WEBVTT 00:00:04.626 --> 00:00:06.418 In May of 2014, 00:00:06.435 --> 00:00:10.762 Time Magazine said that our society had reached the transgender tipping point. 00:00:11.182 --> 00:00:14.341 And that was the headline on the cover of the magazine that month, 00:00:14.342 --> 00:00:18.287 and they paired that with a photo of actress Laverne Cox. 00:00:18.810 --> 00:00:20.756 And you may know Laverne Cox's name, 00:00:20.757 --> 00:00:23.168 she is the actress who plays Sophia Burset 00:00:23.181 --> 00:00:26.721 on the incredibly popular Netflix show "Orange is the New Black". 00:00:27.706 --> 00:00:29.959 Now, I often talk about Laverne Cox 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:35.279 because she has a pretty important position in terms of the acting world. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:36.979 She is one of the few people 00:00:36.980 --> 00:00:40.673 who plays a trans character, but is also trans herself. 00:00:40.674 --> 00:00:42.964 She identifies in the same way as her character. 00:00:42.965 --> 00:00:45.727 So Sophia identifies as a transgender woman, 00:00:45.728 --> 00:00:48.499 and Laverne Cox holds that same identity. 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:50.754 Now, lots of people know Laverne Cox, 00:00:50.755 --> 00:00:52.675 which is why I bring her up often 00:00:52.676 --> 00:00:55.987 when I do trainings about transgender identity. 00:00:55.988 --> 00:00:59.041 But, in those trainings, questions quickly emerge, 00:00:59.042 --> 00:01:03.014 and those questions tend to revolve around language and words. 00:01:04.349 --> 00:01:08.846 So here is just a handful, a tiny sliver of words 00:01:08.847 --> 00:01:10.738 that the trans community uses 00:01:10.739 --> 00:01:14.541 to talk about their own experiences of gender. 00:01:14.542 --> 00:01:17.388 And again, there are lots more out there 00:01:17.389 --> 00:01:19.840 than just the ones that you see on this screen. 00:01:19.841 --> 00:01:23.385 We could fill up this screen, and fill up many, many TED talks 00:01:23.386 --> 00:01:26.032 with just talking about these different identities. 00:01:27.005 --> 00:01:29.281 But I bring this up 00:01:29.282 --> 00:01:33.855 because the trans dictionary is not complete, and it's changing. 00:01:33.856 --> 00:01:36.268 So if these words, you've never heard these before, 00:01:36.269 --> 00:01:38.068 I'm not surprised. 00:01:38.701 --> 00:01:43.390 Right now, online, the trans community is still making new words 00:01:43.391 --> 00:01:47.537 to describe their experiences and describe their own ideas 00:01:47.538 --> 00:01:49.790 about their gender identity. 00:01:49.791 --> 00:01:51.861 And that's what's amazing right now, 00:01:51.862 --> 00:01:53.709 and potentially some of the reasons 00:01:53.710 --> 00:01:57.277 why that Time Magazine piece talked about the transgender tipping point. 00:01:57.278 --> 00:02:01.289 The Internet allows trans folks to access each other 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:03.736 in ways that's amazing. 00:02:03.737 --> 00:02:06.068 So communities have started to be built 00:02:06.069 --> 00:02:09.043 in really dramatic and impressive ways. 00:02:09.044 --> 00:02:13.573 And because these trans folks are able to connect with one another, 00:02:13.574 --> 00:02:16.858 language has emerged, and language has evolved. 00:02:17.593 --> 00:02:22.078 Let me situate myself in this conversation. 00:02:22.079 --> 00:02:25.908 I identify as a female-to-male trans man. 00:02:25.909 --> 00:02:28.928 So that means for me, that I was assigned female at birth 00:02:28.929 --> 00:02:32.083 though that didn't really jive 00:02:32.084 --> 00:02:36.043 with how I thought of myself, and how I existed in the world. 