Many in the trans community are fed up with L.G.B.T. organizations that continue to erase trans identity or just give lip service to trans issues. We need our cisgender allies - gay and straight - to treat transgender lives as if they matter, and trans people need multiple seats at the tables in the organizations that say they're interested in L.G.B.T. equality; this absence has been painful since Stonewall.

I think transwomen, and transpeople in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms. A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you're supposed to be to live a more authentic life.

By doing the work to love ourselves more, I believe we will love each other better.

It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist.

We live in an uncertain world and we want to believe that what a man is and what a woman is-I know that. And people don't want to critically interrogate the world around them. Whenever I'm afraid of something or I'm threatened by something, it's because it brings up some sort of insecurity in me. I think the reality is that most of us are insecure about our gender. They think, 'Okay, if there's this trans person over here, then what does that make me?

I've been realizing lately how horribly vain I am. I do believe that if I'm successful, it's because of my talent and intelligence, but there's pretty privilege in the world - that's a reality. When I was a kid, in middle school, I started going to thrift stores and dressing myself. It was about announcing to the world who I was. That's what fashion was for me, as a kid. You might have an idea of who you think I am, but I'm going to tell you through my fashion choices who I am.

The preoccupation with transition and with surgery objectifies trans people, and we don't get to really deal with the real lived experiences.