Testimony by CLAIRE LOUISE SWINFORD, Age 43, Arizona
About #LoveTheMirror:
A new photo campaign, developed by blogger and activist Jes Baker and shot by photographer Jade Beall, features men and women explaining why they are going to commit to self-acceptance and loving what they see when they look in the mirror this year.
Hey friends! You want us on Instagram, and we heard you! Follow @wearealloutto meet other people fighting for love and equality around the world. Tag us in a selfie with the hashtag #weareallout and tell us why you’re going All Out and where you’re from to be featured.
Together, we’re a movement. We hope this page lets people worldwide – gay, straight, lesbian, bi, trans, everyone – get to know each other a bit better and meet the faces behind the petitions.
Follow @weareallout on Instagram to meet others like you around the world. Tag us in a selfie with the hashtag #weareallout and tell us why you’re going All Out and where you’re from to be featured!
Okay, one more, this time from an event held for activists working on Decriminalizing Sex Work in Manhattan! I’m with the incredibly inspirational trans woman, Ceyenne Doroshow; one of her very fabulous entourage; and one of the very greatest cis allies a trans girl could want, Veronica Vera!! (Who was incredibly sweet!)
Did you know that Boston, WBZ Helicopter Traffic Reporter, and BumbleBee Radio Founder & DJ, Kristen Eck and I went to high school together?!!? We were even friends and in overlapping friend groups!! Though neither of us had any idea that the other was trans. We aren’t even the only trans people I know who are alums of our high school!!!! I swear, Barnstable High School has something in it’s water…. Anyway, these are a couple of shots from when I interviewed Kristen at Fantasia Fair in Provincetown!! (One of the oldest, continuously running trans events in the world!)
A very visible Yankee Trans Woman in her natural habitat! Growing up on Cape Cod, there are few things I love more than the beach in winter. This was just after New Years in Provincetown, and moments before Becky proposed to me.
Supercool Trans People at the GLAAD Media Awards in NYC, some number of years ago! Of course, my favourite other trans woman, and partner in comedy, Tammy Twotone!! And the incredible Scott Turner Schofield, who was very nice! You can probably tell from our general expressions, it was not a half-bad party, not bad at all!!!
#tdov #trans #nonbinary #intersex #genderqueer #gendernonconforming #transdayofvisibility #transgender #transsexual #transexual #transwoman #activism #visibility #transvisibility #glaadawards #glaad #transforwardcomedy #TWIST #transman #transwomen #comedians (at GLAAD Media Awards, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbyVbBsO9R7/?utm_medium=tumblr
That time I moderated the post show interviews for “Trans Scripts” at the American Repertory Theater. Including the all cast Audience Talk Back after the last show! Sharing this stage with so many amazing performers, trans women and queer cis allies, was one of the greatest honors of my life so far! This was Trans Visibility writ large!
I love, love, LOVE this photo of the time @coreyxmore and I hosted the Holyoke Youth Pride Prom together!!!! They had this delightfully cheesy setup for couples photos and well, we just couldn’t resist!
Here’s a press photo I took of my old friend and Activist Powerhouse, Mason Dunn; speaking at the Boston City Hall Pride Flag raising to kick off Pride Week in Boston. I believe this was the year we got Trans Public Accommodations passed. I was essentially proud as both a photographer and activist to have gotten this photo of Mason giving a passionate speech, with Governor Baker, who signed the law with a little fanfare as possible, in the background!
(Still and all, thanks Gov. Baker! You might not have been excited to sign the law, but you did it! Which is a damn sight better than the horrible anti-trans laws some other governors are actively trying to pass. I’ll take quiet allyship over vocal hostility any day!)
#tdov #trans #nonbinary #intersex #genderqueer #gendernonconforming #transdayofvisibility #transgender #transsexual #transexual #transwoman #activism #visibility #transvisibility #mapoli #transrights #allyship #activists #massachusetts #boston (at Boston City Hall Plaza) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbxx-S-uZTM/?utm_medium=tumblr
Relaxing after a panel with two of my favourite trans elders (and good friends!) Ben Power and Reverend Louis Mitchell. (And two incredible queer allies!) Ben and Louis were and continue to be two of my biggest inspirations in the Trans Rights Movement (and generally, as people). You may not know them, or realize it, but we all owe a lot of where we are now to these two trans pioneers specifically, and our trans elders and forebears generally.
This incredibly freaking cool and very pretty trans woman!!!!! A photo from one of the last in-person Noho Pride Marches of the before times. Violet marched with Team ClearHeels 413 and me in support of Sex Worker Rights! Seeing her always brightens up my day!
I can’t remember who the human in the middle was, but the lovely lady on the left is Deja Nicole Greenlaw, my column top at The Rainbow Times for many years!!! She and I shared a opinion column page, here on the top of the pages and me on the bottom. (Settle down out there ya mugs!) And Deja is maybe one of the most positive people I have ever met!!!! An old friend, I have so much love for her!!!!!