00:02:36.044 --> 00:02:38.125 I was raised in Alabama, 00:02:38.126 --> 00:02:40.687 which, if any of you know anything about the South, 00:02:40.688 --> 00:02:44.242 the South has very specific ideas about gender; 00:02:44.243 --> 00:02:46.424 very specific ideas about what it means 00:02:46.425 --> 00:02:49.464 to be masculine or feminine, or male or female, 00:02:49.465 --> 00:02:52.356 and I didn't really fit into those ideas. 00:02:52.357 --> 00:02:54.067 And that was OK for a while. 00:02:54.068 --> 00:02:56.492 I existed in sort of a tomboy space, 00:02:56.493 --> 00:03:00.062 for most of my young adulthood, or my young childhood, 00:03:00.063 --> 00:03:02.238 and I didn't get a lot of flack for that. 00:03:02.239 --> 00:03:04.354 I wasn't really bullied all that much, 00:03:04.355 --> 00:03:07.388 until about middle school, junior high. 00:03:07.389 --> 00:03:10.467 And that's really when I got the very clear message 00:03:10.468 --> 00:03:12.731 that I was not performing my gender 00:03:12.732 --> 00:03:16.092 in the way other people expected me to. 00:03:16.093 --> 00:03:20.607 And I tried to modify it; I tried to meet people's expectations, 00:03:20.608 --> 00:03:24.832 but I just failed over and over again because it didn't feel genuine to me. 00:03:24.833 --> 00:03:26.401 It didn't feel right. 00:03:26.402 --> 00:03:28.794 But I had no idea how to talk about that. 00:03:28.795 --> 00:03:33.110 I didn't have any words to understand what that meant for a long time. 00:03:33.643 --> 00:03:37.059 Until I was about 23, 24 years old. 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:39.291 So those of you who are in your 30s, 00:03:39.292 --> 00:03:42.449 - the "old folks" in the room to the high school students - 00:03:42.450 --> 00:03:44.072 you might remember 00:03:44.083 --> 00:03:47.333 an early social media platform called LiveJournal. 00:03:47.334 --> 00:03:50.916 LiveJournal was a place where relatively emo kids like me 00:03:50.917 --> 00:03:54.257 would talk about our parents, and how mean they were, 00:03:54.258 --> 00:03:59.409 and I would moan and groan over the new Dashboard Confessional album. 00:03:59.410 --> 00:04:00.915 (Laughter) 00:04:00.916 --> 00:04:03.909 But it was also a place where you could connect with folks. 00:04:03.918 --> 00:04:06.700 You could connect with folks who shared your identities, 00:04:06.701 --> 00:04:08.795 or shared interests that you had. 00:04:08.796 --> 00:04:11.212 So you had your own personal blog page, 00:04:11.213 --> 00:04:14.871 but you also had a space where you could join community groups. 00:04:14.872 --> 00:04:19.916 One day, while I was just roaming through LiveJournal, bored after class, 00:04:19.918 --> 00:04:25.616 I found a page dedicated to talking about FTM trans people. 00:04:25.617 --> 00:04:29.853 I found a blog entry by this kid who was my same age, 00:04:29.854 --> 00:04:31.496 and his name was Blake. 00:04:31.497 --> 00:04:35.601 He was talking about how he came to understand his gender identity, 00:04:35.602 --> 00:04:38.165 and the words that he used to describe it, 00:04:38.166 --> 00:04:42.090 and his journey on how he understood what it meant to be 00:04:42.091 --> 00:04:45.072 a transgender person and a transgender man. 00:04:45.073 --> 00:04:47.591 Within the course of that one blog entry, 00:04:47.592 --> 00:04:50.332 my whole idea of myself shifted. 00:04:50.333 --> 00:04:52.315 I had finally found language. 00:04:52.316 --> 00:04:55.725 I had finally found the words to understand myself 00:04:55.726 --> 00:04:57.689 through the words of someone else. 00:04:57.690 --> 00:05:01.535 I had never had that before, and it was incredibly powerful. 00:05:01.536 --> 00:05:04.468 Because language is super important. 00:05:04.469 --> 00:05:08.476 Language is crucial to understanding ourselves, 00:05:08.477 --> 00:05:12.272 and understanding the position that we hold within society. 