As young transgender changemakers, we’ve been lucky to do some amazing things. Our faces have been featured on the cover of The Advocate magazine,we’ve been honored at the GLAAD Media Awards, and we’ve spoken as the next-generation workforce to corporations around the globe. When The Advocate asked us to serve as red-carpet reporters at the 2024 Out100 event, we were so excited and honestly unsure of what to expect.
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Nothing could have prepared us for the outpouring of love and community that we experienced or the amount of hope it gave us.
Standing on the carpet with a Bluetooth microphone in hand, it was easy to be in awe of the honorees. We may be trailblazers in our community, but really, we’re everyday young people who have stepped up to share our powerful, positive stories, focused on helping change misinformed opinions about young transgender and nonbinary people.
The next few hours proved to be some of the most inspiring we have ever experienced and brought about a feeling of hope for us at a time when so many of us needed it. We were honored to speak with Cynthia Erivo, Harper Steele, Zaya Wade, Marissa Bode, Channyn Lynne Parker, Nava Mau, Gabrielle Union-Wade, and countless others who are changing the world every day with their work and actions. Each person we interviewed happily took the time to talk with us about their support of transgender and nonbinary young people, and we were lucky enough to be able to record these messages of hope to share with the rest of the LGBTQ+ community who were not on the carpet with us that evening.
As we reflect, we are going to turn the mic back to ourselves for a moment.
Courtesy GenderCool
Personally, the themes of self-confidence and perseverance made the evening incredibly powerful. It was special for me to talk to Gigi Gorgeous. Gigi shared with me, “Being here at night like this really reminds me to be inspired that there are like-minded people here because sometimes you can forget that. I would just say to anyone who’s going through that … that, I love you, and I’m here for you. There are tons of people here for you, and just believe in yourself!” Meeting one of my role models reminded me to keep spreading my own positive message so that I can be that leader for the next generation.
Another experience that stood out was talking to Harper Steele from the recently released documentary Will & Harper. Harper told me, “Let’s try to remember it’s been a long battle, and there are many people before us, who have done a lot of work for us, and it’s still continuing.”
Harper is such an incredible reminder about how important it is to remember to laugh and to find humor in our lives even in tough times.
Courtesy GenderCool
For me, the highlight of the night was meeting Cynthia Erivo. I’m an actor, a singer, and a huge theatre fan. Witnessing this powerful queer woman discussing her experience as the star of one of the top films of the yearis something that I will take with me for the rest of my life.
One thing I love about Wicked is that it explores how it feels to sometimes not be accepted as your authentic self by your peers, the resilience it takes to overcome this oppression, and how magical it can be to ultimately accept yourself for who you truly are. I know those themes resonate with a lot of my young transgender and nonbinary peers.
Courtesy GenderCool
We are thriving with the loving support of friends, families, and communities, but it’s still not easy to be a young transgender person right now. So, as we enter this coming year, we carry the famous words sung by Cynthia Erivo in Defying Gravity:“It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap.” And with this beautiful community behind us, we have so much hope that we are not alone in this world and will always be supported no matter what the future holds.
