The late Mark Aguhar wrote a legendary poem called “Litanies to My Heavenly Brown Body.” There are many lines that strike with boldness. My favorite verse is “BLESSED ARE THE SEX WORKERS.” Rarely are we considered blessed. Who controls who receives the blessings in the world? I’m grateful for this beloved artist for writing this…
KB AKA Tuffy
In 2022, I circled back to some of the participants of this series to ask them if they would like to update their profiles, or expand a little more on how the events of the last few years have affected them. Here is KB’s response – How was your experience participating in this project? This…
Sam Dylan Finch
A big part of my transition has been confronting this sense that I was “too much” for this world. Too loud. Too emotional. Too queer. Too sensitive. Too neurotic. I have carried this kind of heaviness my whole life, and this compulsion to make myself as small as possible has led me to some dark…
Quiver Watts
I chose the name Quiver because it is a motion caused by strong emotion as well as a holder for arrows, and I am both tenderly emotional and fierce. Most of my days are spent putting together the Street Sheet, a newspaper written and distributed mainly by homeless/low-income people in San Francisco. By night I…
Jesse
Being homeless in San Francisco is weird as hell. There are a lot of resources available, but they’re just completely inaccessible to most people who need them. Everything feels stagnant. Even if someone tries to engage with some of these resources, like homeless youth organisations, it’s impossible for them to get anywhere because of obstacles…
Athena
Growing up I considered myself male-adjacent (what might now be called a demi boy). Eventually I gave that up for genderqueer, which is something I still identify with. I have complimented that with a few other off-the-rack gender descriptions: non-binary, gender fluid, and trans woman. However, I feel like a bespoke gender is the best…
Mateó
I am an indigenous qtpoc from Colombia. I come from the Muisca people and we were known for offering our deities (the sun and the moon) art in return for their magic. Through visual art, I found an outlet to express myself authentically starting at a really young age. Film is my first love. I…
Iris
Since transitioning it’s felt like everything I think, want or do is political, and there’s always a right answer I search for. Taking a step back, I think that sense of responsibility, that I usually feel as a burden, is also a reflection of the power I have to represent the trans community positively. I’m…
Kel
I was a girly tomboy theater kid all through my childhood and teenage years, which in many ways foreshadowed my identity now. I loved the aesthetics of stereotypical femininity- heels, lipstick, pink, glitter- but felt resentful at best towards many aspects of womanhood. I came out as a queer cis woman in my early 20s…
Ari
Coming out to myself was so much more gratifying than coming out to society. First, I gave myself license to dress and act exactly how I wanted, and then it was like I took that away when I labeled myself outwardly. I was suddenly so concerned about presenting nonbinary, which because I am AFAB, meant…