00:05:12.832 --> 00:05:15.755 So any of you who have tried to learn a new language, 00:05:15.756 --> 00:05:19.562 or you grew up in a household where multiple languages were spoken, 00:05:19.563 --> 00:05:24.451 you know the importance of shared definitions and shared meanings of words. 00:05:24.452 --> 00:05:27.539 But even though we might speak the same technical language, 00:05:27.540 --> 00:05:31.717 it doesn't mean we understand the words that a cultural group may use 00:05:31.718 --> 00:05:33.478 that we don't belong to, 00:05:33.479 --> 00:05:37.242 or the way that language evolves and changes over time. 00:05:38.021 --> 00:05:41.726 So I want to talk about some of these terms that were on that earlier slide, 00:05:41.727 --> 00:05:44.100 and I'll start with the term "transgender". 00:05:44.101 --> 00:05:47.574 Transgender was coined in the 1960s, 00:05:47.575 --> 00:05:50.827 though it didn't really get adopted for wide use 00:05:50.828 --> 00:05:53.561 until the late 1980s to 1990s. 00:05:53.562 --> 00:05:56.755 And there's lots of different definitions of transgender out there, 00:05:56.756 --> 00:05:59.733 but my personal favorite is the one that's on the screen. 00:05:59.751 --> 00:06:05.416 This is from Susan Stryker, she's a trans author, historian, activist, 00:06:05.417 --> 00:06:09.542 and she says that her understanding of the word "trangender", 00:06:09.543 --> 00:06:13.666 it's "the movement across a socially imposed boundary 00:06:13.667 --> 00:06:16.709 away from an unchosen starting place." 00:06:17.614 --> 00:06:20.714 And the reason why I like this definition so much 00:06:20.715 --> 00:06:25.677 is that it highlights that I didn't get to pick where I started from. 00:06:25.678 --> 00:06:30.581 I was born female assigned at birth and was raised accordingly. 00:06:30.582 --> 00:06:35.348 But it does highlight that you can move away from that. 00:06:35.349 --> 00:06:38.554 And often, when we talk about trans folks moving away 00:06:38.555 --> 00:06:40.436 from that unchosen starting point, 00:06:40.437 --> 00:06:42.353 we're talking about transition. 00:06:42.354 --> 00:06:45.297 And the term "transition" can mean a lot of different things. 00:06:45.298 --> 00:06:47.195 There's no one way to transition, 00:06:47.196 --> 00:06:49.937 and there's no one right way to be trans. 00:06:49.938 --> 00:06:55.597 But transition often refers to social transitions and medical transitions. 00:06:56.337 --> 00:06:59.564 So a social transition involves essentially the coming out process: 00:06:59.565 --> 00:07:03.785 discovering for yourself, "What are the words that feel comfortable for me?", 00:07:03.786 --> 00:07:06.191 "How do I think about my gender?", 00:07:06.192 --> 00:07:08.670 and then communicating that to other people. 00:07:08.671 --> 00:07:10.145 Be it saying, you know, 00:07:10.146 --> 00:07:12.482 "My name is Jay now, I want you to call me that, 00:07:12.483 --> 00:07:15.302 and I want you to use male pronouns when you refer to me." 00:07:15.303 --> 00:07:17.401 And claiming a transgender identity, 00:07:17.402 --> 00:07:19.818 whatever that might mean for the person. 00:07:19.819 --> 00:07:23.569 And a medical transition refers to medical interventions 00:07:23.570 --> 00:07:25.398 that you could do to your body. 00:07:25.399 --> 00:07:28.594 Medical interventions are vast, 00:07:28.595 --> 00:07:30.680 there's lots of different types of them, 00:07:30.681 --> 00:07:33.864 but not all trans people want or need medical transition. 00:07:33.865 --> 00:07:38.045 So, some trans folks say, "This is absolutely necessary." 00:07:38.046 --> 00:07:42.063 "I need access to this kind of care to feel comfortable with my body, 00:07:42.064 --> 00:07:44.674 to align my body with the way that I think, 00:07:44.675 --> 00:07:46.850 align it with my mind." 00:07:46.851 --> 00:07:48.914 But again, not all trans people do this. 00:07:48.915 --> 00:07:51.693 So there are some folks who say, "I don't need that." 00:07:51.694 --> 00:07:55.699 "I feel OK with my body; I don't need to necessarily modify it too much," 00:07:55.700 --> 00:07:59.733 - lots of different variations of the way that folks can medically transition. 