Ep. 7 - Pre-transition as drag and creating safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth with Tez Figueroa
#7: This episode’s guest is Tez Figueroa! Tez (he/they/el/elle) is a writer, educator, and advocate who has served LGBTQ+ youth in Texas. You can find Tez on Instagram @unapologetic_scorpio
Links/resources in the episode:
Barrio Writers
Equality Texas
txtranskids.org
Gender: A Graphic Guide by Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele (*affiliate link)
The Titan Games
ACLU of Texas
Lambda Legal
Texas Freedom Network
PFLAG
Everyday Trans Activism is a production of Parents of Trans Youth, a social impact business providing learning, support, and community to parents and caregivers of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse kids.
Host Mandy Giles (she/her) is the Texas parent of two transgender young adults and a fierce advocate for trans kids, their families, and the transgender community.
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
Mandy: Hey y'all, welcome to Everyday Trans Activism. I am your host, Mandy Giles. My pronouns are she, her, and I am the parent of two transgender young adults and the founder of Parents of Trans Youth. Today's guest is Tez Figueroa. Tez is a writer, educator, and advocate who has served LGBTQ+ youth in Texas.
And last spring, Tez and I spent many, many long hours together in the Texas Capitol fighting anti-trans bills during the legislative session, so we have logged many hours together. So Tez, welcome.
Tez: Hello. Thank you.
Mandy: Thank you so much for talking with me today. Can you introduce yourself and however you want to do that?
Tez: Sure. Just like Mandy said, my name is Tez Figueroa. I use he, they, el, and ella pronouns in Spanish and it's wonderful to be here.
Mandy: So gosh, I have so many questions for you already. I'm thinking a lot about the advocacy and education work that you did in your last position. And it was so incredibly important, particularly during the legislative session. And that's where we saw each other a lot last year. And it was a rough, rough, rough and you were there like every day I was there, you were there and probably you were probably there almost every single day.
Yeah. I know that you are obviously capable of doing the work, and you're an incredible writer. And so the, you know, writing the testimonies and being there. I would imagine maybe I don't know if that was a struggle for you at all to keep up with all that, but mainly I was wondering how that experience, that intense, incredibly emotional experience may have affected you.
Tez: Just again, like kudos to every amazing, LGBTQIA+ Texan and everyone, I think the nation was also watching us and yourself. I mean, you drove in to be with us, which is incredible. Just to gift your time like that. If I was your kid, I would be like heart eyes, heart eyes, heart eyes, like, look at my mom do the best.
So I just, I want to make sure to say that so that the people know and yes, I do think about how it affected me. A lot. And I think honestly, like a lot of people, it was maybe not my first brush with activism, but definitely my first brush with being there during a legislative session in Texas.
And since then, I've just kind of learned that we advocates really need to advocate for our own almost like advocacy trauma support groups, and I wish that there was more of that awareness for me when I went into it and also afterwards, and so I think it's been really difficult mentally.
There's a bit of stages of like hopelessness, and despair, but also the beautiful community that came out of it. I'm eternally grateful for the, like the lifelong friends that I've made. But it's definitely made me feel like, okay, everybody's who went there is likely also feeling a bit of the anxiety, depression what have you that comes from that? And so I do think that a lot of advocates are still reeling from not just this session, but also the 1 before that too. And so I, you know, I, I really hope that with this new Gregorian new year that it brings a lot of people hope. And I think this the podcast launching is gonna be amazing for that. So thank you for doing that labor. Because I do think that we you know, the, the one thing that like advocates must hold on to is hope and that's not something that I don't want to call them the opposition because I hope one day that they're friends.
But that other folks who aren't seeing our side right now can they can't take from us. Right. So yeah, I'm definitely taking care of myself throwing myself into my community my family, my pets. And so yeah, it's been better since I've, I've started, you know, definitely actively going towards more healing.
Mandy: Yes. I heard a lot of my story and what you said also I know for sure I was started getting active in the 2021 session, and I had no idea what I was getting into. I was really exciting at first, and it still is to me, but I was like, yeah, this is so great. And I'm just going to do everything I possibly can.
