"The Unleashed Voice Magazine September/October 2016 Issue"

1 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

AIDS/ HIV NEWS

After my diagnosis, it took me a while to accept the fact that being HIV-positive is not the end of the world: It’s just the beginning of a whole new way of life. The first meds I was prescribed gave me some bad side effects.

But I worked with my doctors to find a new one that was better for me. Now I feel great and my viral count is undetectable. That list of things you wanted to accomplish before you were diagnosed? It’s still possible if you stay in care and work with your doctor to find the treatment that’s best for you.

2 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

“I’ m here.

I’ m living.

I’ m happy.

So take that, HIV.” Cedric

Living with HIV since 2012.

HIV

TREATMENT

WORKS

Get in care. Stay in care. Live well. cdc.gov/HIVTreatmentWorks 3 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

24 PrEP SHAMING How To End The Stigma

20 ONE TO WATCH IN NEW YORK Visual Artist & Photographer

26 STOP EATING C.R.A.P! Health & Fitness Advice

By Mario Forte

By Geisha K.

By Justin Brown

THE

#LOVEWINS 08 LOVE, “PUT SUM RE’SPEK ON IT“ 14 FINDING LOVE

By Gwendolyn D. Clemons, Editor-in-Chief

ISSUE

By Luvenia Jackson

23 THE RACE TO THE OVAL OFFICE

By Marques Lipsey

10 FEATURED ARTICLE

16 LOVE IS A POWERFUL FORCE

27 KNOWN BY YOUR FRUIT

12 LOVE, A PROFOUND ORDER

21 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

28 AIN’T I A TRANS???

BEYOND THE BINARY

By Eddie Wiley

By Dr. Darnell Gooch, Jr.

13 I CAN’T CONTROL WHO I LOVE

By Davin D. Clemons, MDiv

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By Rayceen Pendarvis, HRH

By Kia Comedy

By Beth Trouy

By Renae Taylor

22 THE FREEDOM TO BE VERSATILE 29 TRANS-MODEL

By Martavius L. Hampton

By Dezjorn Gauthier

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November+December 2016

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Creative Designer CreativeLayout Layout Designer

Whitney Johnson WhitneyD.Johnson Editor Chief Editor

RenaeTaylor Taylor Renae

oject Manager Transgender Correspondent Transgender Correspondent

Send all stories and articles to: info@tuvmag.com Advertising inquiries: ads@tuvmag.com Deadline for ALL inquiries: October 10, 2016 EddieWiley Wiley Eddie

Editor/Contributor AIDS/ HIV Correspondent

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On the Cover: Eddie Wiley Photographer: Wiley Brown

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6 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

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THE

V

NLEASHED

OICE

MAGAZINE

“...It’s more than a magazine-It’s a Synergized Movement.”

TUV Mission

The Unleashed Voice Magazine will cultivate the stories of LGBTQ people with engaging and empowering conversation to people of the world about the multicultural LGBTQ Community.

TUV Vision

The Unleashed Voice Magazine (TUV Magazine) will aid the LGBTQ Community and its allies in redefining how the diverse LGBTQ person wishes to be viewed or spoken about. TUV Magazine will be the optimal print and media hub for the affluent LGBTQ consumer and those who want to be included in the “Unleashing” movement.

7 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

EDITOR’S LETTER | EMPOWERING CONVERSATION

LOVE, “Put Sum RE’SPEK On It!” S ometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones we repeatedly refuse to confront.

Speaking from my own personal experiences, I was forced to confront some hard life lessons about the very things I rejected and denied about myself. For years I was blind to my faults, my ill-intentions, the hardened heart I carried around, the darkness that hovered over my life, and my inability to find love, give love, and receive love.

What I now know is we don’t find LOVE! We are LOVE. The reason all of the above set up shop in my life was the simple fact that I was operating completely void of PURPOSE! I, like so many people today, was looking for tangible qualities in things and people, as opposed to developing the understanding of God’s rule for myself about LOVE. The Bible explains it simply this way in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV): 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

The honest question to this summarization of LOVE is why do we as humans refuse to follow and apply these simple instructions of exactly what love is?

8 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

Rarely did I incorporate any of the above adjectives into my relationships, whether with friend or foe. The problem is simple! We simply refuse to believe LOVE can be this easy! So we go off on this long journey of hardship, pain, betrayal, abuse, anger, control, demands, restrictions, and conditions, and some of us even place a dollar amount on our LOVE!

Love is simple; we make it hard! You cannot get love from the outside until you are love on the inside. Love is the highest expression of the God in you that you will ever share with another. In order to fully “Re’spek” LOVE we have to fully get to know love in ourselves.

Love is our identity, and not seeking to understand this missing link can cause you a lifetime of trouble.

We often claim, “I Love me some Me,” but do we really? Do you love yourself enough to put in the work required to get to know the God in you? Do you love yourself enough to stop the manic behavior we acknowledge as love but has no resemblance to the 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 description of love?

Now that I have shared with you a starting point, I will now share my transparency for healing. Once I admitted that I did not know what I was doing in my many attempts to foster a healthy relationship with myself and others, I asked for help! The universe answered by sending me the sources that could provide me with the answers I was seeking. One thing I know for sure is that the examples I had followed and believed about love had been failing me tremendously. And as the old cliché goes, “When you know better, you have to do better.” I knew there had to be more to life than the way I was living. I wanted

to LIVE purposefully and experience GOD’s fullness by basking in LOVE. Once I gained the knowledge that for every question I had about life, the answer already existed, I understood that I did not have to recreate anything because the blueprint had already been written. My job was to merely trust the instructions and follow them when they were revealed to me, “IN THAT ORDER!” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says: “Love is patient,” so I became Still, “Love is kind,” so I became humble, “Love does not envy,” so I got rid of the Comparison Curse, “Love does not boast,” so I committed my life to stewardship, “Love does not dishonor,” so I stopped telling lies. (You get the picture!)

As quickly as God cured me of most of my “DIS-EASES” LOVE walked in and married me. Once I learned to love with purpose and to only allow purpose to occupy my space, all of my past pains and confusions about LOVE disappeared.

Here’s my advice for anyone searching for LOVE and wondering why you can’t find it. I can undoubtedly assure you that the LOVE you are seeking is also seeking you. You have to be the love you want in another, nothing more, nothing less, and the universe will take care of the rest. GOD is LOVE expressed through your human spirit, and as Birdman said,

“You Better Put Sum RE’SPEK On IT.”

