Identifies as: Queer stone femme Latino trans*man. * "I am super careful to include the asterisk because it symbolizes every identity within the term transgender."
Pronouns: He/his
Life's work: "Creating and continuing advocacy, support, and resources for the trans*/queer communityespecially for those of color. I'll be in graduate school working on a PsyD in Clinical Psychology this fall, with a concentration in queer studies."
Neighborhoods: Schaumburg and Pilsen
Jobs: "In addition to running and facilitating SQS, I am also resident cartoonist at xQsi magazine (a multimedia LGBTQ Latin@ publication). I am a public speaker, often at college campuses, and am a soon to be board member of Pride Call Inc., a LGBT hotline based in Woodstock. You can also catch me at Starbucks and Wal-Mart, where I work at each part-time for a total of forty hours a week."
When did you start questioning gender?
"I was fourteen when I first experienced dysphoria. One of my closest friends had come out as gay and that word/identity had never come up in my family. I come from an old school Chilean family. I used the internet and read as much as I could. When I read these booksof all identities and backgroundsI identified the most with male narrators. I literally had no words to describe that, so I decided I was confused (like my family was telling me) and left it at that. I didn't think about it again until I was seventeen, and I didn't find out the word for transgender in Spanish until I was twenty. I haven't always been trans* and I've never felt like I've been trapped in a wrong body. I'm proud to say that I love my body and honor my female experience."
What is the best thing about being trans/ gender-variant?
"One of the best things about being trans* is the experience you get from seeing gender on both ends in our system. That's really what makes up my comics--like one year my naked chest is illegal and the next year no one cares. Another part is being part of the trans* community, which is so diverse and passionately insistent about acknowledgement. We have so many new words and narratives we can describe ourselves with and find others like us--it's an exciting time!" I think being trans often forces the issue."
Do you have a coming out story?
"I think I've been every letter in LGBTQ. My family flipped out when I came out as a lesbian, and I frequently depended on school and my friends to escape problems at home. So coming out as a queer, femme trans*man, which involves an explanation of gender on top of sexuality, that was even more complicated. I've been homeless a handful of times, but thanks to my fabulous friends, extended family, and my two beautiful sisters, I got through it. I'm back at home and everyone is trying their best. I just had my first shave last night and my father helped! I'm gradually becoming hijo de la casa (son of the house)."
To nominate a person for T in the life, email: Kate Sosin sosin@windycitytimes.com