00:07:59.734 --> 00:08:02.108 But I'll also put a caveat in here 00:08:02.109 --> 00:08:05.574 that medical transition is expensive. 00:08:05.575 --> 00:08:07.822 It's not covered under health insurance often, 00:08:07.823 --> 00:08:10.586 so it's out of pocket expenses. 00:08:10.587 --> 00:08:13.397 We're talking about often medically necessary care 00:08:13.398 --> 00:08:15.727 that people have to pay for themselves. 00:08:15.728 --> 00:08:18.416 And this can range anywhere from 5,000 dollars, 00:08:18.417 --> 00:08:23.228 on the low end of the various surgical procedures that are out there, 00:08:23.229 --> 00:08:27.381 upwards to 30,000-50,000 dollars for just one procedure. 00:08:27.382 --> 00:08:31.451 So this is cost prohibitive often as well for some folks. 00:08:31.452 --> 00:08:33.678 So it's not for everyone, 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.438 not every trans person goes through a transition in exactly the same way. 00:08:37.438 --> 00:08:39.519 But let's get back to some of the words 00:08:39.520 --> 00:08:41.817 that we were talking about on that earlier slide, 00:08:41.937 --> 00:08:44.148 and let's get back to some historical words 00:08:44.149 --> 00:08:46.987 that you may know about the trans community. 00:08:47.669 --> 00:08:51.423 So there have been a lot of words that have been used to refer to trans folks, 00:08:51.424 --> 00:08:53.525 and some of them have fallen out of fashion. 00:08:53.526 --> 00:08:55.888 Some of them are not being used widely. 00:08:55.889 --> 00:08:58.595 And some of these words can even be harmful and hurtful 00:08:58.596 --> 00:09:00.374 for trans folks to hear. 00:09:00.375 --> 00:09:03.334 So I'll talk about the term "transexual" in a minute, 00:09:03.357 --> 00:09:05.407 but I'll start with "transvestite". 00:09:05.408 --> 00:09:09.536 So the term "transvestite" was used widely in the 60s and 70s 00:09:09.537 --> 00:09:12.598 among transgender communities to refer to themselves. 00:09:12.599 --> 00:09:15.456 It was a word that trans folks adopted. 00:09:15.457 --> 00:09:16.761 And even to the point 00:09:16.762 --> 00:09:21.671 of one of the earliest social movements that we know of for transgender people 00:09:21.672 --> 00:09:23.908 included the word "transvestite" in the name. 00:09:23.909 --> 00:09:28.339 "STAR" stands for Straight Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:31.684 This group which was started by two of the pioneers 00:09:31.685 --> 00:09:34.275 in terms of transgender history in the United States, 00:09:34.292 --> 00:09:36.251 Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, 00:09:36.252 --> 00:09:38.553 was a New York City-based group 00:09:38.554 --> 00:09:43.234 that advocated for young trans, queer, people of color, 00:09:43.235 --> 00:09:46.638 folks who were experiencing homelessness and poverty, 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:50.371 in an attempt to advocate for the cause. 00:09:50.372 --> 00:09:53.541 So this word was used as an affirming term, 00:09:53.542 --> 00:09:57.834 though, con temporarily, this term is largely offensive. 00:09:57.854 --> 00:10:02.386 The term "transvestite" is not used by and large really at all today 00:10:02.387 --> 00:10:05.367 within the modern transgender community. 00:10:06.959 --> 00:10:09.418 We'll go back to the word "transexual". 00:10:09.459 --> 00:10:13.043 "Transexual" as a term is really the oldest word that we have 00:10:13.044 --> 00:10:15.289 to refer to folks who feel 00:10:15.290 --> 00:10:18.738 that their body doesn't align in the same way as their mind. 00:10:18.751 --> 00:10:23.291 So, "transsexual" con temporarily is still used, and it refers to 00:10:23.292 --> 00:10:26.245 someone who wants to undergo medical transition 00:10:26.246 --> 00:10:28.436 or who has undergone medical transition. 