I’m an Animal Rights Writer and Very Transgender. Not April Fools’.

Photo by author.

Today marks the 11-year anniversary of that time I told the internet all my secrets.

I was a transgender teen who struggled with mistakes I had made. As well as things that were not actually bad, but that I had learned to be embarrassed of or hide about myself.

My secrets were nothing special. I had cheated on Neopets. I had once tricked the Walmart self-checkout into thinking my Hawaiian papaya was a Mexican papaya. And despite all the middle-school queerphobia that had made afraid, I actually liked men, and I wished every day that a magic potion could make me female.

Those weren’t my worst secrets, but you get the idea. I needed someone to confess my sins and insecurities to… so naturally, I chose Blogspot and Facebook.

Another of my secrets was that I sometimes pretended to be vegan for health. I wasn’t. The reason I didn’t eat animal products was that I didn’t want anyone to be killed or made to suffer, regardless of whether they were a dog or bird. I embraced the common-sense values that we should minimize violence and pain infliction wherever possible, and not discriminate based on body type.

At this point, you might be wondering why 18-year-old me had to spill all my personal deep-dark secrets along with the animal rights bit. Certainly, few go so far as to publicly post everything about them that they don’t want people to know… as if they owed the world their 100% honesty.

All I can say is that I didn’t understand why we all had to hide who we really were. Wouldn’t it be better if we could all just be our multifaceted, openly mistake-making selves, and be understood and forgiven?

It was time for more than just my diary to see that side of me. Even if some people might think I was nothing more than an April Fools’ joke.

11 years later, I am so lucky things have gotten better for me instead of worse. That includes being in a better position to make the difference for an inclusive world I have always hoped to make.

My family accepts my gender now. I am no longer the only anti-speciesist in every room, and I have gotten to work with so many amazing others. Life has taught me to balance realness, with the social norms and communication skills to collaborate effectively. I no longer have a page that tells my every last secret in embarrassing detail, yet I still strive to be as transparent as I can in my articles for animals.

In addition, I keep learning about the countless forms of human inequity. As I seek to be an interspecies ally, I can also align with anti-classism, anti-racism, anti-ableism, anti-sexism, and so on. The more we protect and care for one another across all of our differences and unique vulnerabilities, the easier it will be for us to achieve total liberation.

As an animal rights freelancer who is just stumbling along and figuring things out, one of my goals right now is to complete a 30-day writing challenge with the Sentient Media Writers’ Collective.

Sentient Media is awesome — it’s not only been a source of animal-inclusive news stories, but also a provider of community. The Writers’ Collective gives me a wonderful online space to connect with other activist-scribes and feel lifted up by something bigger.

Partnering with the Humane League, Sentient Media offered the 3-month cohort in which I am currently taking part. I get a small stipend for investing in my growth as a writer, so I can hopefully make more of an impact for beyond-human persons down the line.

When I was 9, I wrote a picture book about a clay monster who learned to stop stomping on ants and be nice. At 18, I did a blog post where I came out of my transgender vegan closet and revealed all my secrets. Now I am 29, and I hope to make this the year I get more sustainably productive in my writing for all beings’ rights.