You will not tell me that you accept me. You will not tell me that you tolerate me. That is not your power. I take that from you. You will respect me for who I am.
We all want to be normal, but it's relative to individuality. My normal is not your normal.
It's been a long road of self-transformation for me, and I'm so grateful for the care I received at NYU Langone with Dr. Rachel Bluebond-Langer, one of the best transgender surgery specialists in the country.
We celebrate pride every day of the year - whether it's black pride, whether LGBTQIA + pride, whether it's the pride of being a woman, whether it's the pride of being a mother, we should be proud of who we are each and every day.
Don't tell me about tolerance. Don't tell me about acceptance. Look at me as the woman that I am and respect that.
We are human beings, we matter, and we will not be erased.
I came to be a part of the ballroom scene in late 1993. I was living in Baltimore, and i was going through that phase in high school when no one understood me. I was sneaking out of my house to go to this group that was for gay-identified people, and I just didn't fit in.
I started hormone therapy illegally and I thought I looked good enough for my family to accept. I was wrong. It was a disaster. My sister ran screaming calling me the demon with blue eyes. Using her Christianity as the base for her insight into seeing me as a demon.
My faith is my faith, and I cannot allow anyone to take that from me.
Ball culture saved my life, and many people don't understand that. But ballroom is where I found chosen and proven family.
Whenever I have to go out or do something, it must be glamour.
I learned that there is an inner strength that blossoms when one cleanses themselves by processing and attempting to comprehend their situation and/or experience. Writing became my therapy!
People have to realize that it is not OK to hurt another human being. And that is what we forget.
I did not realize how many people would not be happy with my success.
Trans men and women have always been thrown to the sides, but... have always been the nurturers, especially trans women.
In the realness categories, what happens is you walk and your peers judge you, because if you're not able to walk amongst your peers and pass as being cis male or cis female, then it's obvious that you haven't done enough work. They wanted you to be able to go outside and come back home safely.
Once you start crossing over and displaying feminine ways, you're a target. It's sad, it's humiliating, and it's confusing.
Even though it is fictional, 'Pose' has really tapped into some realities that I know would come from someone who really took the time to investigate ballroom.
We live in this realm where things exist but we pretend they don't exist, so that makes them, you know, nonexistent.
I had a regiment of psalms that I said each day.