Gwendolyn D. Clemons Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief

| EDITOR’S LETTER

WE FOCUS ON HIV TO HELP YOU FOCUS ON

TODAY

Ask your doctor if a medicine made by Gilead is right for you.

onepillchoices.com © 2015 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. UNBC1852 03/15

9 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

FEATURE ARTICLE | LOVE

EDDIE

WILEY

SHARES HIS PERSONAL VIEWS ABOUT PANSEXUALITY

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Love

Beyond the Binary:

without a limit

I

n a world where everyone is already making fun of the LGBTQ “Alphabet Soup,” here comes even more confusion for some people. But, this time, let Eddie help you out and explain this thing called Pansexuality. Do not be alarmed if this is your first time hearing this term. It is relatively new to the mainstream, and even new to me in some aspects. For a while, even I was hesitant to come out as “pan.” After living life as a proud gay black man, I was introduced to pansexuality a few short years ago. I had always loved men and believed that women were still attractive. But because of social constraints, I believed I could not love a woman because I was gay. But boy was I wrong.

So let’s jump right into it. What is pansexuality? It’s important to note that pansexuality is just like any other identity on the rainbow. Definitions can be tailored to fit any individual.

But for the sake of this article, a pansexual individual is one who is “not limited or inhibited in sexual choice with regards to gender or activity.” I like to say that I don’t focus on sex or gender identity, but that I instead focus solely on the person. I focus on how you make me feel, how you treat those around you, and how you carry yourself. These things are not limited to the handy parts in between your legs. Simply put, “Hearts, not parts.”

Now there is no way that you will understand everything about pansexuality just by reading this article. But I’ve put together a few myths that I can debunk for you: 1. Pansexual people have a sexual attraction to pots and pans as well as other miscellaneous kitchen items. *insert side eye* This is far far far from the truth. Now I’m not one to judge anyone because love is love, and what’s good for the goose ain’t always good for the gander. But I don’t know any people with an attraction to household goods. Sure, there just might be some person out there who is crushing hard on the iron skillet that always scrambles those eggs just right… or something... but there would have to be a different term for that altogether. #iWontYuckTheirYum 2. Pansexual is a made up term to make people feel special and push the “gay agenda.”

I don’t know what agenda this is that conservatives seem to think LGBTQ+ people are pushing. The only thing on my agenda is finding a sugar daddy/mama. (Joke!) Anyway, sure, pansexuality is a term that was made up to fit an identity, just like “heterosexual” was a made up term, and even “homosexual” was a made up term. But it exists. So get used to it.

And I know people think we millennials are screwed up because we all got certificates even if we didn’t put in as much work, but that doesn’t mean we made it up. Actually, pansexual was a term that started to grow more as an identity in the early 90’s. (By this time, most millennials probably couldn’t even read, so try again!) When it comes down to it, many of

the labels that we use are not as constraining as we think. For me, using labels offers an objective approach to the fluidity of life. I’ve always been a “go with the flow” type of guy, but maturing in this day and age has shown me the importance of identifying myself so that others won’t be able to mislabel me.

3. People who are pansexual are attracted to everyone and must be promiscuous.

It has to be incredibly tiresome to be attracted to EVERYONE. But I wouldn’t know what that feels like, and neither would many other pansexual folks. While some pan people might enjoy lots of sex, it is not always the same truth for ALL people who identify as pansexual. Sexual behavior and sexual identity are independent of one another; identifying as pansexual has nothing to do with your sexual behavior. As for me, I’m more attracted to your soul than what you can do for me in the bedroom. (But that’s another story for another type of magazine.) It’s also important to note that being pansexual merely means you have the potential to be attracted to anyone -- just as heterosexual people’s attraction to the opposite sex does not mean that they find everyone of the opposite sex attractive.

4. Bisexual and pansexual are the same thing.

Although the two are not completely the same, it is safe to say that they are not completely different either. Pansexuality is the ability to have attraction to any and all genders/identities.

Bisexuality can be limited to the binary system of only male and female. As a pansexual, I have found an attraction to males and females outside of the cisgender limits. For those of you who don’t know, cisgender refers to those who identify as the sex they were assigned to at birth. For example, I am a male. I was born a male and I identify as a male. But back to the point: I have found myself attracted to several people who belong to the LGBTQ+ and even heterosexual dynamic. Trans, gay, bi, straight, intersex; you name it! The difficulty with being pansexual is that some people will still mislabel you depending on your relationship status. I have not been in a committed relationship since identifying as pansexual, but I have gotten the same questions: “If you’re with a guy, does that make you gay?”“If you’re with a woman, does that make you straight?” Just keep it simple, folks. I’m still pan.

So now that we have debunked some of these myths, I hope you have a better grasp on pansexuality. I would advise you to remain open and refrain from being quick to judge those concepts you are simply not as familiar with. And I won’t take it personally if you still have NO clue what to make of pansexuality or anything it means.

Just find me on social media and send me your questions/comments @EddiewLIVE or FB at Eddie Wiley. #YouGotQuestions #iGotAnswers 11 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

SPIRITUALITY |

DarnellGooch,Jr.

Dr.

LOVE a Profound Order

G

Pastor/Founder | Cathedral of Praise Church of Memphis, Inc.

,

rowing up mostly in a progressive Baptist church and then converting to a progressive Pentecostal church, part of my spiritual and religious upbringing did not involve addressing the issue of sexuality. It was taboo to discuss Christianity, sex, or sexuality in the same context. If love was ever discussed, then it was only discussed within the context of the historical and social hetero-normative construct. However, there was mention of love in many different facets such as what the Greek language encapsulates as eros (sexual passion), philo (brotherly love), and agape (unconditional love).

Meanwhile, love was never a topic of discussion whereby individuals could engage openly in healthy dialogue over LGBTQ issues and our LGBTQ brothers and sisters could be affirmed, accepted, and embraced rather than merely tolerated. Having a tolerance complex shaped a framework concept that fostered bigotry and hate in our communities. One could rightfully raise the question, “How did we ever come to identify hate and ignore love?” Hate is not the voice of the majority in our democracy. Though very few spew out such hate, however, it is the voice of the few that seems like it is heard the loudest.

