about

The freedom to be left alone

wildflowers silhouetted in sunlight in a field

We should have the choice, but we don’t always have it. In the past, when prompted to think about whether I’m ‘out’ or ‘queer,’ I’ve thought about the transgressive sense and about the meaning of visibility.

The system always leaves someone out

turntable for vinyl records

It doesn’t mean the person is strange. Any time we make a system of classification, someone won’t fit. This exclusion might say more about our need to classify people than about them.

Baldness isn’t just physical

A bearded man wears a button-down shirt with floral embroidery. He's playing a banjo and is wearing a large hat, so you can't tell if he's bald.

It’s also performative. Labels describe how we live. Even when they describe reality, they’re about perceptions and performances. How we live interprets who we are.

When labels don’t feel right

three women walk hand-in-hand down a path by a meadow

She had two moms, and she didn’t like the word ‘straight’. If we have a stake in a shared outcome, we might avoid declaring how we’re different and separate from others, especially to imply our superiority.

‘Cis’ or ‘biological’?

two silhouettes shaking hands by the water's edge

They’re both adjectives, but we have preferences. No, ‘cis’ doesn’t imply that trans people are better. ‘Cis’ implies that trans people are equal. People who object to this equalization are transphobes.

Biologicals first!

person sticks out tongue (close-up)

OK, said the pack of hungry tigers. A slogan like ‘Biological first!’ might not work out so well for them. If we’re tied up by hungry cartoon tigers, our best bet is to untie each other.

‘Labels are for cans,’ yet you do see ‘trans’

trees casting blue shadows over a snowy landscape glowing red in sunset

The ‘soup can logic’ of using ‘trans’ but not ‘cis’. When people aren’t comfortable observing that some people are cis, often their discomfort rests in a belief that trans people aren’t people but soup cans.