Creator of Transgender Flag: 'I Fear for Our Youth'
Transgender Awareness Month marks a time to celebrate the history and perseverance of trans and gender non-conforming people and uplift our voices and experiences.
But we face increasing legislative attacks against our health care, history, and existence. As the creator of the Transgender Pride Flag, I fear where I may safely fly our flag.In 1956, at the age of five, I prayed for God to turn me into a girl.
The word “transgender” wouldn’t be created and popularized for another 20 years. I couldn’t even read or write, but I knew I had been born in the wrong body.I hid my identity for over four decades but at the age of 48, I finally began living the truth I knew at five years old.
But after accomplishing a number of important victories in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, today’s right-wing extremism threatens to drag us back to an America of the past — one in which I wasn’t free to be myself.Back in the early 1960s, few people would dare to talk openly about LGBTQ+ issues.
