A Hippo conversation

If you don’t know me in real life you don’t know I have a chosen sister who’s been such for 20 years. From the beginning of our relationship to now she’s been a staunch and true friend always on my side, always cheering me on. She was the first family member I came out to.

This is not another post about being trans (although every day is certainly an adventure in my world), but it’s about privilege. It’s also about navigating privilege.

Since coming out as male I’m the epitome of privilege. I’m a white man. What I posted online yesterday was, “I was able to buy a new laptop with my own money. I’m typing this from a car I’m $3,000 away from owning outside the roof over my head. I am the privileged.”

Now it’s a question of what to do with this privilege. I need to get to the top surgery part of it. Trans will always be the way I am, but getting rid of, as my sister calls them “milk bags,” will lessen being trans and make me more male.

When that happens I’ll be the most privileged in the room because I’ll be a white man with a roof, a car, a job.

As we are all firmly embroiled in the 2024 US presidential election cycle (whether we want to be or not) this will be a time to fully accept, acknowledge, and act on my privilege. I may not go door to door (thanks introversion), but maybe I’ll do some phone banking or just writing letters to the editor. It’s time to use my privilege for good.