And then afterwards, it's like, why am I so tired all the time? And why is my body tired? And it was like an emotional hangover kind of, and what I learned from that session is it's okay to not be sprinting all the time and that I had to treat this kind of thing as more like a marathon and not a sprint and not being an athletic person at all, it's more like limping along. And that helped me a little bit more in this session, but still it's hard. And I think like you as well the community is really a gift, an absolute gift out of all the shit that's been going on the past, like three years, basically. The, like the 2021 session, the awfulness of the directive in 2022, and then this past year's session in 2023, that was a wonderful gift to be able to meet people from all over Texas and to get to spend more time with you and, and get to spend more time with my family and us all to, to experience that together. and I'm, I'm glad that you're, that you're healing and recognizing that too and taking, taking that time cause I know that that can be hard to recognize that and actually take the time to, to just sit and breathe. So good, good for you. Yeah, one thing also was going to ask you about, I know you've done a lot of work with youth and the last position you had focused on LGBTQ+ youth and your work with Barrio Writers and teaching, what has drawn you to working with youth?
Like, have you just kind of fell into that, or is that something you're drawn to?
Tez: It's really just been one of my kind of natural, almost like magnetic pulls ever since I was a youth, it always seemed like there's always a youth in the room who needs a friend and maybe I was that youth. Sometimes that was like, no one's maybe playing with me. My birth name is like a Spanish birth name, and I think, being racialized in that way could often lead to me feeling like an outsider. So that's probably a lot of the reason why I was active and wanting to just include other kids who might be feeling that way. And I think that translated into college, especially when I was a grad student at Texas State and teaching first-year composition and then was introduced to the founder of Barrio Writers teaching those summer and spring workshops like with historically - don't wanna call them disadvantaged - but put at a disadvantage youth.
And it just felt very powerful to, you know, to focus on, embody writers in a text by BIPOC writers, by marginalized writers and artists because that wasn't something that I had the gift of having when I was growing up, and it probably would've changed a lot of my growing up I had, but I do think it was working at at the high school I worked at from 2019 to 22, where I realized working with you know, being, being out as a, at that time like nonbinary faculty being a part of the, one of the facilitators for their GSA, and then being one of the facilitators for their anonymous lgbtqia+ affinity group.
I just realized that my queer identity was extremely central to how I showed up in the world. My trans identity was really central to how I showed up in the world. And I just, after, leaving that position, I knew I wanted to really focus on working with lgbtqia+ youth. And it makes sense, right?
In almost every category of the place, the institutions that these youth are in LGBTQIA+ youth are always at the top of the high risk. And I hate that. Right. Because I always think they're like the top of some of my like, like, most favorite folks to be around. So there's a great need there. And so, yeah, I just felt very, very compelled to seek out positions and agencies and folks like yourself who understand how important it is to work with LGBTQIA+ youth to make sure that their voices are empowered and heard out in the world and that there are safe spaces for them to exist just like any other kid.
Mandy: I'll have to tell you, and I don't know if I've told you this before, but, my kiddo went to that high school, as you know, and y'all kind of missed each other or you, I think you were there together like one year, I don't remember, but anyway,
Tez: about one year.
Mandy: For Indigo to know you were there and out and visible was so exciting for them. They're like, mom, there's a nonbinary teacher this year. Like, oh my gosh. Yay. Yay, school! Um, it just, it means so much. So my kid was one of those kids that you made a difference, even not even teaching them. So, so thank you. And I'm, I'm so it worked what you were doing.
Tez: Thank you. we don't need to know that we made a difference, but it's always so nice. Of course, I'm human. And I do love getting these little love letters back, you know, they, they come back. On the wind. So yeah, indigo is as they know, just was also a huge advocate in the school and has continued to be.
And a lot of folks still look up to them. And I think again, they were, there was someone who I was like, yep. This is what I'm doing it for because as much, and the school is really pretty, I mean, pretty great, at least for me with name or pronouns. But sometimes I would get, misgendered because of that Southern hospitality of ma'am and all that.
And it was still worth it. You know, it's still worth being out because I do think that we can radically make a difference just by being ourselves. If, if we have the safe option.
