In the community that is the LGBTQIA+, there are umbrellas of umbrellas of terminology and groups within it; and when I look at them, I never really felt like it was a place for me.
As a black trans man, I now know how important it is to have a community as you transition. I always thought that as long as we’re both trans, we can understand each other but that’s really not the case.
I can only speak for myself but, not having that community of brothers, and all of those alike, around me in my earlier years of transition created lot of self isolation and doubt if I was really trans. I would look at my peers who are trans and see they were thriving in their respective communities, but I never felt right in those communities or even if they were very welcoming and supportive, something always felt off.
I won’t ever forget finding other black trans man and black trans-masculine individuals online and being filled with so much happiness/relief. It finally felt like I found people who looked like me, who speaks like me, who I had references too on how I may look after surgeries, and the nail in the coffin for me, people who I can talk too about now navigating life and our community as a black man.
Even if you don’t identify as a man, having that community of black people who identify as transmasc or adjacent, who have lived in the black community as themselves, who have survived the craziest that our community can be sometimes, is soooo important.
That’s why this non profit is here, that’s why this page exist and that’s why I’m speaking out right now so you know this is a place you can come back too and see others just like you.
-Quinton
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