00:10:28.437 --> 00:10:33.131 And "transsexual" is a word that has a lot of baggage for the transgender community. 00:10:33.132 --> 00:10:34.792 Some folks in the community say, 00:10:34.793 --> 00:10:37.936 "That's the word that I use, that's how I understand my gender." 00:10:37.937 --> 00:10:41.853 Other folks say, "I really dislike that word; it makes me feel uncomfortable." 00:10:41.854 --> 00:10:44.366 And I tend to fall on the "I don't like this word; 00:10:44.367 --> 00:10:47.308 it makes me feel uncomfortable" side of that coin. 00:10:47.309 --> 00:10:51.246 For me at least, the term "transsexual" has the word "sex" in it; 00:10:51.247 --> 00:10:55.777 that kind of makes us think "trans" is not really a gender identity, 00:10:55.778 --> 00:10:59.229 but it has something to do with sexuality and sexual orientation. 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:03.202 And for me, that feels gross; it feels kind of icky. 00:11:03.203 --> 00:11:06.399 Though I would never tell another person, another trans person, 00:11:06.400 --> 00:11:09.149 say, "You can't use that word because I don't like it." 00:11:09.167 --> 00:11:13.589 If someone identifies as a transsexual, cool, no big deal. 00:11:13.590 --> 00:11:17.579 I don't identify as a transsexual; I prefer the term transgender myself, 00:11:17.580 --> 00:11:19.642 but I'm not going to tell another person 00:11:19.643 --> 00:11:22.380 what words they should use to describe themselves. 00:11:22.381 --> 00:11:23.890 But I will caution you 00:11:23.891 --> 00:11:26.921 that the term transsexual is probably not the best word 00:11:26.922 --> 00:11:28.922 that you should use on a day to day basis 00:11:28.923 --> 00:11:30.430 unless you know 00:11:30.431 --> 00:11:34.380 that that person identifies as a transsexual instead of transgender. 00:11:35.429 --> 00:11:37.862 So this idea about language though; 00:11:37.863 --> 00:11:40.931 I want to come back to contemporary thinking about language 00:11:40.932 --> 00:11:42.763 in the trans community. 00:11:42.764 --> 00:11:44.421 There's a number of different ways 00:11:44.422 --> 00:11:48.054 to think about the words that the transgender community uses, 00:11:48.055 --> 00:11:52.048 and I want to pose a suggestion as to how we can think about it. 00:11:52.049 --> 00:11:54.631 So, we can think about transgender identities 00:11:54.632 --> 00:11:59.501 as binary transgender identities and non-binary transgender identities. 00:11:59.502 --> 00:12:01.122 Two different ways to think about 00:12:01.123 --> 00:12:04.474 trans folks and the way that we think about our genders. 00:12:04.475 --> 00:12:07.333 So when I say "binary", I'm referring to 00:12:07.334 --> 00:12:10.843 when we have two categories that are completely opposite of one another, 00:12:10.844 --> 00:12:13.279 never the twain shall meet. 00:12:13.280 --> 00:12:15.948 So, we live in a very binary world: 00:12:15.949 --> 00:12:18.978 male-female, gay-straight, black-white, 00:12:18.979 --> 00:12:21.956 especially as it relates to gender. 00:12:21.957 --> 00:12:24.081 We have a lot of assumptions about gender 00:12:24.082 --> 00:12:27.196 based on this binary idea that there are only men and women, 00:12:27.197 --> 00:12:29.226 and they are two totally different groups 00:12:29.227 --> 00:12:31.717 that don't have anything in common with one another. 00:12:31.718 --> 00:12:36.999 We have trans identities that myself and other folks 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:41.707 who work in transgender activism are starting to call "binary identies", 00:12:41.708 --> 00:12:45.792 so I consider myself to have a relatively binary trans identity: 00:12:45.793 --> 00:12:48.133 I transitioned from female to male. 00:12:48.134 --> 00:12:52.217 There are other folks who transitioned from male to female. 