A letter to my trans friends

To my fellow trans friends (you are all my friend)

I see you.

I may be writing from far away, but my heart is with you, especially during these truly unimaginable times. (Holy fuck). To every trans person feeling the weight of the world - please stay with us. Please choose life.

You're part of a brilliant and amazing community that has faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles before and emerged stronger. When they try to erase our stories, we will write new ones. When they try to push us into shadows, I know we'll shine brighter.

To the young trans people feeling scared and uncertain: Let our history be your armor. Learn about the pioneers who paved these paths before us, the ones who refused to be silenced. Read about every time our community has risen up and declared that... "We exist. We persist." I want you to study how we have created families of choice when biological ones failed us. How we've built underground support networks, safe houses, and communities that have sheltered generations. How we've survived through mutual aid, through art, through love, through sheer stubborn determination to live in our authentic self.

You are not a mistake. You are not wrong. You are not alone. You are part of a legacy of strength, of beauty, of resistance. Your existence is an act of courage, and your life has value beyond measure. To those struggling to see tomorrow -- we need your voice. We need your story. We need your future. The world becomes more beautiful and true with each of us who stays to live another day, who stays to fight another battle, who stays to celebrate another victory.

You are loved. You are important. You matter.

And to those who would rather see us disappear, this community has persisted and survived before and I know we'll survive this too. Our joy is our strength and our resistance, and we're not going anywhere.

Cheers from the other side of the world,

A.J.