Today, May 17, as the world marked IDAHOT 2019 (International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia), I spent the day in Bangkok surrounded by my new transgender family. In just two months of travel, I’ve already befriended an amazing community of activists from across Southeast Asia. This blog, TransWorldView, is where I’ll be sharing their stories and my experiences as I continue to travel the world solo as a transgender woman from the United States.
This journey truly began twelve years ago, in 2007. Back then, as the only transgender woman at Swarthmore College, I spent many of my days feeling desperately alone. I was shy, awkward, and didn’t go out to many parties. I had some gay and lesbian friends on campus, but I didn’t really fit in with them; they were loud, confident, and knew who they were. Gay visibility was growing in the United States; there were TV shows, celebrities, magazines, and the fight for same-sex marriage was gaining steam. But transgender people were still largely invisible in the media, and transgender community was hard to find outside of the rare conference.
What I did have to give me hope though was a book. This book was about a college campus full of transgender women. A campus where transgender women could live together, find love, and find heartbreak, form friendships, and form fierce rivalries, and always know they were not alone. This wasn’t a mythical place like Hogwarts though. This was a real campus in Northern Thailand — Chiang Mai University — and the book was called Male Bodies, Women’s Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth. Unlike anything else I’d ever read or seen, it let transgender people tell their own stories unedited, and it collected enough stories to give a picture of not just a collection of isolated individuals, but of a community. Even though the transgender students at Chiang Mai University faced harsh discrimination, and many were scared about their future after college (something I related to), the book nonetheless gave me inspiration for a world where transgender people didn’t feel alone.
I am in Thailand today largely because of Male Bodies, Women’s Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth. That book helped give me the confidence to become a professional transgender advocate, building transgender community in the United States through my work with the National LGBTQ Task Force, Trans United Fund, and countless grassroots campaigns. Now, I am here in Thailand to begin a new stage in my advocacy career. I am here to begin a journey collecting stories about transgender people around the world, in order to contribute to building a more connected, more powerful worldwide transgender community.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from over a decade of activism, it’s that stories can create change. The problem is, transgender people too often have to fight for the ability to share their stories on their own terms. And too often the stories that get told about them are filtered through cisgender (non-transgender) editors. Even well-meaning cisgender researchers on transgender communities bring biases they may be unaware of — in fact, I’ve discussed this very topic with the authors of Male Bodies Women’s Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth, LeeRay Costa and Andrew Matzner, and they have encouraged me in doing my own research and have given me lots of friendly advice.
I started this blog to be a place to share the stories of transgender people with an intentional transgender perspective. I believe transgender people are the best experts on their own lives. When I can, I’ll be sharing their stories in their own words, and I’ll also be seeking out transgender guest-writers and co-editors. The blog began two months ago when I arrived in Bangkok on a one-way ticket, and I originally named it “Trans In Thailand” as I intended on just focusing on Thailand. But in those two months, I’ve heard amazing stories by and about transgender people from all over the world from tourists, refugees, and expats in Thailand. I also quickly realized that I wanted to continue traveling far beyond Thailand. On May 2 I began with a five-day trip to Singapore. There I interviewed June Chua, the co-founder and executive director of the country’s only transgender homeless shelter, the T Project, and I soon will share her story in this blog.
TransWorldView is also meant to be a resource for other transgender people who want to travel the world. If stories can build deep empathy and connection, travel can be absolutely life-changing. For years I was terrified of traveling as a transgender woman. It took me nine years after reading Male Bodies, Women’s Souls: Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth to actually go to Chiang Mai and Bangkok in 2016. On that trip I cemented friendships with amazing Thai transgender activists like Kathawut “Kath” Khangpiboon, who I got to celebrate IDAHOT 2019 with today at the LGBTI Business Conference. However, that 2016 trip was actually my second attempt at going to Thailand – I canceled my first planned trip to Thailand in 2010 after experiencing a severe panic attack and a prolonged bout of depression related to my fears of facing discrimination in a place far away from the supportive community I’d built in the US. Even though I’m much more confident now, the anxiety about “traveling while transgender” doesn’t ever entirely go away, and yes, I’ve faced some discrimination during my travels. But I’ve also built supportive community, and gained some really fascinating insights on how other cultures understand gender.
As I’ve researched all the places where I want to go next after Thailand – and I have a long list — I’ve noticed that there’s practically no other travel “experts” out there who are transgender. Because of that, I’ve recently taken up learning about the travel industry, including taking a professional course on travel blogging from Nomadic Matt. I’ve found the professionals I’ve connected with to be quite welcoming and encouraging about my desire to be a travel blogger writing with a transgender focus, and I’m learning a lot. I look forward to TransWorldView soon being a place to find both stories about transgender people, and stories and advice about traveling as a transgender person.
I am also excited to announce that soon I will be collaborating with students here in Thailand, something I only dreamed of 13 years ago while at Swarthmore College. Today during the IDAHOT 2019 LGBTI Business Conference which I attended, I met several Thai LGBTQ advocates who are part of Thammasat University’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies M.A. Program. Together we were able to discuss many ideas for future projects documenting the transgender community in Southeast Asia. In addition, I may have a chance to present some of my activist work to current students.
With that long introduction, welcome to my new website, TransWorldView! I have tons more content lined up, including more coverage of today’s IDAHOT events in Bangkok. If you’re interested in supporting this blog, a great way to do so is by becoming a monthly subscriber to the TransWorldView Patreon page for as little as $1 a month. Members of the Patreon page receive some fun thank-you perks, get access to extra content, and have the opportunity to give early feedback on the blog as I develop it. That said, I’m always open to feedback and new ideas, so please do comment, and reach out to me on Twitter and Instagram. Thank you!
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