Mandy: hmm. That makes me think about, you know, being visible and being out, can, and you had also mentioned at this school that there was like a sort of a GSA and it was a a private school. So they, I don't think they called it GSA, but, and then there was an anonymous group and I know just hearing from Indigo, that was important to some kids and Indigo was very out at school.
And I wondered, Okay. If you would speak a little bit about that, about kind of the balance between being visible and not visible in those spaces that are safe and like, if you could just, how about this question? Okay. If you could design like the perfect support system for LGBTQIA+ kids, trans kids, maybe specifically in a school, what would that, what would that look like?
Tez: Oh,
Mandy: That's a big question and this was kind of a surprise, so it's
Tez: no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we can, yeah, we can kind of think it up together too. Because I know I think, I think Mandy, you'll have a lot to also contribute because you're, you're the kind of also on the back end of like, as a parent, enrolling, doing all this too, so please feel free to jump in, but I, I think at least just, and this is going to be a, maybe a bit what is the word bureaucratic, but, at someone applies for a job, the very first moment you apply for that job and, you know they could be affirming is, you know, Name. Pronouns. Right? Just right there or what is your preferred name if they require legal name on legal documents?
Mandy: And most schools do require legal names.
Tez: Yeah, and they will not be mentioned, but there is a school in Austin. That's an all-girls school who's was passing around. Some kind of strange not true thing that you had to show your birth certificate
Mandy: for, for the legal name.
Tez: for for enrolling
Mandy: Oh, interesting. Oh,
Tez: was very weird
Mandy: all sorts of reasons for someone to ask for a birth certificate. Oh, oh, oh, yuck. Okay. Okay. So that's, that's on the list not to do for an affirming school.
Tez: right, right, I think it's that exactly from the time of registration or enrollment to you know, when the student gets in the door, it should be very very thoughtful around just the fact that, no matter if this child is transgender or gender nonconforming or not, who they are should be respected.
And that's just, human decency. So from nickname to chosen name. I think we would all, we wouldn't call someone who said their name was Chris, not Christian, you know, no, I'm only going to refer to you as Christian. It's a little odd to impose that on somebody. But I, but I also think, you know, just being a classroom teacher you know, having, uh, having those classroom guidelines at the beginning of every semester with each class was really important.
For me to introduce I didn't call them rules because that does kind of sound very heavy. But I do call them guidelines because it's community, right? It's like a community guidelines. And so we would co-create those with each other. We would also be all responsible for reminding each other of those responsibilities.
And if it, especially for a queer and GNC or gender nonconforming youth who might, maybe they're called the wrong name or the wrong pronouns or like a gender term it's really important, I think, to have a very clear rither training for, the teacher or as well, the students, like, okay. Harm has been caused. What are we going to do now that harm has been caused? The agency I worked at had a pretty good curriculum that they developed for this is it was pretty much like, you know, stop whatever is happening. If it was about bullying, I would definitely separate the parties of those who've been harmed and those who caused the harm, whether they meant to intentionally or not, and then try and educate those who cause some harm and always check in on the one who was harmed because, even if it's intention or impact or intention, I think when you're around your peers especially at that age you know, from K, from K all the way up to senior you know, peer acceptance, right?
Acceptance is so important, and I do think that it's, it's our job as the adults in the room to have processes and staff to have training for classroom teachers for staff and faculty to, you know, really understand the differences between gender identity expression and sexual orientation and it's not imposing a belief system upon staff and faculty to give them the facts of human nature and how it comes up in a classroom because the classroom is more than just learning. It's building a community, which I really liked about the school that I taught at. I thought they were great at creating community. And where they could improve, you know, was when they were more a little bit rigid about if there was a more reserved or conservative group of the parents who just weren't okay with, say a trans girl using the girl's restroom, well, we need to make sure that they're okay. And, if they're in the minority and the whole other community is very accepting, then I think we need to look at, again, how can a school make more programs for parents to come together and to understand each other. Because that was not to go back to the Capitol and digress a little bit, but I did think it was very interesting some of the activism that you did and for a few of the other parents of trans youth were trying to speak to other parents about is like, we're both parents. We both love our children very, very much. And we both want the best for them, best education, best safety, best like laws. And so there has to be a common ground that we can come to if I'm coming to you as a parent who's done everything they can to understand their trans youth and you're coming to me, say, for example, as a parent of a cis girl who wants to play sports as well, and we want the best for them.
