Unapologetically Trans | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 historically unqualified person currently occupying the White House to keep us from serving? Why should we be proud of a nation that has rolled back President Obama’s positive policies and executive orders that were designed to help our community? You claim to respect the rule of law, the Constitution, and the Bible, but ignore all of those things when it suits you to do so for conservative political advantage. I already know what you MAGAts are going to say: If you don’t like America, leave it. I will do no such thing. I love this country more than your Fox News-watching behinds ever will. I will not leave, because my ancestors shed four centuries’ worth of blood for us to be here in this moment, living better lives than they could have imagined for themselves. I love this country enough to fight for its soul and make it better than it was when I arrived on the planet. I am not leaving because it would dishonor the memories of all the trans people we have lost to anti-trans violence. It is for their sakes that I must fight with every fiber of my being to create an America that recognizes the fact that the “We the People” in our Constitution unequivocally includes black transgender Americans. Our nation is increasingly accepting the fact that black trans people not only exist, but the violence being aimed at us must stop. Our people are also increasingly coming to the realization that black trans women are women, black trans men are men, we are an intertwined part of the black American family, and we have much to contribute to make the black community better. We black trans people exist, and are proud of all the intersections that are housed in our black trans bodies. If some of you in black cis world don’t like that, get over it, because we are beyond caring what your loud and ignorant opinion is about that. You will give us the respect that we are due. We aren’t going away, or back into the closet. We black trans Americans are going to work to the best of our ability to make a better world for the trans kids coming behind us. And if that work to make a better world for our trans kids creates a better world for ourselves in the process, then we will consider that as a blessing. And when that day finally becomes a reality, that will be a July 4 worth celebrating. Monica Roberts, a native Houstonian, is the founding editor of the GLAAD award-winning blog TransGriot. Her ongoing mission is to educate people on the lives of transgender people and fight for everyone’s human rights.
Aspire
“I got it all at STUART ESTATES!”
Stuart
STUART ESTATE SALES StuartEstates.com 832.652.4805 Houston’s Favorite Estate Sale Company! BTW – You don’t have to die to have an Estate Sale! OutSmartMagazine.com | JULY OutSmartMagazine.com OutSmartMagazine.com || JULY JULY 2019 2019 2019 29 27