By Gracey Lillian
Hello Friends!
My name is Gracey (She/Her)
First I wanted to say thank you to Bailey and Alexa for creating such a wonderful space for the LGBTQIA+ community to come together and talk about shared experiences.
In light of Trans week of Visibility I wanted to bring awareness and support to The Trans, Non-binary, and Gender Queer community as often they are left out or overlooked when discussing important topics pertaining to the LGBTQIA+ community specifically how do I as a cis-gendered person educate and become a support system to my trans friends, family members, and Partner?
A lot of times people don't know where to start when finding important information or even go about becoming an educated support system and as someone who is constantly surrounded by Trans folks in my life the first step I would say is to just listen because everyone's experiences and lives are so different from one another. Listening to your partner or friends and family when they are speaking about their lived experiences can be one of the best tools you can have as an ally.
And from there is where you can do research on some things that might not quite grasp onto because it is also important to remember that at the end of the day it is not every Trans, Non-binary, or Gender Queer person to educate or explain specific things, as it can be triggering or confusing for them to de-construct to every cis-gendered person that asks. I find that there are many amazing content creators on the internet whose platforms consist of Trans education whether that be about Top Surgery, HRT, Mental Health Support, etc. @alokvmenon @officiallyverygay @claygaiken are a few that I have found very educational for me when there are topics or questions I have that maybe my partner or friends don't feel comfortable answering or I don't feel is appropriate to ask them.
At the end of the day, it is important for cis people like myself and others to want to be educated and supportive of the ones we are so close with and the first step is to just be open to the idea that we don't know everything but we can take the time to become educated because the more people educate themselves the more we are inclined to hold empathy and compassion.