No hate is more profound than love, for love epitomizes the trouble with our society, with so few people exhibiting genuine, unconditional love. 1 Peter 4:8 teaches us that love covers a multitude of sins, a statement that I had to learn to live by. For almost 16 years that Davin and I have been partners and now newlyweds, I can say that we are surviving together because of love. Agape love, that is. Although our eros love is phenomenal, the aestheticism of our agape love is what’s even more stunning. It is what compels me to hold him after a disagreement or perhaps laugh together when I know we should be crying. It is that ear that listens even knowing that sometimes he may be wrong. It is what kept me when I knew others probably would have left. Agape love is like glue that holds our relationship together.

It is what makes me love him beyond his flaws, and that is something greater than any other union that could ever be created.

Agape love should never disrespect love itself, for it should seek to find love even within itself -- for it is stronger than even our RELIGION. It should not be extended exclusively to the hetero-normative community but also to the LGBTQ community, as agape love is our God-given right, an extension of our very humanity. It’s who we are.

We are love because God, our Creator, is love (1 John 4:8). Ancient histories illustrated how learned behaviors have caused us to become a modern day “Cain and Able” saga, and as we endeavor to grow maturely together as humanity, our love for each other will forever live beyond eschatology.

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| #LOVEWINS

Davin D.Clemons, MDiv. Executive Editor/ Publisher

I Can’t Control Who I

Love

L

ove and happiness, something that will make you do wrong and make you do right… there’s a thin line between love and hate… neither one of us wants to be the first to say goodbye… if you gon’ walk on my love, darling, the least you can do is take off your shoes… and last but not least, is it still good to you... as the old R&B songs say.

The interesting thing about the commodity of love is that everyone has been hurt by love, and yet love remains something everyone wants. It is also ironic that the ones you love deeply are the ones who can hurt you the most. The truth is that when you are in love, you must also be prepared to get hurt. When you are in an intimate relationship, you share your vulnerabilities.

You reveal your secrets and expose the ugliest sides of your personality. You create a sacred bond of trust, and it is that bond which allows love to always emerge victorious.

Love, however, is never abstract, but always personal. It becomes incarnated when we pull ourselves close to the bedside of a loved one and seek to provide care and compassion. Love is when we hold their hand and share their pain. Love is when they say they are thirsty and we lift the straw to their lips. Love is when they feel sick and we fetch a basin, wrap an arm around their spasm-wracked shoulders, and wipe the sweat from their forehead.

Anyone who believes we are able to control who it is we find ourselves willing to endure such times with clearly has it all wrong. The sacred bond of trust that I have built for the last 16 years now has happened to be with a man, Pastor Darnell Gooch, Jr., Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Praise Church of Memphis, Inc, with whom love has always won, no matter the trial, no matter the tribulation.

The Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails….

And with that, how can love ever lose?

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#LOVEWINS | ATLANTA, GA

Finding

Love After An HIV Diagnosis Luvenia Jackson

CEO & Founder | Infinity Loves ATL

T

he question that all can’t help but wonder is how do you find love after an HIV diagnosis?

No one likes rejection, but I do believe love conquers all. HIV is no longer a death sentence, and people who are adherent to their medication are living longer and healthier lives. It is especially important that with such a diagnosis, you must love yourself first before you can love anyone else, and you must refuse to settle for anything less just because you are living with HIV. I was born and raised in Brunswick, Georgia. I knew there was more to life than what had been handed to me. I dropped out of high school at the age of 17, the same age I was diagnosed with HIV, which I kept a secret from my family and friends until last year. At the age of 18, I had my daughter, who is negative. My partner from whom I had contracted HIV had no idea. For nine years, I was involved in a relationship in which I had thought I had to settle for less due to my status, believing I would never find anyone to love me because I was living with HIV. But that was a LIE. I decided in 2012 that I wanted more out of life and that God had more for me and my daughter.

My daughter and I relocated to Atlanta that year, and in 2013 I met my life partner and got married. In late 2014, God gave me a vision to launch a dating site for individuals living with HIV/ AIDS. December 20, 2015 is when I launched Infinity Loves ATL, which is a new dating site where individuals living with HIV/AIDS throughout the world will find endless love. Infinity Loves ATL is not your traditional dating site. We have Meet Ups once a month, as well as offer short message services weekly to our subscribers, including motivational quotes and much more.

As we know, Atlanta ranks as the fifth largest metropolitan area with the highest cases of HIV and AIDS. According to the state’s Department of Public Health, Georgia has over 80,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. I hope sharing my story will give people hope and help to end the HIV stigma. The moral of my story is that you must forgive yourself and move on with your life, regardless of any diagnosis. Even if you are living with HIV, you also deserve true genuine love. I believe God did not create us to be alone but to share our love with someone special.

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HOUSTON, TX | #LOVEWINS

“He who does not show love, deprives his soul from being complete.”

By Marcus and Terence Blevins-Guinn

L

THE GUINNS’TRUTH

ove is the unity of two who share a physical, emotional, and mental bond that no one else can understand. For me and my better half, my partner, my best friend, and my heart, Marcus Guinn, Love has definitely won because being in a successful relationship means enduring some tribulations to arrive at a mutual understanding of what love is -- and yet loving someone makes your heart flutter even when things do not seem so at ease. To dig a little deeper, there is nothing like having that special someone to hold you and let you know how beautiful you are, how strong you are, how intelligent you are, and of course how you turn their frown into a smile.

Love can be hard because that special someone tears down a wall that no one else can touch. Yet the most wonderful thing about all of this is that love opens our eyes and our minds to understanding one another’s feelings. Going 13 years strong, we are still getting to know one another because every day that we spend together, we fall even more deeply in love. Sacrifices have been made, tears have been shed, but we still overcome. Love has won with us in so many ways that we thank God every day for the blessings He has bestowed upon us. We have had our fair share of evil try to divide us and what is meant for us, but that has never stopped us from moving on and giving one another the comfort we need to know that the other is there. Love is our hero!

Together, we are like Bonnie and Clyde: we ride with each other until the end of time.

We are best friends, we are confidants, and we are each other’s shoulders to lean on when we feel the world closing in on us. Our eyes glisten when we gaze at one another.

Our attraction as we dance the night away in a crowd makes everyone else invisible because all we see is one another. Our souls are like magnets that attract all of our positivity and create an enormous force of commitment. When our hearts connect as we hold one another, they grow weak with passion and sincerity.

