Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Quotes

“effort was made to select short pieces, quotes, and art that represent the diversity of trans communities. We have inevitably failed at this goal. Most of the authors live in the United States or Canada. Many are middle or upper class, and many are white. There are stories that are not told here—voices that are not heard. If one of these voices is yours, please consider completing our online survey or sending your suggestions for the next edition of this book to info@transbodies.com”
― Laura Erickson-Schroth, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community

“I think that what causes people to be transgender is having an enlightened view of the world. Trans people are people who can imagine different possibilities, who can question the things that others simply accept as being unquestionably true, and who have the strength of character to act on their convictions even without support from other people.”
― Laura Erickson-Schroth, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community

“Although I may have been faintly aware that I had questions about my gender identity and my sexual orientation, I buried those ideas so deeply that I wasn’t aware of them. I developed the most toxic form of masculinity to stay closeted instead.”
― Laura Erickson-Schroth, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource by and for Transgender Communities

“it is that change comes with the potential for growth as well as loss. In the midst of the crisis, we discover who we are—our courage, our will to live, the hope that gives birth to whole new ways of living and being with one another.”
― Laura Erickson-Schroth, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource by and for Transgender Communities

“Some of us see ourselves as people born with a unique birth defect, one that can be “cured” by the intervention of the medical profession, and think of that journey in terms of physical transition. Some of us see ourselves as people who want to celebrate the fantasy aspects of gender, who want to enjoy the sense of escape and joy and eros that embracing an alter ego sometimes provides. Some of us see ourselves as people who reject the medical community and who are less interested in winding up at one gender destination or another than in the journey itself, a voyage that may or may not have a clear end point. Some of us hope to free ourselves from the binary poles of gender, want a personal and political liberation from the tyranny of culturally defined gender markers, and wish to express ourselves as we please, anywhere along the wide spectrum.”
― Laura Erickson-Schroth, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community