So instead of, you know, excluding a trans girl, how can we make it so that both girls can get the same love and acceptance and celebration in schools. I know I probably didn't answer your question, but this is,
Mandy: No, no. Definitely.
Tez: if I could be the principal, I would definitely want to really make that student handbook as equitable to each student as I could.
Tez: think often that's where, schools have a really hard time. It's because we're, they're so divided along gender. I think I learned this from. A, it's a great, uh, comic narrative.
I do want to quote my source. So it's called Gender: A Graphic Guide, by Meg John Barker and Jules Scheele.
Mandy: Ooh, that looks like a great resource.
Tez: and, um, And they taught me this really cool thing was that a lot of the, really splitting up men and women's restrooms, for example, Came when we started to have public restrooms and they only had men's restrooms. They didn't have women's restrooms. Like, oh, no one's surprised, right?
I know. Side eye. And then a lot of the times they were worried that sex workers were going to the restrooms and like doing their business there and so that's when we really started to like police and regulate restrooms. Anywho, I think, I think schools are falling down an unfortunate lineage of just obviously trying to police the sexes and Et cetera, et cetera, but I, I digress
Mandy: no. I think that's really important. Now I'm thinking about gendered restrooms and, and, and why there was no women's restroom maybe, uh, just knowing what I know about policing restrooms, thinking like, well, if women are not leaving the home or being out or wherever, then it's a way of 1) an assumption that like, well, they won't be out long enough to use the restroom and maybe men just thought like, oh, women just don't do those things or 2) controlling that if there is no restroom, then you can't go out very long. And many trans people have told me that about thinking, and we see it in schools too, all the time, that if there's not a restroom period or not one where you feel comfortable, then you are going to regulate your bodily functions, including hydration and eating and everything. So that's a form of control. And I mean, that really goes into, yeah, yeah.
Tez: oh, I mean, we're, yeah, it's, it's not a conspiracy, right? because I was, my title was, advocacy and education coordinator. I had my school background, but I also, you know, from this role at this agency, I would bring in a lot of that putting education advocacy together.
And a lot of my testimonies would say, you know, it says here that every student has a right to equal access education. You know, students are not robots. They have to take bio breaks and also they have to be well hydrated, well fed. That looks different for every student, sure, but if there's a population of your students who are starving themselves, who are not drinking enough water, they're not able to get this education.
And it's as well as their peers who do not have to have this spirit at all. And so, yeah, it, it really, it really did break my heart. For example, Indy's just going to shine on this podcast, and, and Mars as well. But a story Indy shared was asking the school to have a gender-neutral restroom, which they did, but it was in the middle school, I believe.
And yeah, Indy probably told you, but they timed themselves and it took them, I think, like 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back. And our classes were only 45 minutes long. is it fair that a transgender or gender nonconforming student has to walk across campus? Oftentimes, it's like the nurse's office, which is usually only one location.
A lot of high schools are huge in Texas, and I bet all across the country, and there's not just one building, there's multiple and yeah, there oftentimes trans students might be told you're always going to the restroom during this time. And one of my students told me, because I was like, hey y'all, like there's five of us getting up to go to the restroom, like, what's going on I feel like you're trying to get out of a quiz.
[00:21:00] Haha. And they were like,
Mandy: having a party somewhere.
Tez: yeah, and they said, well, you're the only teacher I have this day who doesn't yell at me for going pee during class. And I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to see myself out, you know, but also like, because I, I was joking with them, but I was also, you know, concerned, like, are we going to go, I'll have a party in the restroom for
Mandy: Yeah. Uh
Tez: But that did break my heart because that meant that like, these things are so regulated and there's Anywho, as you can see, it's just, you know, it's unfair that we've got all these rules are around youth already, where they can go, who they can see. And it's even, it can even crack down harder on you if you are a minority at school in some way, shape or form.Yeah.
