The Goodnewspaper The Pride Edition 2023

I always knew there was something up. But growing up in the south, I didn’t have the slightest understanding or vocabulary to describe why I knew I was different. I grew up in a cookie-cutter suburban world, where boys acted like boys, and girls acted like girls, and boys chased after girls, and girls let them. Kids in my school threw around slurs and words they didn’t even know the meaning of. And being born to two Chinese immigrants in a very white city, in a conservative state, I was taught that staying hidden and staying quiet meant staying safe. Although that was only 10 years ago, I’m so proud of how much my world, and the world as a whole, has changed since then. I heard the way my…

Their game? Hockey. Their mascot? A unicorn. In Minnesota’s Twin Cities, the first regional chapter of Team Trans has taken the ice. Initially established in Boston in 2019, Team Trans is an ice hockey league of transgender and non-binary players from around the world. In late 2021, some of its Minnesota members decided to form a Twin Cities chapter, which now hosts 100 players, ages 18 to 50s, including 30 to 40 regulars who skate yearround. The team splits up into various groups based on skill levels and scrimmage against other teams from college or adult recreational leagues. Team Trans Twin Cities makes the ice a safe place for trans and non-binary people, who are often excluded from athletics — especially in their youth — keeping them from fundamental community,…

Gender-affirming surgeries have the power to help trans and non-binary folks access the freedom and authenticity they truly deserve — but that doesn’t mean those procedures are without discomfort. Just like any other healthcare procedure, there is a natural recovery period that definitely requires support and care that not all LGBTQ+ folks have access to. And that’s when the beauty of community care comes knocking at their door. T4T Caregiving is a grassroots collective of trans caregivers and doulas who provide post-op support to other trans folks recovering from gender-affirming surgeries. With both local and traveling caregivers, T4T offers customized support to all clients. This can range from meal preparation, bathing and dressing, medication reminders, and other household and medical tasks, to finding the right surgeon, patient advocacy, facilitating family…

As a trans non-binary queer person who has long struggled with their own body image, photographer Terry Rickman found that LGBTQ+ bodies and stories were majorly underrepresented in photography. This led to his gender-affirming portrait business: Proud Family Portraits. “You’ve probably had portraits taken of you at some time in your life,” Rickman’s website reads. “I would bet you haven’t had portraits taken that encompass you.” His portfolio is filled with portraits that elicit all kinds of emotions: Vulnerability, joy, power, confidence, acceptance, celebration. Whether folks wear colorful outfits, or opt to embrace nudity or wear a few less garments, all photos have something in common: They hold each subject in high esteem. This kind of photography is not just beautiful; it is fundamental in including and affirming folks who…

GOOD Sometimes, exploring gender outside of our preconceived ideas can be intimidating. Start by compassionately leaning into the stories of trans and nonbinary folks. Visit translash.org for media all about protecting trans lives. BETTER Donate your time, energy, and funds to organizations that protect trans folks and provide resources for allyship. Explore a list of organizations to support across the U.S: them.us/story/orgs-fighting-back-anti-trans-legislation BEST Show up for trans folks by participating in your state legislature. Call your representatives, testify at hearings, and protest at debates for bills that would harm trans people. Visit aclu.org/action to get started.…

Anthony Khangi Thanka is a Two-Spirit member of the Sicangu Lakota, Oglala Lakota, and Northern Cheyenne Nations and has grown up on the Pine Ridge Reservation, one of the most impoverished reservations in America. Their identity as a Two-Spirit individual, someone who has a gender identity outside of the Western binary, is a nuanced one. Prior to colonization, Two-Spirit people were held in high esteem in their communities, but after centuries of violence and assimilation, they are now vulnerable within Native communities, as well. On the Pine Ridge Reservation, rates of familial rejection are heightened, alongside crises of housing, substance use, and suicide. Thanka, along with organizers and nonprofits, has created the first-ever Two-Spirit Camp on the reservation. “The idea for this camp was to take a traditional young men’s…