One of the things I've long been aware of in my 15 years as an activist is visibility matters. One of the long conversations I had with Kortney, Carter, Sean, Lawrence, Diwa and many of the brothers during my trek to Dallas last month for the Black Transmen Conference dealt with the subject concerning their frustration about the lack of Black transmasculine visibility in the trans community.
Just as we've had to deal with in the Black trans feminine community about the trans narrative being dominated by white trans women for the last 60 years, the transmasculine narrative has also been dominated by its focus on white transmen as well.
We don't get to see them represented or talked about in the overall transmasculine narrative, much less have regular discussions about what their issues are. That needs to change.
One of the things I was extremely happy about was seeing that my transbrothers are working diligently to address that visibility problem. Kortney's award winning 2008 movie :Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen was a major step in that direction (and is still available for purchase) .
And yeah, you have to check out Kortney's blog Blac(k)ademic for thoughtful posts on trans and other issues from a Black transmasculine perspective.
As the founding executive director of TPOCC Kylar Broadus has been an increasingly visible role model for the Black transmasculine community along with Rev Louis Mitchell and Carter Brown of BTMI.
BTMI is cultivating a group of leaders that you will be hearing from in the near future on many levels around the country as they do their parts to become the change they want to see in the world.
They are introducing the world to a group of intelligent, thoughtful (and handsome) Black transmen who are defining what it is to be a man on their own terms and in addition letting people inside and outside this community know they exist.
And as their sister I couldn't be happier to see my brothers stand tall and own their power..
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