We both have families that love and support us enough to come together and celebrate our union without any judgment, as well as three children who love us and respect us as parents. As we hold hands into Eternity, we wear our rings of commitment with Pride and Class. Love does not allow selfishness, but brings greatness. I support Marcus, just as he supports me. We are not in competition with one another, but are each other’s number 1 fan. When one of us hurts, we both hurt. When one of us succeeds, we both sit on top of the world. We even complete one another’s sentences because we know one another’s thoughts so well. I must say that I feel so complete because of all that Love has done for us, and we know that we have so much more in store.

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#LOVEWINS |

Love Is a Powerful Force

By Rayceen Pendarvis, HRH

L

ove can be one of the world’s greatest gifts, but sadly it is often suppressed, withheld, denied, and concealed. Love is for everyone, regardless of color, creed, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Yet it is often those very labels and categories which are why some love is deemed taboo or even illegal. Love is a powerful force, one which some fear.

From Lucy and Ricky to “The Brady Bunch” to the Huxtables, love – and certainly (prerequisite) marriage – was depicted as something experienced only by heterosexual couples. The only queer or non-binary people depicted were there strictly for laughs: colorful and flamboyant characters that blazed across the screen for a scene or two.

We were never given the opportunity to see them beyond the stereotypes.

Not only did we rarely see them with a mate, they were often presented as asexual. While there is much progress to be made, much has changed since then. But in those glimpses of LGBTQ life in twentieth century TV and film (the latter wonderfully detailed in the documentary The Celluloid Closet), we began to have the notion that love would win.

I thought I would never live to see an African-American President of the United States. We now have Barrack Obama, with his wife and their daughters, living in the White House, which was, as Michelle Obama poignantly stated recently, built by slaves. I also never thought I would live to see marriage equality become the law of the land.

Living in Washington, DC which is often purported to be one of the best cities to live in for LGBTQ people, my city was one

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of the first places to instate marriage equality. But it wasn’t easy. There were protests, petitions, and people preaching hate. Despite the pushback, same-sex couples were able to wed. In neighboring Maryland, voters made their state one of the first to approve same-sex marriage by referendum. But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

People still specify gay marriage, lesbian weddings, and LGBT families, when they are just marriages, weddings, and families. Love is love. Too many people are blind to that, because their hate and bigotry do not allow them to see the greatness of our love. They can barely acknowledge it, because that would require them to examine why they feel what they feel and why they were taught what they were taught. That is too bad for them, because they are missing out.

It is also another reason why we should celebrate love every chance we get.

Love is a powerful force. We love our same-sex romantic partners, which is why we demanded marriage equality.

We love our Black men, women, and children, which is why we proclaim that Black Lives Matter and protest against police brutality. We love our Transgender women of color, and that is why we work to protect them and end transphobia.

We must continue to love, because it is love that will replenish us when our struggles deplete us. Importantly, we must love ourselves enough to overcome whatever obstacles threaten to interfere with registering to vote and casting our votes in the next election, because there is so much at stake. If we allow love to motivate and inspire us, we can show the world that love wins.

Rayceen Pendarvis, known as the Queen of the Shameless Plug, the Goddess of DC, and the Father of Five and Mother to Many, is an activist, entertainer, and lifelong Washingtonian. Rayceen can be heard monthly as a guest on NYPS Network’s “Morning Tea” and seen monthly as host of “The Ask Rayceen Show” in Washington, DC. Rayceen Pendarvis, Team Rayceen, and “The Ask Rayceen Show” are on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

| #LOVEWINS

The Wind Beneath My Wings

By Latasha Peeples

I

magine a woman sitting in her kitchen when her phone suddenly rings. The woman answers the phone and the caller says, “Ms. Mitchell I have your seven week old granddaughter in my care at a motel here in Phoenix, Arizona. Can you come and get her?” The grandmother responds without hesitation, “Yes, I will come and get my baby.” The grandmother who answered that phone call was my grandmother, Addie Mitchell. The seven week old granddaughter in the care of a stranger a thousand miles away was me.

From that moment in July 1983, when she gladly boarded a greyhound bus from Memphis, Tennessee to Phoenix, Arizona to take me away from harm and raise me as her own, my grandmother never stopped showing me love and how to love. From riding a thousand miles to her seven week old granddaughter to turning a motel into a community outreach ministry for people of all races and circumstances to access for assistance, inspiration, and encouragement -- my grandmother captured the true essence of the song, “If I Can

Help Somebody”. She showed me how to love each time she didn’t have much and yet still gave to others, showing me that no matter what situation you are in, there is always someone else who is less fortunate than yourself. Most importantly, she showed me that even if you don’t have much, all you really need is love -- that with love, you can overcome any obstacle.

Even if all you have is one room, you can turn that one room into a home and an outreach ministry as she did.

Love wins in my life because my grandmother testified to love. She raised me to become an inspirational, caring, and giving person just like herself. I was LOVED by someone who genuinely cared for other people without caring who they were or what they had. Regardless of background or orientation, all she cared about was giving them the motivation they needed to move forward in their lives.

My grandmother Addie Lee Mitchell is an ANGEL SENT FROM ABOVE and because of her, LOVE WINS in my life!!

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FASHION |

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M

| MODEL OF THE MONTH

odel Brandon Avant

Photographer: Dacori Jones IG Name is 501pluscori.

Designer: of the Olive jacket is Bruce Davis Clothing Company name is 22nd Element. (IG is 22ndelement)

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ENTERTAINMENT | ONE TO WATCH IN NEW YORK

Geisha K.

A

visual artist and event nightlife photographer who currently resides in New York City, her love for the arts blossomed nearly twenty years ago, when she first experimented with black and white photography in 1997. She now specializes in long exposure, portraiture, and macro photography along with her first love of black and white photography. With over twelve years of experience, she also enjoys painting, drawing, and air-brushing as she continues to follow her passion in art and photography.

20 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

A jack of all trades and an avid supporter of LGBTQ rights, Geisha K has photographed fashion works for Mc & Co NYC, Frantzy Face Cothing, and Rainbow Fashion Week, along with candid portraits for rapper Swagga, promoter and business mentor Monick Monell, and fashion stylist Tiffany Meilin. Her upcoming projects include a Mc & Co NYC photoshoot, and the Labor Day parade in Brooklyn, NY. One of her most recent projects is a tribute to Orlando, a short thirteen minute compilation called “We Are Orlando” which can be viewed on the Geisha K YouTube channel.

Geisha K’s booking rates include $175 for 2hr photography, $450 for all day photography, and $50/ hour for videography. All works can be viewed at http:// geishak10.wix.com/geisha, as well as via Instagram at _geishak and on Facebook by searching Geisha K.

