Max Alexander, musician, former educator and community activist, recently spoke at a panel event celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility, or TDOV.
“People see trans people as this big enigma, and when they see that we’re real people, it helps them to understand and to be in our corner,” Alexander said.
March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility, a time chosen to honor the experiences and achievements of trans people.
The panel, hosted by the Dallas Social Queer Organization, or DSQO (pronounced "disco"), took place recently at the Irving Archives and Museum.
In an interview with KERA, Alexander contextualized the moment by pointing to larger forces at play.
“These laws have directly impacted my life," he said. "I had to give up my career that I've worked for since I was a kid because of the bathroom law that passed, not because of anything that I did.”
Transgender activist and psychotherapist Rachel Crandall-Crocker started Transgender Day of Visibility in 2009 to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people, pushing back on broader narratives centering violence against them. It’s not uncommon to see trans people posting selfies and making public remarks on TDOV.
Three panelists from the Metroplex and a moderator from Southern Methodist University offered their thoughts on fostering community against a backdrop of new state and federal policies that, they said, have made life harder for many trans people.
Rapid changes to federal policy have profoundly impacted many trans people’s day-to-day lives. On the first day of the second Trump administration, the president signed an executive order targeting trans, nonbinary and intersex people, making sweeping changes to how the government recognizes and serves these individuals.
Nomi Imon grew up in Dallas and was recently crowned Miss Gay Dallas USofA. When asked for her advice to other trans people, she recommended taking time to learn and grow as individuals, and to push forward “everything that’s authentic.”
“I feel like self-love is kind of cliche, but we cannot be there for other individuals if we don't find things that we love about ourselves," Imon said.
During the panel, Imon told the audience she stays visible intentionally, using her platform as Miss Gay Dallas USofA to take what’s in her mind and put it onstage.
“We all should be visible, you know? But to be visible we have to be outside," she said.
In Texas, trans people are currently prohibited from using restrooms in public spaces that align with their gender identity and from changing their gender markers on state documents. As recently as last year, the state had compiled a list of more than 100 people who sought to change the gender marker listed on their driver’s licenses. According to The Texas Newsroom, it wasn’t clear what authorities were doing with that information.
Fort Worth community organizer Aubrey Campos pushed for action to protect trans rights.
“Make a change," Campos said. "Show up in November, go vote. I think that is very important if we want to go in the right direction.”
But Campos told the audience there's more to it than just voting. There’s an economic angle, too.
“We have to know where our queer dollars are going," she said. "Like, I will advocate for you all day long, especially if it's a queer-owned business.”
The event was moderated by Emma Bluestein, coordinator for the Women and LGBT Center at SMU. Bluestein said trans joy means having space to be “authentically yourself.”
“We’re often told to minimize ourselves, and that's hard, and that’s painful," Bluestein said. "Joy, to me, is really being able to bloom in a supportive environment and find those people who are your community -- who are your trellis, to use a gardening metaphor."
One of the panel’s organizers, DSQO director Javier Enriquez, said the panel presented a space for people, whether part of the LGBTQ+ community or not, to hear directly from trans leaders, organizers and artists in the DFW area.
“I think because of everything that is going on, this event is even more important. It's about visibility, and to prove that visibility is invincibility," Enriquez said.
Got a tip? Email Andy Lusk at alusk@kera.org.
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