Mandy: I wanted, I wanna hear a little bit more about social supports at school. Just touch on that just very briefly. 'cause I'm very curious about having an anonymous support group I guess I should say peer support maybe cause their social support can be a whole lot of other things. I just, I'm, I'm really curious, uh, um, your thoughts about that.
Tez: Yeah. So would you like me to speak a little bit about what the anonymous support or like the anonymous affinity group was and like maybe how I saw the peers supporting each other?
Mandy: Yeah, sure. Sure. Cause that's that, I think that's a really important part of the school and it was something that I had never heard of before. Just knowing that most schools have a GSA, gender and sexuality alliance that is, is. Very visible, open, public, and so the fact that there was this anonymous group, I would think, would be pretty cool to have in a school environment.
Tez: I think it was also my first experience with an affinity group. Right. And we see them in professional settings. They're called like ERGs or employee resource groups. So there was a Latinx affinity group, a black affinity group, a Pan-Asian affinity group. And that's often what we're used to seeing them.
They're like ethnic or cultural groups that go together. There's also, you know, I love like there's a parent affinity group that can be very important in work environments. And I think having this anonymous and very, very much impressing upon everybody that, we do not want to out anybody.
So when we come here, we can be ourselves and we can talk about. If we would like how we identify and how, either being out or being in the closet is affecting us during this time of our lives I think it was also it can be very that part of, you know, just being in the space and knowing that everybody's kind of like agreed to keep, keep that information private because it's, it's sacred. It's also a safety issue. I think it was, it was a relief for them, right? A lot of folks who were maybe just been in the closet and people assume they're heterosexual to just be out in the open, even if only for 30 minutes once or, twice a month was really empowering for them, really relieving.
And then also the students said, it's sort of like a, a way to feel safe, even when they are not in that affinity group space, look around the campus, see someone who's come to 1 of those meetings and. it's kind of like you had to exchange a look if you know, you know, sort of thing. And now they know that they're not the, they're not alone.
Especially I think it's, it was really impactful for at the school, there was an international population and, LGBTQIA+ acceptance is very different all around the world. While the United States is not at all the most accepting, it's definitely not the least. And so I think for a lot of those international students that come from countries that are very punishing
towards queer and trans folks, this might have been their only vacation from [00:25:00] family expectations from the, the fear of being, , out in that country. And so it's even like, you know, you really think about the impact of being able to share that private anonymous space where you can enjoy this part of your identity in which maybe the other 24 hours and 30 minutes of the day you are hiding. It's, it's definitely like you're a little golden, hour or 30 minutes for the day. So, it was very precious to me and I I think just seeing each other, even if they're not going to be the best of friends afterwards, if just for whatever reason, you know, they can't cross the high school sort of social contract and hang out with each other.
They had, they had each other's back in those meetings. And I'm very proud. I'm very proud of a lot of them. I think those meetings also made folks who felt like it was their time to come out that they finally knew within themselves that they wanted to be out and stand strong and talk to parents and friends [00:26:00] about it that I saw some of them come out during the time I was there and, you know, it was it, they're much happier being out and you know, having having their community get, get more of them, I think just makes any child, any youth just what is the word? It's like their quality of life just goes up, you know, incredibly.
Mandy: Oh, I wish every school could do that. I would imagine there's probably, oh, like you say, sort of bureaucratic or logistical hurdles of having an anonymous space with minors. But I'm sure there's ways around it. And I'll have to talk to you later about maybe ways to do that and how that could look on different campuses.
But what you were saying, I think, is a really good segue into, Your being visible and out, and I want to be very clear that I have permission to ask you about this. That I got this beforehand. So when I met you, I guess, maybe two years ago, two and a half years ago, you looked very different than you do now.
You presented very differently. I remember thinking like, Oh, you have this, you know, this cute mascara that like, I never put mascara on. And like, you had this bright red lipstick and longer hair. And I think you had like a dress on or something. Um, not to be creepy, like remember exactly what you were wearing.