ONE TO WATCH IN ATLANTA, GA | ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

K

ia McCall Barnes, also known as Kia Comedy, is an Atlanta based LGBTQ comedian who is currently touring the U.S. with her signature “Lez Laugh” Comedy Shows. She has performed with many prominent comedians, including Luenell, Matt Rife, Comedian Shang, and TK Kirkland, and she is also the host of SVTV Network’s “Queer Comedy Jam,” which features some of the country’s best LGBTQ comedians. In spite of doing comedy for only two years, Kia has already headlined her own shows in Philly, Omaha, Miami, Houston, Atlanta, and beyond. Although her rise happened rapidly, she insists that nothing came easily.

“I’ve been told no more times than I can remember, so I began carving my own path,” she says. “That’s what it takes to be successful.”

Kia uses her entertainment platform to encourage acceptance, education, diversity, and unity in all communities. She does so by sharing her experiences growing up in church, as an educator, as number 11 of 12 siblings, and as a married lesbian in an interracial relationship in the South. “For whatever reason, I’ve noticed that the African-American community isn’t always welcoming and open to the LGBTQ community,” she says.

“I know queer comics who still lie about who they are just to get onstage… and I’ve sat through so many shows where comics’ longest jokes poked fun at gays. I think comics of color hide who they are with hopes of being accepted. It’s not that we’re not here. It’s just that so many live in fear.” Having picked up on pressure among other comedians, including queer comics, to avoid disclosing sexual identity at comedy clubs and other venues due to fear of being ostracized and categorized, Kia has opted to shun such pressures altogether. “What’s for them is for them, but representing my community is what’s for me,” she says. “So that’s exactly what I do. No fear.”

in “Curve” Magazine, the most heavily circulated lesbian To keep up with Kia Comedy, check out her website www.KiaComedy.com and visit periodical. In addition to being a speaker for “Queer her social media pages @kiacomedy on Instagram, Facebook, Periscope, Snapchat, Questions,” “That Takes Ovaries,” and Georgia Equality, she YouTube, and Twitter. is also an advocate and activist in the LGBTQ community.

Simply put, Kia Comedy is not just jokes -- Kia Comedy is a pioneer in the African-American LGBTQ comedy world.

“I think the LGBTQ community could stand something different. I’ve seen so many dancers and rappers, but where’s the laughter? It’s a comfortable way to talk about anything, and laughter heals hurt. It’s important that we’re able to come together and share moments of happiness… even while talking about some things that may not make us happy. I care about the community and my people, and I am appreciative that I have comedy as my outlet.”

The host of SVTV Network’s “Queer Comedy Jam”

With so much going on in the world right now, Kia balances being funny with addressing serious issues like police brutality and homophobia by understanding that her job is still to make people laugh, even about difficult topics. “I like to draw parallels and analogies to get back to serious issues,” she says. “I can’t have a platform and not talk about what’s going on in society. I just use my voice and gift to break the ice and let people know that it’s okay to talk about things and express feelings in mixed crowds in positive ways.”

With a few film projects currently in the works, Kia ultimately endeavors to become a household name and face. “Think: Oprah and Ellen have a baby, and that baby is the smartest, funniest woman in the world. That’s what I’m aiming for,” she says.

In fact, Kia shares that when she reveals that she’s a Black LGBTQ comic, most promoters respond positively, excited about drawing the LGBTQ crowd -- and most audiences are excited to hear about topics they’ve probably been curious about all along. “I have only had one promoter/ entertainer reject jokes about me being a lesbian and ask me not to talk about it on stage. But normally, people are happy to hear someone talk about things they didn’t know how to address, and it’s good to talk about my life and love to let people know that we’re just two people who fell in love.”

Recently, Kia also completed a Fulbright Research Fellowship to study abroad in Belize, and her research is published and implemented in American curricula, potentially in classrooms throughout the country. Kia has also had several articles published, including many

21 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

MSM |

O

THE

Freedom TO BE Versatile

By Martavius L. Hampton

nce you go versatile, you never go back!

That’s my slogan for proud, versatile (vers) same-gender loving (SGL) men near and far. As an SGL man, being vers is what makes sex for SGL men more riveting. “Started from the bottom now we’re here,” is probably the theme song for most initial bottoms who later discovered the beautiful experience of being a top for the first time.

SGL men and our sex lives. And that’s where being vers breaks away from such heterosexist paradigms.

Upcoming generations must know that identifying as a man does not mean you have to take on the “woman’s” role in the bedroom, or whatever that supposed to mean. Though more people and younger generations are coming out as being vers, I still hear some young SGL men who believe there are only two options still: top/masculine and bottom/effeminate.

First off, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being strictly a bottom or top. There are many SGL men who know what they like and are comfortable in their sexual roles, especially if they’ve experimented with both roles before. Yet undeniably, versatility is everywhere! It’s in gay porn, on sexy apparel targeted to SGL men, and it’s of course on the profiles of millions of SGL men on hook-up apps.

“Free your mind and the rest will follow...” En Vogue never lied! Labels are for prescription drug bottles and designer bags, but sex was never meant to be bound to labels or restrictions. Through time, SGL men have learned to embrace who they are, along with their sexual liberties. Sure, being labeled top, bottom, or vers may help to simplify one’s sexual selections. However, the exciting reality is that no longer are our sex lives simply black-and-white nor top-and-bottom.

Is this a new sexual revolution for SGL men? The truth is that being vers is nothing new -- it’s just that SGL men can be more open about what they like and who they are. We are living in a progressive era that challenges the outdated expectations of SGL men and their sex lives. Once upon a time were the days of rigid SGL sexual roles, but the “outness” of being vers has proclaimed sex as being limitless. SGL men probably mimicked the gender and sexual scripts of straight men and women, which resulted in what we know today as the top and bottom phenomenon.

These men and their sexual livelihoods are obviously not the same as their straight counterparts, but at least there was a flawed model that they could follow.

We must remember that we still live in a straight world where there are straight norms and expectations that still have an influence on many 22 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

Confining references to tops and bottoms typically came with these masculine and feminine connotations, but being vers doesn’t seem to have the same significance or stigma. It’s pretty interesting how some SGL men have sort of made these sexual positions into identities. A top is supposed to be this and a bottom is to be that; but then, what is a vers guy supposed to be? I would figure that a vers guy would actually not fit into such binary concepts because their actions fall outside of the top and bottom norms. Thus, a vers would enjoy the best of both worlds and fewer hang-ups compared to strict tops and bottoms. It’s true, we even have diversity among bottoms and tops, but being vers has illuminated the potential to create rainbows within rainbows within rainbows.