00:12:52.218 --> 00:12:56.714 Celebrities like Janet Mock, Caitlyn Jenner, 00:12:56.715 --> 00:13:00.298 and Laverne Cox who we talked about earlier, 00:13:00.299 --> 00:13:03.120 but also there are trans men who are relatively famous 00:13:03.121 --> 00:13:04.836 like Chaz Bono. 00:13:04.837 --> 00:13:08.067 The media talks about binary identities 00:13:08.068 --> 00:13:10.537 as it relates to transgender people. 00:13:10.538 --> 00:13:15.648 This is largely why we don't often know, non-binary identity folks. 00:13:15.649 --> 00:13:19.750 Because I think, my understanding of this is 00:13:19.751 --> 00:13:24.543 that binary identities reinforce our gender ideas. 00:13:24.574 --> 00:13:28.072 They make sense; we don't have to challenge a bunch of stuff 00:13:28.073 --> 00:13:31.132 to talk about binary identities like I have; 00:13:31.133 --> 00:13:34.433 it's something that folks can wrap their minds around 00:13:34.434 --> 00:13:36.172 with a little bit of education. 00:13:38.032 --> 00:13:40.463 But what the media leaves out 00:13:40.464 --> 00:13:44.304 are folks who essentially give a big middle finger to the binary. 00:13:44.305 --> 00:13:46.816 They say, "Screw your ideas about gender. 00:13:46.817 --> 00:13:51.267 "The ideas we have in society we have about gender are essentially stupid, 00:13:51.268 --> 00:13:54.639 and I want to make them-- I want to mess them up." 00:13:54.640 --> 00:13:58.627 Non-binary identities, there's a list of some of them here 00:13:58.628 --> 00:14:00.695 - I'm not going to define all of them. 00:14:00.696 --> 00:14:02.342 You all have the Google machine; 00:14:02.343 --> 00:14:04.773 you all have the power to look these things up - 00:14:04.774 --> 00:14:06.657 but I'll give you a couple examples 00:14:06.667 --> 00:14:10.001 of folks I know who have these non-binary identities. 00:14:10.597 --> 00:14:14.160 So first, as someone who identifies as a non-binary trans woman, 00:14:14.161 --> 00:14:18.162 she lives in California, she's a college student in her 20s 00:14:18.163 --> 00:14:20.317 and works at a local nonprofit 00:14:20.318 --> 00:14:23.403 that works with high school gay-straight alliances. 00:14:23.403 --> 00:14:26.453 And for her, being a non-binary trans woman 00:14:26.454 --> 00:14:30.472 means that she blurs the line of femininity. 00:14:30.472 --> 00:14:33.805 She mostly presents in relatively feminine ways, 00:14:33.805 --> 00:14:38.814 she goes by a feminine name, she wears typically female clothes, 00:14:38.815 --> 00:14:42.025 but combines those feminine attributes 00:14:42.026 --> 00:14:47.085 occasionally, with completely rocking out a mustache and a goatee. 00:14:47.086 --> 00:14:50.560 Because for her, she's not just feminine. 00:14:50.561 --> 00:14:53.514 And to think about herself in just that narrow way 00:14:53.515 --> 00:14:55.795 seems inauthentic to her. 00:14:55.795 --> 00:14:59.284 She wants to embrace her whole self, and that involves her facial hair. 00:15:00.035 --> 00:15:05.208 Another example of a non-binary identity is a friend who I know from the South, 00:15:05.209 --> 00:15:07.518 and they identify as agender. 00:15:07.518 --> 00:15:10.795 They use the gender-neutral pronoun "they" 00:15:10.796 --> 00:15:12.954 - it's not a binary gender term - 00:15:12.954 --> 00:15:15.911 and for them, they say, "I don't have a gender. 00:15:15.912 --> 00:15:19.825 "I am genderless, or gender is at least not a very important part of my life; 00:15:19.826 --> 00:15:23.309 it's not a way that I think of myself primarily." 00:15:23.310 --> 00:15:27.966 So these non-binary identities are challenging our ideas about gender 00:15:27.966 --> 00:15:32.266 in ways that binary identities sometimes don't do as well. 00:15:32.266 --> 00:15:34.084 They are constantly saying, 00:15:34.085 --> 00:15:39.134 "Your understanding of gender in the world is silly, 00:15:39.134 --> 00:15:42.412 and we don't need it; we can live outside of these boxes." 