Identifies as: Genderqueer
Pronouns: they, them, theirs
Hobbies: Vegan cooking and baking, spending time near the lake, singing, drawing, performing and crafting.
Life's work: "I personally am passionate about issues of gender, sexuality and sexual health and would like to spend my life in a helping profession doing the work that will make the greatest positive impact around these issues."
Job: "I am currently serving a year with the AmeriCorps AIDS United Team Chicago, I work at a local non-profit organization doing HIV testing with homeless and precariously housed youth and adults throughout Chicago."
What is the best thing about being trans/ gender-variant?
"I spent my teenage years as many young women do- stressing about fitting in and attempting to change my body to meet society's standards and expectations of a young woman. Once I came out as genderqueer, I felt free of all the pressures and expectations placed upon men and women and felt like I could finally just be myself.
Do you consider yourself an activist?
"In college I was very involved in activism, I performed and organized quarterly GenderF*ck Drag Shows on my campus, I lead a queer activist student organization that worked to make trans-inclusive policy changes with the University and I was part of a group that worked with local and statewide government to promote positive sexual health legislation. Since moving to Chicago I haven't been as involved in activist pursuits, and I definitely miss it."
What issues outside of the queer community do you care about?
"I believe that every issue is a queer issue. The queer community is so diverse that any issue impacts our community in some way. That is why it is important to fight for changes on an intersectional level. One issue that I have become passionate about is homelessness, through the work that I am doing here in Chicago it has become abundantly clear to me that homelessness is definitely a queer issue and it is important to have support from the queer community in the fight to end homelessness."
What do you think are the most important issues facing the trans/ gender-variant community?
"Different issues affect different parts of the community in different ways. It is hard to say what is the most important, but a problem that I see are the divisions within the community among race, class, education, and gender. I believe the trans and queer community could and should be much more united."
