Category Archives: Trans

Transgender issues, including nonbinary

Conflicted thoughts on Thanksgiving

[Image: An activist at a Stand with Standing Rock rally in San Francisco holds a sign reading “Protect the Sacred”.]

Today’s post on Medium, “Conflicted thoughts on Thanksgiving“, is about reconciling the celebration of the holiday with the continued oppression of marginalized humans and the killing of animals. Please follow me on Medium if you aren’t doing so already, thanks.

Trans resistance and resilience

[Image: Mikaela Kendrick sings at the 2017 Transgender Day of Remembrance event at the San Francisco LGBT Center.]

Today’s post on Medium, “Trans resistance and resilience“, is about the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. I attended and took photos at Monday’s event in San Francisco. Please follow me on Medium and help amplify trans voices.

To see and be seen clearly

[Image: Self-portrait of the author wearing glasses.]

Today’s post on Medium, “To see and be seen clearly“, is my perspective on the necessity of medical treatment for gender dysphoria. This story is for Medium members, but non-members with (free) Medium accounts get three free members-only stories a month. My Patreon supporters also get access to exclusive drafts. Please share and help amplify trans voices for Transgender Awareness Week.

Respecting trans lives on Wikipedia

[Image: Four people stand on a stage in front of a screen reading “Trans Day of Visibility – Embracing Our Legacy.”]

Today’s post on Medium, “Respecting trans lives on Wikipedia“, features two new biographies of trans women, and tips for writing about trans people on Wikipedia (and elsewhere) accurately and respectfully.

Reminder to readers: Please follow me on Medium if you aren’t doing so already, thanks!

Validation, not victory, for non-binary Californians

[Image: San Francisco City Hall, lit in the pink and blue colors of the transgender pride flag.]

Today’s post on Medium, “Validation, not victory, for non-binary Californians“, is about this week’s passage of a California law to recognize non-binary gender identities and streamline legal gender changes.

Reminder to readers: Please follow me on Medium if you aren’t doing so already, thanks!

Presenting at Inclusivity Conference

[Image: Headshot of Pax (by Ziggy Tomcich) with the words “San Francisco Bay Area Inclusivity Conference – Prioritizing Harm Free(dom) For Our Future”.]

Update, October 15: This conference has been postponed; see explanation on Facebook.


Next weekend, I will be presenting at the Inclusivity Conference, hosted by Vegan Leadership in Oakland, California. In my presentation, I will discuss gender diversity, giving basic education on transgender, non-binary, and intersex terminology, and suggestions on how cisgender people can demonstrate allyship with the community.

I’ll also show photos I’ve taken at events in the San Francisco Bay Area, highlighting the role of queer and trans people of color in social justice movements, and discussing how vegan ethics have informed my activism and political outlook.

The conference is on October 21 and 22, 2017, and will be catered by S+M Vegan. Other featured speakers include A. Breeze Harper of the Sistah Vegan Project and lauren Ornelas of the Food Empowerment Project. My talk is scheduled for October 22 at 1:30 p.m. You can get tickets to the event (sliding scale), or donate to help with expenses, at the conference web site.

Assimilation or extermination: The lies of the “LGBTQ” president

[Image: Marchers in the Resistance contingent of the 2017 San Francisco Pride Parade hold various signs supporting trans, black and brown folks, and immigrants.]

Today’s post on Medium, “Assimilation or extermination: The lies of the ‘LGBTQ’ president“, is about the erosion of the rights and dignity of LGBTQ people by Donald Trump and his administration, after Trump lied about supporting the community during his campaign.

This is a post for Medium members only, but non-members get three free members-only stories a month, and my Patreon subscribers get access to exclusive previews. Please follow me on Medium if you aren’t doing so already, thanks!

Celebrating our sisters: Trans women of color on Wikipedia

[Image: Janetta Johnson of the TGI Justice Project speaks at the 2016 San Francisco Trans March, accompanied by members of El/La Para TransLatinas.]

Today’s post on Medium, “Celebrating our sisters: Trans women of color on Wikipedia“, highlights three new biographies of notable women I’ve created for the Women in Red initiative: Leyna Bloom, Elle Hearns, and Victoria Cruz.