Although being vers may present the best of both worlds, SGL men must also be aware of the HIV transmission risk differences between those who only top, bottom, or do both. Unprotected anal sex with an HIV-infected partner is the sex act with the highest likelihood of transmitting HIV. The risk is higher for the receptive partner (receiver) than the insertive partner (giver), but both partners are still at risk. Fortunately, condoms, PrEP, PEP (post exposure prophylaxis), seropositioning (always insertive sex with partners of positive or unknown HIV status) and being in a monogamous relationship can all prevent or reduce one’s HIV risk. And what’s sex without taking care of one’s sexual health anyway?!

In the end, the freedom to be vers is a gift that holds many possibilities and surprises. The freedom to be vers is freedom itself: no constraints or restrictions, and the ability to flip-flop as you please.

Contact information: Martavius L. Hampton Manager, Sexual Minority Health mhampton@mglcc.org

COMMENTARY | POLITICAL

Race to the

By Marques Lipsey, M.A.

ver the last year, we have watched as politician after politician has found crafty ways to either coerce voters or arouse their fear. On the surface, such taglines and catchphrases as “return America to its rightful place” or “make America great again” seem innocuous, but what lies beneath is a racist, terroristic, trans/homophobic, heterosexist, patriarchal, Eurocentric undercurrent which negates any possible progressive agenda. Even the word progressive has taken on a rather incendiary tone as of late. Upon becoming the GOP presumptive nominee, Trump has managed to use incensed language that has rallied a sect of the population to chant “Make America Great Again,” which in essence means make America “White” again. Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Mike Pence, have both taken anti-queer, racist, hate-mongering, and irrevocably violent stances on issues regarding the American population.

The Republican National Convention (RNC) did nothing to assuage the fact that many Americans feel that the far right is lending itself to fear-mongering, racist, oppressive, and dismissive verbiage. The party is divided and furthers its divisiveness through damaging images of dissent and indecency. Nothing was clearer than Ted Cruz’s refusal to endorse Donald Trump during his highly anticipated speech at the RNC. Former presidential candidate Cruz urged the constituency to, “Vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and be faithful to the Constitution.”

After the speech, RNC Chairwoman Susan Hutchison called Cruz a “traitor to the party” because he only mentioned Trump once and never verbally endorsed him.

Trump promised to restore law and order, be tough on crime, bring jobs back to America, defend all of America’s citizens, and protect the 2nd amendment. He remained committed to a message that the American people were not in the fight alone now that he was one step closer to the White House. Most of the convention speakers stuck to the core values of the Republican Party, such as loose gun regulations, anti-abortion, and smaller government.

To the left, to the left, Hillary Rodham Clinton made an honorable attempt for the Oval Office in 2008, when she and then Democratic candidate Barack Obama sparred vociferously for the Democratic nomination. It was a no holds barred bout that inevitably wound up on the losing end for Hillary, who bowed out gracefully. Then she and President Clinton stomped rigorously for Obama, and for her loyalty, she was appointed to the Obama administration as the Secretary of State during the 1st Obama term. Clinton resigned during Obama’s 2nd term presumptively in order to begin her insurgence into the 2016 run for the Presidency.

Sanders gave a strong showing in many states even though he felt as if there was some chicanery afoot during the primaries regarding his acquisition of delegates.

His supposition just may have been valid considering the recent resignation of

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz. Nevertheless, Sanders gracefully conceded once Hillary gained enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Bernie threw his support behind Hillary and promised to do whatever he needed to do to keep Trump at bay. Fast forward to the Democratic National Convention 2016, during which regardless of political beliefs or affiliation, the DNC did a much better job of wrangling the issues and giving the people something in which to sink their teeth. Its guest list was extensive and addressed an array of topics that pushed a more forthright agenda than did that of the RNC. The running theme in the DNC was that America is already great with all its flaws -- that it is still a great place to live, work, worship, and dream. Nothing exemplified that more than Michelle Obama’s speech in which she spelled out why she was proud of her husband, this country, and of the legacy that Hillary Clinton, too, will leave America. Her famous lines still reverberate, revering, “Leaders like Hillary Clinton who have the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her.”

Bernie Sanders really summed up the theme of the convention in his speech, saying, “I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her here tonight.” President Obama brought the house down with sheer elocution when he spoke these words: “And now I’m ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen.

So this year, in this election, I’m asking you to join me -- to reject cynicism and reject fear, and to summon what is best in us, to elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States, and show the world we still believe in the promise of this great nation.”

O

Oval Office

The DNC knew the necessity of bringing the mothers of slain black bodies to the forefront to press the gravity of the issue that black lives matter. In addition, the DNC heralded its first transgender speaker and advocate, Sarah McBride, who spoke eloquently about the plight of the transgender community. Then there was Daniel Driffin, a gay black HIV+ man who spoke about the alarming statistics when it comes to the health-related disparities of minorities, especially gay black men.

Secretary of State Clinton closed the convention with the words, “We will defend all our rights – civil rights, human rights and voting rights… women’s rights and workers’ rights… LGBT rights and the rights of people with disabilities! America’s destiny is ours to choose. So let’s be stronger together, my fellow Americans. Let’s look to the future with courage and confidence. Let’s build a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country. And when we do, America will be greater than ever.”

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MSM - NEWS |

PrEP

Shaming

W

hen people learn that a young woman has gone “on the pill” (which is also a Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) isn’t it fair to say that people tend to make immediate assumptions about her sexual promiscuity… in spite of the realities of her actual reasons, which may be extremely personal, medical, or otherwise unique to her situation?

This is judging and shaming, plain and simple.

Shaming in this manner compounds stigma. So it would be natural for a young woman to keep the information that she is on the pill to herself.

When a gay man chooses to “go on the pill” (PrEP), once that information becomes public, a similar level of perceived promiscuity is associated. This, too, in my humble opinion, is a form of shaming, and the LGBTQ community needs to pull in the reins on this stigma, specifically among gay men.

What’s fairly unique to the gay man’s world (as opposed to that of the hypothetical young woman mentioned above), is that men on PrEP are more likely to have such information made available to the public -- and PrEP shaming, for instance in the form of perceived promiscuity, begins precisely when the word PrEP becomes publicly associated with a person. Meanwhile, some sites’ dating app profiles, which are available for all to read, now even include the option of selecting “PrEP” among

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its listed “safe sex” options. What’s worse is that some prescribers are also just as guilty of such stigmatizing judgement, which can and has created barriers to PrEP access.