Mandy: remember our first meeting. I remembered. but anyway, I just remember being like, Oh, that's so cute. You know, just very femme presenting. And now you are very masculine presenting and forgive me if I'm not using those terms the way you would use them. And just to, just for the very short time that I've known you, you seem so much happier and so, so much more like this is who I am. Hello world. And so I wanted to hear about that a little bit. And I would love to hear about that. And we did talk about it again: we did talk about it before and had a great conversation. And so I would love to hear about your decisions and timing and all that kind of good stuff..
Tez: Yeah. I'm 35 and I grew up in the Midwest. And I say that because being Mexican American and Puerto Rican and coming from first generation immigrant family, it's very much more about assimilating into American culture and also honoring my cultural heritage, especially being raised as a woman.
It was about, for my mother being independent, being strong, and not allowing the prejudice against brown and also black women get me down, right? So I, I thought that was my only fight, and it has taken up a lot of my like mental emotional bandwidth as a young person, as an adult.
I lived in a desert of knowledge of queerness and of transness and definitely the only exposure to queerness that I was lucky to have, because I know folks older than me didn't even have that, was probably “Will and Grace” or “The L Word.”
Mandy: Mm. The, the TV show
Tez: yes, the TV shows.
Yeah. And so it was, it was it was very like spotty. So when I learned about the term, like nonbinary and gender-neutral pronouns, I just like one of those things, like immediately just clicked. And once I started really feeling like myself and that identity, I still wasn't sure how that would affect my gender expression.
But when I started working at the high school, I felt like it was very important to, show up in an almost like an androgynous way because I didn't want anybody to deny that I was gender neutral So that was like a from a fear, right? but also I felt like I wanted to show up more authentically than maybe I had to myself and to others before, so I was wanting to show students someone who's assigned, female at birth, can identify this way, can wear clothing that is a mix match of like what we'd call feminine or masculine or in between.
But then definitely during the pandemic, when I turned into a goblin and I felt like mentally and physically, I was like. You know, gender is not even real.
Mandy: What is life?
Tez: yeah, I'm, I'm a many-celled organism. Who cares?
Mandy: as we were all, yeah. Existential crises.
Tez: As, as, yes, yeah, as, as the pandemic started, I definitely needed, I felt like I needed to feel more embodied and alive. And so I, I really went back to whatever, you know, what made me feel accepted in society before. And I've always loved glam. I've, my mom always says, and she's a wonderful person. So this didn't hurt my feelings when she said this, but she said, when you were little, you always wanted to wear a dress.
So I don't understand how you got here. And I said, well, yeah, I love drag. I love, big costumes and theatrical entrances and I may seem reserved in public, but I love a good show. And so that's what I was giving to people. And I needed to like, give that back to myself. After the pandemic sort of like took a lot of life out of everybody, but out of me and it was only after definitely being around again, being around queer and trans community that I was gifted another piece of my gender identity, which was masculinity and how I could feel accepted in society, but also I could accept myself better if I leaned into the part of me that just really was envious of men and I didn't even understand. I always thought it was, it's definitely because, you know, sexism sucks.
Um, but it was more because there's an inner guy in me who loved drag, but was a guy, and I think a lot of trans folks, it may sound vain or like superficial, but we, like a lot of trans folks, worry that no one's gonna love us when we transition. No one's gonna think we're cute anymore. We're not gonna think we're cute anymore, and that was something I struggled with just also seeing myself as a man or more masculine. But once I decided to start hormone replacement therapy once I cut my hair, I wasn't going back. It was not only because I like style, and I was like, I can't, it won't fit my new look, but it's, it's because, yeah, it's, it was just the me that was waiting to be spoken into existence.
And I feel also like, just showing up as yourself and not allowing people, not giving people permission to rule who you are and how you show up will make you more happy than all the people that might have wanted you in their life because you were the person who always showed up in heels and lipstick and glam, right?
I can still do that now if I want, I would look very fun. But yeah, like who I am now, I think is also, my activism, just being out in the world and just even today for example there's a trans man who was on, and I didn't even know about the show because I don't have cable, but NBC has this show called the Titans that the wonderful Rock hosts. The Rock. And the Titans had their first trans male contestant and I had no idea, but I was engrossed in his page and his post about it. And I was just like, Oh, so happy because the narrative of this man was that, I used to, I wore a pink dress to prom, but now I'm wearing a suit.
