affirms those of different experiences. In relation to Trans people, #BLM has stated “We are committed to embracing and making space for Trans brothers and sisters to participate and lead. We are committed to being self-reflexive and doing the work required to dismantle cis-gender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.” It is also important to note that #BLM has spoken out against violence against our black Trans brothers and sisters on numerous occasions.

Considering everything I have just pointed out, can someone tell me why the wider black community still does not want to open their mouths when it comes to the murders of black Trans women? It does not do well to stick our heads in the sand or shun when topics arise that might not necessarily shadow a particular viewpoint. If “white silence is violence” then black silence is violence. These are people who are just like us who are being slain because they are simply living their truths – or does that not sound familiar?

All too often, we forget that our community is made up of a variety of people. Some of us are gay, some of us are Trans, some of us are disabled and some of us choose not to identify within the confines of gender and that’s just the surface. We need to realise that the concept of intersectionality is real and we have an active duty to make sure that everyone is represented and fought for. If you don’t understand what intersectionality entails and its codes, by definition – “Intersectionality is an analytic sensibility, a way of thinking about identity and its relationship to power. Originally articulated on behalf of black women, the term brought to light the invisibility of many constituents within groups that claim them as members, but often fail to represent them.”

We need to affirm and lift up the lives of black Trans women, they are in real danger. According to planettransgender.com, on average, a Trans woman is slain every 29 hours and that the life expectancy of a Trans woman is 35 years old, further to that a huge majority of these deaths are black trans women. They are murdered upon on the premise of their skin colour, their gender identity and the work that some do. They are murdered by their clients, people that are known to them and for reasons that have never been solved. Black Trans women are constantly disadvantaged and it’s tough – they face discrimination from cis-gendered men, both hetero and homosexual; cis-gendered women; it can be painstaking finding work, so many are forced into sex work.

With all of these seemingly unbreakable walls being put up, it really is up to us to help break these down.

For us to continue to be silent, or to even find ‘rational’ reasons pardoning (i.e. because “the Bible”) these murders make us no better than those who violently want to snuff us out because of our colour. We look silly to those who question organisations like #BLM because we cannot seem to get our act together and protect each other as black people. Quite frankly, we as black people should be embarrassed. When it comes to the murders of black people on a whole, we have to be invested.

We need to show our Trans sisters that we will protect them in and out of hard times.

Addison Rose Vincent from The Huffington Post lists a few ways as to how we can better include our Trans sisters and show our support as the wider black community. We need to be rallying together when these horrific occurrences happen.

I’m bored of dialogue, personally, I think we talk too much.

We may mean well when we say “dialogue needs to happen” and whilst that may be the case, sometimes talk is cheap – we need to SHOW that we care, we need to actively include all black people from all experiences in everything that we do.

If the ultimate battle as black people is to dismantle white supremacy and patriarchal constructs, we need to begin to dismantle and decolonise these very constructs that have become embedded within our community. Homophobia and transphobia are two of many pillars within white supremacy; colonisation and patriarchy really have no business lingering in our community. We are a community of inclusion, love

To all my Trans sisters – you are our sisters, mothers, aunties, cousins; you are loved and you are not alone, it may take some time but we are going to do better by you.

Transform: A Story of Truth

I’ve always said that being gay is one thing, but whenyou’re a biologically born male or female who legitimately feels as if you’vebeen born in the wrong body – that’s a whole other story. It involves so muchmore than just merely ‘coming out’ and having a bit of surgery. Imagine feeling trapped inside a body you don’t identify with, having to deal with the fact that you’ll be rejected from more than one avenue, just because you know you’re supposed to exist in a different way. According to a GIRES report issued in 2009, around 10,000 people in the UK identify as transgender with only 6,000 undergoing the full surgery – and we’re now in 2014…

