My First Pride: Seeking a Sense of Place in ‘LGBT’
"Do I belong here?" That's the question I often found myself asking as I attended events for Pride Month in New York City. I'd never aligned myself with any group growing up because I didn't really...
View ArticleGrowing Up Trans: Sisterhood and Shelter at the Hetrick-Martin Institute
"I write for my school paper and I want to be a writer like you someday," a high school junior named Evie told me last Friday. "But I have to transition first." I was just like Evie, a high school...
View ArticleThe Limitations of Representation: Chaz Bono’s Problematic Visibility
"I know because I am you," were words I spoke in my It Gets Better video, and turned out to be one of the most heatedly debated moments in my online life (next to the transsexual vs. transgender...
View ArticleHouse of Latex Ball 2011: Where Imagination Triumphs Reality
"I don't think the world has been fair to me. Not yet, anyway," the late Octavia St. Laurent said in the groundbreaking documentary Paris Is Burning. "I believe that there is a big future out there...
View ArticleWe All Belong: GLSEN Celebrates & Supports Trans Youth in Schools
I've attended many LGBT events since coming out and have been asked, usually as the token T and by glowy-skinned gay men, "I don't get why transgender is included with us, you know. Their struggle's...
View ArticleA Letter to My Sisters Who Showed Up for Islan Nettles & Ourselves at the Vigil
Dear Sister, I stood in a crowd with you last night as we cried and cringed, applauded and gasped, embraced and turned away. I was there with you last night and I saw you in all your fierceness,...
View ArticleMy Year in Review: The Milestones That Shaped Me in 2013
I sit here in my mother's kitchen, reflecting. This isn't my childhood home. I've never had one of those. It's the first time I've been home for the holidays since I left the island of Oahu to flee...
View ArticleSharing the Stage with Oprah: My Super Soul Sessions Speech
After sitting with Oprah Winfrey to discuss Redefining Realness on Super Soul Sunday, I was honored to be asked to speak at her new live event, “Super Soul Sessions” in September which brought...
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