00:15:43.232 --> 00:15:45.165 So what does all of this mean? 00:15:45.165 --> 00:15:48.008 What do you do with all of this information? 00:15:48.008 --> 00:15:52.496 I have some suggestions for you and some advice, if you'll indulge me. 00:15:52.496 --> 00:15:55.430 The first is listen and learn. 00:15:55.430 --> 00:15:59.078 Listen to trans folks when we talk about our experiences, 00:15:59.079 --> 00:16:03.105 listen to how we say the words that are important to us, 00:16:03.106 --> 00:16:05.084 reflect those words back to us, 00:16:05.085 --> 00:16:08.222 and be comfortable learning new things. 00:16:08.222 --> 00:16:12.181 Lots in the landscape of trans identities could be relatively new. 00:16:12.182 --> 00:16:13.541 Be OK with that. 00:16:13.542 --> 00:16:16.581 It's all right; we'll all get through it together. 00:16:16.581 --> 00:16:18.355 Challenge assumptions, 00:16:18.356 --> 00:16:21.677 Challenge those things that nag you in the back of your head, 00:16:21.678 --> 00:16:23.234 and you don't know why. 00:16:23.235 --> 00:16:25.798 So stop thinking about people's body parts 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:27.471 or what their name used to be, 00:16:27.472 --> 00:16:30.402 or what's really going on with them. 00:16:30.403 --> 00:16:32.212 Take people at their face value. 00:16:32.213 --> 00:16:35.755 Someone says that this is how they identify, be cool with that. 00:16:35.755 --> 00:16:38.672 And when you think about binary identity ideas, 00:16:38.672 --> 00:16:40.405 try to challenge those. 00:16:40.406 --> 00:16:43.517 And say, "Those don't necessarily matter." 00:16:43.517 --> 00:16:45.229 And be an ally. 00:16:45.230 --> 00:16:48.888 Just like the transgender dictionary has changed over time, 00:16:48.889 --> 00:16:50.658 the word "ally" has undergone 00:16:50.658 --> 00:16:54.417 a pretty massive transformation in the past five years. 00:16:54.417 --> 00:16:58.749 Among activist circles, "ally" used to be this identity term: 00:16:58.750 --> 00:17:01.745 "I'm an ally," and you get to claim it. 00:17:01.745 --> 00:17:03.552 Almost like a noun. 00:17:03.553 --> 00:17:07.139 "Ally" is no longer a noun. "Ally" is more thought about as a verb. 00:17:07.139 --> 00:17:11.445 "Ally" is something that you earn. You do something to become an ally. 00:17:11.445 --> 00:17:13.915 You can also think about an accomplice. 00:17:13.915 --> 00:17:17.567 An ally means being an accomplice with the trans community 00:17:17.567 --> 00:17:20.505 not just sitting on the sidelines saying, "Yeah you do that," 00:17:20.505 --> 00:17:22.550 but it's being active and involved. 00:17:22.550 --> 00:17:27.583 So ways that you can be an ally involve showing up at trans events. 00:17:27.583 --> 00:17:31.144 Omaha has a large and thriving trans community and we do stuff. 00:17:31.144 --> 00:17:32.786 Feel free to come. 00:17:32.787 --> 00:17:37.694 When you're invited, we'd love to have folks come to transgender events. 00:17:37.695 --> 00:17:42.028 Speak up for us when we can't maybe do it for ourselves. 00:17:42.028 --> 00:17:45.324 Don't speak over us, don't speak for us, 00:17:45.324 --> 00:17:48.075 but sometimes it's unsafe for us to speak out, 00:17:48.083 --> 00:17:51.822 and call someone when they're doing stuff that's a little transphobic. 00:17:51.822 --> 00:17:55.235 So you might be better positioned to do that than I might be. 00:17:55.235 --> 00:17:57.668 It might be really unhealthy for me to do that, 00:17:57.668 --> 00:18:00.544 but you could do that with relative ease. 00:18:00.544 --> 00:18:05.547 And also, now that you know better, do better and help all of us 00:18:05.547 --> 00:18:07.805 not just some of us, break through. 00:18:07.805 --> 00:18:08.849 Thank you. 00:18:08.849 --> 00:18:09.878 (Applause)