Carla Lewis, a trans community leader from Tennessee, recently took to her Facebook page to address the youngest generations of transpeople. She wanted to address the bickering sometimes (often) seen in the community and why it is actually important. She also included a note of hope for what she sees as the future for our community.
With so many senseless deaths and suicides in the trans community specifically, it is more important than ever that our youth hears these messages and has a sense of hope and opportunity instilled in them now. That way, they can be empowered and armed for the future and the place they will take.
“There are a handful of young transpeople that follow me on social media. To them I want to state this:
You may witness frequent arguing and fighting among transwomen, in particular. We each have our own ideas about how the world should be better.
The one thing we all have in common is that we do not want your youth to be filled with shame and self hate. We do not want you to have to buy black market hormones. We do not want you to be coerced into reparative therapy. We do not want you to have to navigate in a world that wants you to die or go back in the closet. We do not want you to take your own life.
We cannot get our innocence back. We cannot erase our years of shame. We cannot erase the discrimination and loneliness we experienced. We cannot erase our losses.
We do not want this to be your future. This is why we fight in this world. This is why we bicker with one another.
We may never know a world where being trans is no big deal, but you will. I promise.
Right now, whatever you are going through, please know that anywhere in the world you are, you can reach out to a trans brother or sister and know we will help you in any way that we can.”