Letter to the Editor

Dear Letters,

Until the last election, I felt that life in America was becoming increasingly safe for me and others like me. Since January 2017, not a day has passed when I haven't felt my sphere shrinking. Two years in, my community consists almost exclusively of other nonbinary folks. This is so because with the shifts in culture and politics, the old order of cis-normativity is being reëntrenched: Everyone supposed to be tightly tethered to one of two gender poles--female and male--with no other options positioned in between--the absurd vision of a choir with only two voices.

Every day, it seems, it is being made clear in one way or another that we, as nonbinary folks, as trans people, not only don't have a right to exists but actually do not exist. Where we see our authentic self-expression, the spirit and tone of this administration insists on seeing pathology.

We are a vital part of this world. But our interests are often working against: From reinstating a transgender ban in the US military, to rescinding guiding memos that protect the rights of trans students and workers, to HHS reportedly intending to establish a legal definition of sex that is tied to anatomy.  

We need to grab our ladles, cooking spoons, and whisks. We need to clang on pots and pans to keep raising needed awareness. Our eyes keenly on each other, let us move towards each other. Always move towards each other. We can express our humanity with the fiercest love that rises from our heels up through our bodies and into our fingers and mouths to write and speak up for all vulnerable people. 

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