What a better way on this early morning of the Trans Day of Visibility, thanks to start it out with some Trans Joy with my improvisational-sensational friend Rocky Lane!!!!!!
All day long today, or at least as much as I can manage while I do all the other things that need doing any average day, I’ll be posting some of my favourite pictures of my favourite trans folks, famous, notable, friendly and fierce and perhaps too often unsung. (and also, more me!)
As the very hope of the Trans Day of Visibility approaches, I summon all trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming peoples, Out Into The Light!!!! Show Yourselves!! That You May Be SEEN!!!!!!
(Anyway, but I’m not really magic, just good with photo editing, and we’re all actually pretty much in the visible spectrum, pretty much of the time. It’s just y’all who sometimes seem to forget to see us….)
Show up! “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen,” @brenebrown #DareToLead I am so grateful for the work that @glaad does to give visibility to the #LGBTQI+ community while protecting our rights and giving us a voice. Thank you @diverstar for inviting me to be your guest at the 30th #GLAADAwards and for allowing me to have a seat at the table. Congratulations to @donlemoncnn @janellemonae and @poseonfx on your well deserved awards. #Courage #Visibility #Black #Gay #WorldOfWilbekin #WOW #NativeSon (at New York Hilton Midtown) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxGuGQJpa0T/?igshid=jum6z7um9hr1
When I was little, probably about seven or eight, there was a house nearby mine. It was a little out of the way, a street I’d never go down usually, but when there was traffic we’d take the back route to get home. Now, one of these houses had a very brightly lit front room, and out of the norm for houses in the area, didn’t have any net curtains for privacy. Maybe they wanted everyone to see in, like my family and I did. Hung up in pride of place in this room was a framed portrait of a very, very topless woman.
My family found it funny, and so did I. It was tasteful, not pornographic, so my parents had no problem in pointing it out to my brother and I, and chuckling about it. I really, really found it funny. It always brightened up my journey to see it, because it was so funny. I’d request that we go that route home, not saying that I wanted to see the picture again, and sometimes we did. I just loved seeing that painting.
Either these people changed the painting, or moved, but at some point she no longer hung there. I’d still ask to go that way, and I’d still look in to that window to try and spot the painting, but it wasn’t there any more. I still automatically look if I ever drive past it.
I didn’t know back then that I was gay. I was too young to be sexually aroused by anything, and I certainly wasn’t having any meaningful crushes on boys at school (Seven of Nine is another matter - her hair was just sobeautiful). But when I look back, I can see my sexuality was there, dormant. I didn’t realise I was gay until over a decade past that.
I never learned about LGBT people in my sex ed lessons, only through rumours and gossip. If I was never taught that it was normal, that it was a genuine thing and not just something dirty or other, how was I ever meant to recognise it in myself?
Little queer children exist: not letting them learn about themselves, or pretending they don’t exist, doesn’t make them go away.
Many of you may remember that in 2019 the hashtag #asexual was trending on Tumblr. So far in April and September I have tried to get “Aromantic” trending. Unfortunately, these two efforts did not work. People didn’t have a chance to prepare or know about it. I’d really like to get #aromantic trending so here’s round 3!
There were also people concerned that there isn’t a lot of notice, but to a certain extent that’s the intent. Think of this kinda like a flash-mob. This should be aided by the fact that it’s also aromantic awareness week!
Who: Everyone! It doesn’t matter if you are aromantic, a positivity blog, LGBTQ+, or anything. All are welcome to participate!
What: This is an effort to get #aromantic trending. You can contribute by creating posts and using #aromantic as well as reblogging other posts, especially from aro people!
These post can be a wide range of things, they can be positivity, art, pride edits, informative, memes, or other various things. As long as they are relevant to aromanticism and have the #aromantic, you’re good!
*Please be sure all posts are relevant to aromanticism or the aro spectrum.
Where: Tumblr, but I’m sure posting stuff on other sites wouldn’t hurt.
When: February 16-17th, 2020 (You can start scheduling posts now though!)
Why: There’s a lot of reasons why, but one of the biggest is that quite honestly, we leave out aromantic people. They are spoken over, they do not receive the same recognition that asexual people do, I’ve seen both through my experiences and surveys that they are less likely to be included in the community. They have different stigmas attached to them.
There’s also an issue of people posting things that are said to be “aspec” but only apply to aces or things tagged as #aromantic that only apply to ace people. We need to start giving recognition to aromantic people.
In addition to this visibility is extremely important. You might assume that this hashtag trending is a worthless endeavor. But in many ways it’s not - it opens the door to learn about a term and learn about themselves. Just the other day I mentioned aromantic to someone, and after explaining it to them, they said “hey, that sounds like me.” It starts a conversation that could be eye-opening for many people.
*This is by no means all that should be done for the aro community, but positivity never hurts.
So please, join me in posting on Feb. 16-17th, and please reblog!
