I thought this was an interesting and inspiring article. At first glance it seems to be mostly about her experience as a trans woman rather than as a Japanese woman, but then she mentions that she was born in the internment camps and suddenly you can see how it informs both her need for bringing justice and her compassion for marginalized groups such as homeless trans youth as well as other ethnic groups. There was one point in the article that I was a little leery about at first, where she says “I am Muslim, I am a Jew, I’m Black…”, but I think she meant it as a “I relate to their struggles because of my own experiences and I stand by them in the face of adversity” rather than that she is literally part of those groups because she interacted with and assisted members of those groups in the past.
I was surprised when she was describing her experience with coming out as trans to her colleagues and clients, because she says she didn’t have many issues and most people were fine with it. At first I assumed that she must have had people who were awful about it and just wanted to forget or gloss over how bad it was, but I think part of the reason I thought that is because the narrative around coming out as trans always involves lots of resistance and hatred. While such hatred might unfortunately still be common, it isn’t the only reaction possible, and I think it’s important to remember that.
May 3, 2019 at 1:40 PM
I really enjoyed this article you chose. I think your last sentence summed it up perfectly, her coming out to her coworkers went smoothly, but some people are sadly not so lucky. Her experiences make her a great advocate for others who are facing the same obstacles; she has knowledge and experiences to share.