Emylia N. Terry's Coming Out Today Is Easier Than Ever

I want to begin with the myth, “Coming Out Today Is Easier Than Ever”, and how it ties into misconceptions of transwomen, such as, "Once a boy", "Use to be a boy" touted in headlines and articles as the universal ideology of being transgender. In Emylia N. Terry’s thesis paper, “An Exclusionary Revolution: Marginalization and Representation of Trans Women in Print Media (1969-1979)”, she writes that; “ excluding marginalized trans women and writing about trans women in a hostile or sensationalistic way arguably leads to the dehumanization of trans people, or the invisibilization of voices from the historical record, which has contemporary consequences”. (Terry, 2014) The telling of other people’s histories and stories in a sensational and

Additionally, far from voicing the marginalized concerns of ‘other’ they offer everyone, regardless of gender identity and opportunity to better understand the nuances of human existence and inspirational potential of living beyond gender stereotypes.”(Vivienne, 2011) So to begin the ‘girls like us’ hashtag was started in protest against the Miss Universe Canada pageants reversal of Jenna Talackova. Talackova was competing in the Miss Universe Canada pageant in 2012 and in March the organization reversed her title because as it stated Talackova lied on her application and wasn 't a "naturally born

Remarkably a few more women…some well-known, others not…shared the petition and began sharing their stories of being un-real, being called out, working it, fighting for what’s right, wanting to transition, dreaming to do this, accomplish that…” (Mock) the hashtag had a life of its own. But, sometimes the story isn’t like Jenna’s, with Gloria Allred ‘the attorney to the stars’ in your corner. This is not to say Talackova’s triumph over this moment wasn’t important and noteworthy, but it’s also important to acknowledge that not every transwomen gets that ending. Coming out isn’t always easy mentally or emotionally for the majority of LGBT identifying people. The levels of difficulty on each person; stability/instability could cast some intersections (race/class/religion) as unstable. It’s not only coming out, but living as Laverne Cox and Janet Mock usually say “living in your truth” that could literally be a life and death situation and the difference between having a place to live and being kicked out of your home at a young