Transgender Self Reflection Paper

I often struggle to articulate how and why I became passionate about queer and trans liberation. Throughout high school, I struggled with internalized transphobia. I was never quite content with being transgender, and I was closeted out of violence. There were multiple occasions where I heard classmates make threats about what they would do to a transgender person. Once in my freshman year I was even chased by a boy yelling slurs while I was walking to class, simply because of my gender presentation. I was the only gender diverse person I knew, and I suffered in silence. However, one day when I was 18 I accidentally stumbled upon an application to a transgender youth summit designed for activist. While I was not an activist I attended out of curiosity. What I did

not know was that the summit would become a life changing experience for me that would later influence my academic and career goals.

The first night at the summit I did not sleep. Instead, I stayed up in a room full of transgender youth talking about gender journeys, surgery goals, and coming out experiences. During the day the more experienced activist educated me about the various LGBT+ issues that exist within the community, and gave me advice on how to get involved in further activism projects. My favorite memory was walking down the Santa Monica beach at night as a group. That was the only time I had ever felt safe as a trans person. Feeling like gender did not matter at that moment and that I could express myself however I wanted was the most liberating experience for me. It made me realize that liberation is not just a theory or concept, but it is something that can be tangible and felt. That experience stuck with me for a long time and inspired me to take action. I do not just want liberation to be a feeling that goes away, I want other people to

feel the same way I did that night. That feeling is what motivated me to change my major to a women studies. I decided that a tangible way I can make a difference is by becoming a professor so that I can educate people on the issues found in the LGBT+ community and also to educate myself so that my advocacy work can help contribute to queer and trans liberation. My overall dream is that other folks who share similar experiences as me can also have the opportunity to heal and find acceptance within themselves and their community. I believe that Phoenix Pride can help me in my journey in pursuing my dreams by granting me the Phoenix Pride scholarship. With this scholarship, I can use the $5,000 to pay for my tuition and help me complete my bachelors so that I am ready for graduate school. Phoenix Pride would not only be helping me, but would be making an investment that can help future generations.