Why do we make these assumptions? Is it just human nature? Or is there something we can do to preempt this kind of judgement? Let’s think about this for a minute. In 2016, do we still make judgements about people purchasing condoms at the drugstore? Maybe at one time we did, but I don’t think we do that anymore. So how come it’s considered acceptable for a person to walk around with a condom in his pocket, but conversely less acceptable for someone to be taking a pill -- when both are simply taking steps to protect their sexual health, as well as being considerate for the health of others?

I believe it’s up to those of us who are on PeEP to call people out on the invalidity of their shaming as often as possible. When people question (and they will) our reasons for being on PrEP, it’s up to us to step up, be truthful, take the offense, and educate.

Be assertive. Turn it around. Flip the question to proffer instead, “Why aren’t YOU on PrEP?” Your reasons are simple -- regardless of your relationship status, regardless of your sexual activity, and regardless of perceptions about your promiscuity, you have taken control of your risk of contracting HIV and AIDS. When someone says,

“You are taking PrEP so that you can bareback and not have to deal with condoms,” you can reply, “I’m tested every three months. I have a discussion with my prescriber about my risks. I know that condoms are the only thing between me and lots of other sexually transmitted infections, and I also know that condoms sometimes break. What’s YOUR backup plan?”

Mario Forte Prevention Chair SouthWest TN Council for HIV/AIDS Care & Prevention

COMMUNITY NEWS

LOVE Always

M

Y

L

Y

Jordan Moore- Howard Director of Communications & Development at Family Safety Center

WINS

ove is the greatest unifier and healer in this world, but too often we confuse love with other things. Relationships should build us up and help us become our best selves, but that can only happen if they are healthy. Here are some key signs that your relationship is unhealthy:

Y

1. Your personal growth cannot flourish in the relationship.

2. You feel as if the life is being sucked out of you.

3. You face extreme jealousy or accusations of cheating.

4. The conflicts and arguments just keep popping up.

5. One person has more power over the other or over the relationship.

6. You feel worse about yourself, not better.

7. You walk on eggshells to keep your partner happy.

8. You keep waiting for your partner to change or go back to the way he/she was in the beginning of the relationship.

All relationships will experience ups and downs, but these signs can be indicators of an abusive relationship. Domestic violence can take many forms and can happen to anyone. One of the most difficult things about domestic violence is that the one hurting you is also someone that you care about deeply. When those who should love and protect us the most are responsible for our pain, we often make allowances and excuses to justify the behavior. But abuse is never okay, and it is never the victim’s fault.

New Release Coming Soon

PSYCHO

Love has and will always win, but it should never hurt. If you or someone you love is in an abusive relationship, there is help. All Family Safety Center (FSC) services are LGBTQ inclusive, and we even have an LGBTQ liaison on staff. Call FSC at (901) 222-4400 24/7 or visit FamilySafetyCenter.org for more information on our services.

25 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

HEALTH & FITNESS | NEWS

S

ometimes it’s hard to determine whether you’re on the right road to being as healthy as possible, so here’s a little acronym that I like to use when it comes to evaluating food options, and I think it may help you too. I call it “C.R.A.P.” because that’s what most of you have been eating, and I think this will be a great way for you to remember how to distinguish what’s healthy and what’s not. Here we go!

The “C” is for Carbonation which is a phenomenon in which carbon dioxide gas is suspended in water, creating small bubbles. It can occur both naturally and artificially as a result of the introduction of carbon dioxide to a liquid. This is what makes soft drinks bubbly and fizzy. The carbonation isn’t what makes the drink so awful, it’s the sodium, high fructose corn syrup, and other “crap” that it’s loaded with. Carbonation occurs naturally in many fermented beverages like beer and Kombucha (fermented tea loaded with probiotics) and is a waste product produced by the yeasts which are an integral part of the fermentation process. Some people have claimed that consuming carbonated drinks will have deleterious health effects, but given that humans have been drinking carbonated fluids throughout history, I believe these claims should be taken with a grain of salt. In fact, consumption of carbonated drinks is sometimes recommended for people who are feeling nauseous, illustrating that they can have some benefits. However, you should always read the nutrition label because even carbonated water is known to be very high in sodium, which encourages your body to hold on to excess water and makes it harder to lose fat.

The “R” is for Refined foods, which are altered from their original state. During the refining process the taste of the original grain or sugar and nutrients are lost and shelf-life is generally increased. To increase the shelf-life the foods are pumped full of chemical preservatives, salt, sugar and other manmade concoctions that are not only preserving the food but are also preserving the fat on your behind!

STOP EATING

C.R.A.P!

By Justin Brown

26 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

The “A” is for Artificial foods which are any substances created artificially to flavor food products. Artificial flavoring is a specific and often complex mixture of singular naturally occurring flavor compounds combined to either imitate or enhance a natural flavor. I don’t recommend putting artificial things in your real human body.

The “P” is for Processed foods, and while the definition of what constitutes a processed food can vary slightly, the term usually refers to foods that are packaged in boxes, cans, or bags. These foods need to be processed extensively to be edible and are not found as is in nature. In addition to going through many complex processing steps, processed foods often contain additives, artificial flavorings,and other chemical ingredients. Avoid processed foods and base your diet on whole food in order to receive the most nutrition and maximize your health.

You have to read your nutrition labels. Don’t be misled by marketing, big words, and bright labels. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, then you should just leave the whole thing alone, and if it has a shelf life of more than a week then it doesn’t belong in your body! Also be weary of packaging or nutrition labels that say things like “proprietary blend,” “artificial flavoring,” “natural sweetener,” “natural flavors,” and so on. You need to know EXACTLY what you’re putting into your body.

CATHOLIC | ALLIANCE

You Are Known by the Fruit You Bear…

For Love to Win, We Must Bear It ALL!

By Beth Trouy

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves… Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.”

