Blog
A surgeon for WWI and WWII vets also helped a trans man
The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris. Harold Gillies “never shied away from a surgical challenge ,” Fitzharris writes. Gillies agreed to perform phalloplasty for a trans man in the late 1940s.
Trans kids are found in history, too
Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson. Adults should acknowledge that ‘trans childhood is a happy and desired form .’ It’s not a new phenomenon. It’s ‘richly, beautifully historical.’
Did lady pirates button their shirts?
Yes. Art you may have seen to the contrary wasn’t realistic. Just because you’ve seen a naked image of a trans person doesn’t mean trans people walk around naked. Pirates too were motivated to button their shirts.
Yep, I read the ‘Atlantic’ opinion essay on trans kids
Where exactly is the kid’s ‘difference’? How hard are you looking for it? Assuming it’s possible for a boy to feel gender-conforming or gay, why should it be impossible for the same kid to feel trans or like a girl?
What does drive the boat? On truth
Miscellaneous reflections on truth, flowing through me. I like to think my own versions are truthful. And why not other versions too? That to which others testify is likely to bear truth.
Moses is trans
My trans teaching for Passover. In Exodus, the Egyptian king assumes that men are a threat and that everyone can tell which babies will grow up to be men. Just look at the baby, he says.
‘Black Hole Science’ experiments to stay warm after snow
My second entry for the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon. A college course that excited me was on religious themes in literature. My favorite part of ‘Black Hole Science’ is called ‘Lives of the Saints.’
Thank you for the strange fiction of ‘Rainbear!!!!!!!!!’
My first entry for the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon. Living past hope, everything matters and nothing matters. This doesn’t make sense, so it’s tough to resolve it. But this book drills into it.
Avoid amplifying lies, using the ‘fact-warn-explain-fact’ pattern
Dream and achieve. Not ‘dreams and lasagna’! Dream and achieve. The sign says sueña y logra: “dream and achieve”. Not “dreams and lasagna”. Speak the truth, then explain the misunderstanding. It’ll stick better.