And I'm like, for those who preferred me in, in the dress, I'm not sorry that you wish that's who I was, because this is who I am. And like, you can tell I'm much happier. So I think that's been probably my biggest battle in accepting myself is also like knowing that there are folks who don't want to accept that I've changed so drastically and I'm like, that's okay.
I don't need to accept your point of view because I know in myself that I'm so much happier, you know, this way. And I know that it's not fake. It's not me trying on experimental things every day. It definitely becomes like more clear that but I'm happy the way I am.
Mandy: Oh, thank you so much for sharing that and, and being. vulnerable and honest and and letting us have a little window into you and your journey. Um, gosh, something you said, a listener, you cannot see me, but I am crying right now I was dabbing my eyes during that whole story. What did you say? That, the person was always there, but needed to be spoken into existence.
Oh, wow. that is powerful. I can definitely see how obviously that would be spot on for a lot of transgender and gender nonconforming people, honestly, maybe applicable to a lot of people and finding the real you kind of thin too.
If you had any advice or resources about people who wanted to get into activism and, or just become more active, where would you send them?
Tez: I think. whatever your hope is, I just want to remind folks that, your hope can be very personal, but in this time please, of course, validate your despair. It's valid to feel despair at times of what the legislature is doing. But your hope is truly what is going to keep you being yourself and keep doing this, but take breaks, of course.
So that is just like a small piece of advice. I'm sure someone has more eloquently quoted that and I can find a quote for you. But, if you are able to, do some of this advocacy. I would really, really recommend following I think folks already know, but Equality Texas.
I recommend them because they were great during legislative session, and not only getting organized, you could sign up in many different ways and many levels of closeness to the dumpster fire. So I really appreciated that. They were very respectful of, let's say, boundaries and not a lot of advocacy groups can be because of how awful it can be. So I recommend that. If you are looking for legal updates I would go to txtranskids. org and that is run by ACLU of Texas but also like Lambda Legal and other folks pop in and that's a great place to keep updated on the legal stuff. If you're interested in the more educational part of things, Texas Freedom Network is great to look into for book fans and things of that nature. And then, and folks, I'm sure folks know, but if you are a caregiver or a parent of a trans or queer youth, PFLAG: there's 18 chapters in Texas. And we all know wonderful Mandy Giles was the former president of Houston chapter. So definitely look those up. They have online things that you can go to also in person. And of course those organizers of the Pride parades will often have ways that you can get on the board and the membership and it's a great way to advocate for more youth events during Pride. Maybe they're not able to have the bandwidth, but that could be something you and your friends could start.
For example, in schools, they have a Pride week. So maybe that's something that, you want to try and organize at your kid's school and a great way to do that is by hooking up with the GSA facilitator. But I'll send more. I have a little list and I'll send this to Mandy. And if you'd like to, you have my permission to pop it in the show notes.
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Mandy: Okay. Thank you. You know, that's something that I never quite think about is hooking up with the Pride organizations in different cities. And there, there are more Pride things that I even could dream of, especially just in big towns, little towns, cities, everything. And that is really a good idea, to get them to include more youth in, in what they're doing and have youth-centered activities or that kind of thing too.
That's really important. Now that I think about it, I am not sure that Houston has that. I don't know. And someone is probably going to give me a phone call after I say that.
Mandy: Well, thank you for all those resources, oh gosh, thank you so, so much for your time today.
Where can people find you if you want them to find you or where else would you like them to go?
Tez: Yeah. I am posting on Instagram at unapologetic underscore scorpio. So please feel free to reach out there. I believe it's a public profile. Just be nice.
Mandy: Listener, if you would like to show gratitude for Tez and their time today and all of their amazing work, then please consider donating to one of the organizations that he mentioned cause they're all fantastic. I can vouch for them as well. And that would be a great way to honor Tez.
So thanks again for talking with me. I could talk with you for hours and hours and I just, I appreciate you.
Tez: I appreciate you so much, and I'm very excited about the launching of this podcast.
Mandy: All right. Thanks. I'll talk to you soon.
Tez: Bye.