Matthew 7:15-20

H

ow do you feel inside when you read this verse? For most of us in the gay community, we have a knee jerk reaction of defensiveness when we hear it preached to us. Growing up, many of us heard this verse associated with the “bad fruit” of homosexuality and we silently kept our secret for fear we might be cut down and thrown into the fires of rejection and condemnation. Though we were hardly yet mature trees capable of bearing any fruit, we were terrified of being “outed” as abominations. We learned to hide and pretend and fit in and be something other than what we really were inside. We grew up with negative self-images, thinking we were innately defective and incapable of being good trees. Many of us spent years deprogramming what our churches told us. Many of us took years to find our voice, our path, and love our true selves. The sheer existence of this magazine, “The Unleashed Voice,” and so many of the LGBTQ ministries such as the Catholic Ministry with Gay and Lesbian Persons is proof of the misinformation we were taught to believe about ourselves. Somewhere in our journey, God’s voice spoke in our hearts and we awakened to the truth that we too are good trees. We too are made in God’s image and God loves us just the way we are, warts, sins and all and we are no less deserving of a seat at the table than anyone else.

It’s tempting to harbor bitterness toward those who think otherwise. It’s a struggle not to wish harm to those who preached to us and made us believe we were defective, unworthy, disordered. It almost feels justified to turn our backs to those who refuse to see our goodness and our God-given gifts we want to share with others. It feels appropriate to lash out at those who lashed out at us. It almost seems right to meet their hostility with equal intensity to rectify the injustice done to us for so many years. Almost. Except that Christ tells us otherwise.

Being good trees, we too are called by God to bear good fruit for others. We will still be known by the fruit we bear. We choose to love them because that’s what God asks of us, not whether or not they deserve it. This is especially relevant when we think of those who would legislate against us and refuse to see us as equals; those who would wrongly judge us without knowing us; those who choose not to do business with us; those who would tell us which bathroom we are to use; those who fear “other.” Yes, we are called to love ALL of them.

To hate, to lash back, to spew bitterness and vengeance is to disgrace God who made us in His image. In choosing to love, we also are living witnesses, testaments to the good fruit God has made in each of us. Our very lives become an example for those who called us “bad fruits.” Let them see, and let them learn. They will know and see we are good trees by the love we have to give.

Besides, it’s really not about them; it’s about our capacity to love as God has loved us. You see, we won’t change people’s minds and hearts by our words, we change them by our actions -- it’s our willingness to be open and honest in sharing our life stories, in loving those who would persecute us. So our very lives are reflections of the One who gave us life. When we make the choice to offer not our backs but our cheeks to those who would spit on us, we show the enormity of God’s love freeing us from the sin of hatred by loving even our oppressors. This is bearing good fruit; by living as witnesses for Christ and serving as branches to His tree of love. This is how we change attitudes and win allies – by touching their hearts with love and bearing it ALL. Love always wins.

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TRANS-MOVEMENT |

Trans???

Ain’t I A

H

ere lately there’s been a recurring theme in my life. Strangely enough, people seem to want to force me to conform to some hetero-normative image of what trans people should look like. However, I consider myself a non-binary trans person, a blend of the masculine and feminine within one human being. I am beyond gender. Gender is a social construct, confined to a binary that some of us actually do happen to exist beyond.

I believe in the existence of more than two genders, which is not as uncommon of a concept as you might think. For instance, some Native American and Asian cultures believe in five different genders. In fact, in those cultures, those existing beyond the gender binary were revered as spiritual leaders and sacred shamans. It was not until Judeo-Christian principles asserted that these perspectives were wrong and imposed their religion onto the populace that these notions became a problem. But I’m not here to discuss theology; that’s not my specialty.

However, I do specialize in advocacy for the trans community, and I don’t believe that “fitting in” needs to be a prerequisite for acceptance to happen. I embrace my differences, which make me special in a world of people trying to fit into that proverbial box.

I was at a statewide conference last year, and I took someone with me who wanted to enter the HIV prevention field. I walked up on a conversation where a “friend” was telling her that If I looked more like her, he would find working with me more realistic as trans representation. Of course, I pretended like I hadn’t

28 TUVMAG.COM | SEPT+OCT 2016

heard a thing -- but the words hurt nonetheless. Being rejected by people often drives my dysphoria and makes me question my existence in society, but I never imagined missing out on opportunities to work on behalf of the trans community because I’m somehow not trans enough.

While I’m doing the work, I don’t know any other trans person committed on the level I am, and yet there is this stigma attached to the trans community that divides us. I often find that my work is not supported locally because I don’t fit into the perfect image of being trans. I am not promoted when documentaries are shot here, nor am I acknowledged in local media during coverage of trans events or issues. Meanwhile, I’ve also been told that there are no intelligent trans people in Memphis to speak up publicly on our own behalf -- not my words, but someone else’s, and an obvious slap in the face. Yet I am nevertheless exploited as good enough to pump for my information and my connections in the trans community. I have even been at conferences where I’ve had to watch my own presentation be delivered by a cisgender female because I supposedly do not fit the image expected of such a presentation.

I even get it from the trans community, from trans women whom I call my sisters. “Why don’t you live as female?” they ask. “Why am I forced to assimilate to make people happy or comfortable?” I ask. The cost of transitioning is financially draining if you don’t have the resources. I may not be “full-time” after almost ten years of hormonal therapy, but that doesn’t at least allow me entry into the membership of the sisterhood?

By Renae Taylor

I continue to get it from trans people who want me to fit into what society dictates as what is beautiful as trans. So, I’ve got to have on a wig and dress to earn your respect as a trans person? Some days I don’t feel glamorous, so I like t-shirts and jeans. Some days I might not shave or put on make-up. Does that invalidate my trans-ness? Does that invalidate my humanity? I have told you who I am, don’t you believe me? It is not the job of a trans person to make you comfortable. It is not the responsibility of the trans person to keep explaining themselves to society. Some ish just is what it is!

M

odel Dezjorn Gauthier

Dezjorn Gauthier, 25, started modeling at just six months old. He began his physical transition shortly after partaking in the well known Barneys New York campaign of Spring 2014 featuring 17 transgender models. Today, he is managed by the world’s first transgender-specific agency, Transcendence Icon Company. His clothing line “I am here, I am he LLC” aims to bring awareness to the transgender community through education, empowerment, and inspiration. Dezjorn graduated from Marquette University in 2013 with a degree in Criminology, Law Studies, and Sociology and currently attends Washington University School of Law. Photographer: Armani Dae

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COMMUNITY - NEWS |

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| COMMUNITY - NEWS

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TRANS-MOVEMENT Our time is NOW! Model: Dezjorn Gauthier Photographer: Aym Icon of Transcendence Icon Company Want more of the Unleashed Voice Magazine?

SCAN THE QR CODE

for instant access!

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