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• 1 media/IMG_2850.jpeg 2022-06-06T07:11:49-07:00 What does it mean to be Trans? 27 gallery 2022-08-18T11:02:28-07:00 Trans is an umbrella term used to describe people who's lived experience with gender run counter to societal expectations of how they are expected to be perceived. A trans man is a person who's gender was assigned female at birth but now identifies as a man, while a trans woman is a person who's gender was assigned male at birth but now identifies as a woman.
  Gender is the societal framework of traits, behaviors, and expectations that people use to explain their identity. While virtually everyone has a gender, Trans people feel a disconnect from their gender assigned at birth and generally a desire to change it in some way. For some people this involves changing aspects of their sexed bodies to better align their bodies with how they feel, this can be from a combination of medical--surgical and hormonal interventions--or social changes--clothes, name, pronouns. The decision of what aspects of transition are necessary to affirm a person's gender are specific to each individual person. Some people decide to transition to relieve a discontent and discomfort with their gender, dysphoria, while others transition in the pursuit of feeling more content and happy with their gender, euphoria. While both of these are valid justifications for transition, often established systems tend to focus exclusively on relieving gender dysphoria at the expense of people who are instead seeking gender euphoria.
  Most people tend to fall into the categories of either men or women and as a result trans people are often expected to transition from their gender assigned at birth to the conventional opposite. Many identities however exist outside of that dichotomy, generally under the umbrella label of non-binary. 
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  Transness through history                            What does it mean to transition                   Gender
  
  
  
• 1 media/IMG_2895.jpeg 2022-06-06T07:11:21-07:00 What does it mean to be Gay 15 gallery 2022-08-17T12:36:55-07:00 Gayness for many people is an entry into understanding queerness, so much so that it has grown to be, itself, an umbrella term for the queer community. Gay in the traditional sense is a label for men who love other men. Fundamentally, though gayness represents a rejection, by men, of societal expectations of power and control in favor of love. Traditionally men carry an expectation of performance of gender roles and as such are more severely punished for expressing femininity than women are for expressing masculinity. Gay men actively defy this expectation in their culture with events such as drag shows which allow people, predominantly gay men, the space to challenge gender roles, as well as establishing their own social gathering spaces which allowed them the space to interact out of the public eye.
  The gay community also faced some of the most difficult trials such as the AIDS epidemic when millions of gay men died while most of society refused to care. They have been subjected to countless hate crimes, and targeted government harassment. Today, the gay community represents one of men making space for themselves and being unafraid to live as their complete selves.
  
  Why it's important for Gay men to be visible