Reminder to readers: I am considering moving to Medium as my primary publishing platform. Please follow me there if you aren’t doing so already, thanks!

Victim and survivor: Stalked by a trans-antagonistic sociopath

[Image: Pax  at the 2015 San Francisco Trans March in Dolores Park, wearing a purple Trans March hoodie and looking over their shoulder. Photo by Chris van Breen.]

My first members-only post on Medium,  “Victim and survivor: Stalked by a trans-antagonistic sociopath“, describes targeted online harassment I endured for several months last year. Content note: Trans-antagonism, graphic sexual references, and discussions of suicide and child abuse.

Reminder to readers: I am considering moving to Medium as my primary publishing platform. Non-members get three free members-only stories a month, and my Patreon subscribers get access to exclusive drafts. Please follow me on Medium if you aren’t doing so already, thanks!

Connecting with Wikipedians at Wikimania

[Image: Wikimania panelists discuss movement strategy during the Wikimedia 2030 keynote.]

Last week Ziggy and I traveled to Montreal to attend Wikimania 2017, the 13th annual international conference for editors and users of Wikipedia and related Wikmedia projects. My trip expenses were funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation via Whose Knowledge?, a campaign to improve the representation of marginalized people on the Internet. It was great to connect in person with more members of this group.Wikimania Whose Knowledge panel[Image: A panel of Whose Knowledge? members at Wikimania: Michael Connolly Miskwish, Stan Rodriguez, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, and Anasuya Sengupta.]

Siko of Whose Knowledge[Image: Siko Bouterse presents on the Whose Knowledge panel.]

Sadly, a fair number of people were denied visas by Canada for this event, and this included several Whose Knowledge members. One of them, Azra Causevic, joined the presentation by live video link.

Pax and Sydney at Wikimania[Image: Pax speaks with Community Advocate Sydney Poore following Pax’s presentation on harassment. Photo by Ziggy.]

I gave a talk during the WikiConference North America pre-conference to the main Wikimania event. As I blogged about previously, my presentation, Facing Defacement, described my efforts to combat harassment of users on the English Wikipedia. The talk was well-received, and I connected with several members of the Wikimedia Foundation anti-harassment team, who I hope to work with in the future.

Aside from my presentation, my proudest moment from the trip was confronting the president of the ACLU, Susan Herman, who gave one of the keynote speeches. As freedom of speech was a major topic of study for me in college, I was right with her up until she started discussing the controversy over the scheduled appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley. Herman referred to “echo chambers” and students only wanting to hear from people who thought just like they did.

As I’ve written previously, as a member of multiple marginalized groups, the phrase “echo chamber” causes me great irritation for a number of reasons. For the purpose of brevity in Herman’s Q/A session (which was already running overtime), I said that speaking as a black trans person, people like myself have felt targeted and threatened, particularly since the November 2016 presidential election. I argued that a university that championed gender and racial diversity and aimed to provide a place of relative safety for their students should not be obligated to welcome this speaker inside their halls (as opposed to allowing him to speak outside, in the true “public square”).  You can watch my response (and her reply) starting at 1:16:43 in the video.

It’s sadly ironic that the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, during which a domestic terrorist (“allegedly”) killed activist Heather Heyer with his car, happened on the same day as this talk. The neo-Nazi apologism from Donald Trump in response to this rally has raised my stress level to the point of physical illness (compounded by the stress associated with the international trip, and the subsequent, unrelated terrorism in Barcelona). There is a difference between supporting free speech and supporting incitement to violence.

Cute plushie[Image: A representative from the Cuteness Association sits on a table on the main stage.]

The trip wasn’t all stressful, however. I enjoyed connecting with people from all over the world and learning useful information, such as how to nominate photos for quality status on Wikimedia Commons. While I felt too worn-down and overwhelmed to explore Montreal beyond a four-block radius of the hotel, Ziggy spent plenty of time out and about in the city.  Going through security and customs at both airports also went smoothly, which was a relief.  I hope that I will eventually become more comfortable with traveling so that I can attend more conferences like this.

My photos from WikiConference North America and Wikimania are available on Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. Please credit me as Pax Ahimsa Gethen if you use any of them, thanks!