In the not-so-glory days of the 1950s when everything was either an experiment or people were involuntarily inhaling cancerous fumes, numerous studies were taken to define the ‘act of switching gender roles’ both physically and mentally, this meant putting ‘subjects’ (God forbid we think of them as humans) to some pretty degrading tests. However, on the upside, there were a whole leap of amazing breakthroughs including developments in hormone replacement therapy and gender reassignment surgery – Christine Jorgensen being the first widely known MTF (male-to-female) transgender to under-go the operation. We have Sexologist Harry Benjamin to thank for the word ‘Transsexualism’ which was actually an umbrella term for those who are one gender – yet identify with the opposite; that includes everyone from cross-dressers to drag queens. Let’s not beat about the bush – being transgender has nothing to do with dressing as a woman for sexual or entertainment purposes.

I’ve always admired people of trans experience – the abuse that they’ve had to endure and the bravery it’s taken to stand up to that. With hate coming from every angle, even from the same people that make up the LGBT community, it can be extremely hard to not feel like every door is closed to you. With that being said, the trans community has raised a strong middle finger to any of those who have ever tried to push them into a box, and conquered hurdles that some of us simpletons would run straight into at first try. Isis King is probably one of the most memorable contestants from ANTM, making such an impression that Tyra paid for her gender reassignment surgery. Fellow New York girl Carmen Carrera is penned to be the next Victoria Secret model. And who can forget BB5’s Winner, Nadia Alamda and her “I need cigarettes” outburst? The trans community are breaking out of the constraints of emotional and political oppression, eagerly campaigning for the total freedom of their peers and actively seeking to be accepted for who they are – human beings.

Perhaps it’s only in places other than our own shores do we find those free enough to share their experiences, opportunity had it that I would cross paths with two very brave woman who were willing to share their stories with me. Their journeys are different – but equally as amazing. Meet Eden Imagica and Leiomy Maldonado, both born male and finding their places in the world as women…

Eden

I had been asked to write a little about my journey from a gender non-conforming male, to my womanhood – and it’s been just that! It’s been a journey of deep moments of introspection and a new found appreciation for life and people.

I remember trying to explain to my African parents that I had been living abroad with my white Portuguese boyfriend for three years. I came out as gay at 23 to my parents, I remember my mother asking how it felt having sex, I replied “Uncomfortable…but?” What I really wanted to say was that it was uncomfortable, but it was the only place to put it!

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t grow up feeling victimized by my family for being gay. Everyone in my family acknowledged I was always different!

I decided to transition three years ago, but it was always inevitable. When I was growing up I always treated by friends and family pretty much as they would a female (or a very gentle boy). As an adult I couldn’t command attention in the workplace and I still looked like a teenager.

The decision was an easy one, I couldn’t continue to live my life being mistaken for a girl. I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve run from those ‘hood’ boys as they got closer to inspect what they thought was a girl/tomboy, then wait for their horrible reaction when on closer inspection they realized I was a boy. It only became logical to me when the opportunity presented itself in the form of a group of transgendered friends I had met.

Living as a female for me in particular has been far easier, practical and logical in my day to day.

After around a year on hormone therapy, I began to notice some substantial physical changes. Skin thinning, I was bruising easily, softer muscles and repositioned body fat. Fortunately for me I was pre-warned about the emotional consequences of reducing testosterone. It is emotionally an awful process for an MTF, I kind of think in this instance our FTM counterparts have an advantage. Testosterone is man’s Prozac – NO JOKE. I don’t think I’ve emotionally experienced any more or any less than any other transgender female, I do think that it’s imperative that people know that emotionally their going to feel like absolute shit when they begin HRT.

I’m eagerly awaiting my post-operative life as a woman.

Leiomy Maldonado

I was born on April 28th, 1987 in the Bronx, New York City. I never really had a normal childhood, When I was around 7/8 my dad was diagnosed with HIV so I had to take care of him, we eventually moved in with my grandma but I still had to take care of him.

My days would generally consist of going to school and coming straight home to care for my dad, he wasn’t the most loving person either and my femininity really bothered him. I always felt, since the age of 5/6, that I was different; but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Growing, up I was always called gay or a homo, so eventually that’s what I thought I was. I remember telling my family that I was attracted to guys around the age of 15 and I began to cry; not because I was telling my family how I felt, but because I didn’t feel gay – I felt like a girl. That same year I met Tiana, who was transgender and that’s when I began realizing that I wasn’t gay, and instead was transgender. It wasn’t until the year after that I started living my life as Leiomy at the age of the 16.

I started throughout the summer at my Aunt Sylvia’s house and she was very supportive. I wasn’t aware of hormones yet, so I just wore women’s clothing given to me by a neighbour. After that summer I went back to living with my grandma, she wasn’t aware that I had begun transitioning. She was shocked to see me in clothes so tight and wearing a bra and thought it was a phase and I’d eventually get over it. I went back to High School to start my second year, and I went back as a woman. I dealt with a lot of verbal abuse and got into plenty of fights and was eventually kicked out of school. I didn’t actually begin taking hormones until I was 19 when I was given hormone pills from an older transwoman I met. After a few weeks of taking the hormones, I started seeing changes in my face and my chest was beginning to become sore as I developed breasts. I felt even more complete every day and the hormones made me more serene and calm. However, I started to notice that whenever I didn’t take my hormones, I would be extremely moody.

Living at home wasn’t the easiest task either, my eldest brother stopped talking to me and my older brother would always call me names, so I would attack him physically. I can say that between my dad, my grandma and my second oldest brother I was verbally abused often and when I’d get into an argument with my grandma, she would scratch my face knowing that I was always looking at myself in the mirror and she would kick me out at times. It got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore so I left home and began living with a friend. I began competing in the underground Ballroom Scene Voguing, which is a style of dance, and I found that it was a great way to relieve stress. I eventually went go back to my grandma’s house, but after a few weeks I’d be kicked out and at my friend’s house.

After a few years I eventually got on America’s Best Dance Crew along with some friends (Vogue Evolution) to compete against other crews on MTV and that’s when my family really began to see what my life was about and what I had been up to. It also helped them understand and realise that I am a woman from the inside and out. About a year after that I received a call to be a part of Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair video which was amazing to shoot and lots of fun. The love I received on set was epic, and meeting the Smith family is something I’ll never forget. I’ve been able to travel the world and go to places to share my talent and also teach classes as well. I’ve been to London, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Sweden, Austria, France, Switzerland and Germany. This past year I was yet in another video, this time for Icona Pop’s All Night video. My most recent accomplishment has been performing at the Museum of Modern Art where I showcased Voguing and talked about where it came from.

I can honestly say throughout my transition I haven’t had many transwomen who I can say have helped guide me that much. However my gay Mother Tyhierry, who’s a gay male, has actually helped and guided me to become the woman I am today. He’s introduced me to his trans friends whom have given me tips on hormones and surgeries. Being a part of the ballroom scene, the transwomen are subjected to getting silicone butt injections and I often see they’ve rushed through their transition. I have yet to undergo any surgeries due to not having the funds, but I want to have my sex reassignment surgery along with facial feminization surgery ASAP.

My love life sucks though, it’s hard to find a man who is comfortable enough to be with a woman of trans experience without worrying about what society thinks of him. I want to eventually be married and adopt kids as well. I feel that if the world would separate trans from LGBT it would help people understand what being trans is. LGB stands for lesbian, gay and bisexual which all fall under sexual orientation where the T for transgender is about gender identity, which is a totally different ballgame. People of trans experience deal with a lot even from the LGB community. Were often mis-gendered and disrespected within the community and often misunderstood.

I want to be able to wake up and feel 100% complete just for myself. Being loved and respected as an open transwoman has been amazing so far, and I feel like my confidence brings hope to younger trans people all over the world and that’s what keeps me motivated.