Gabriel Little

“The born-this-way narrative, at its worst, can be used to invalidate transgender existence by claiming that the way we are at birth constitutes the way we will always be. At its best, the assumption that children come to know their gender at an early age—and may only be able to articulate it later—allows for but limits transgender identity to a narrow acceptable framework. Those of us who did not identify as transgender from a young age are seen as suspect and questioned or even outright invalidated. Some will say we haven't done the work to connect our identity to our backgrounds, that we must've missed the signs of our true 'identity.' We were actually transgender all along.”
― Stacy Jane Grover, Tar Hollow Trans: Essays

“Community, as I've come to understand it, only complements capitalism. The groups I took part in were formed with a narrow range of ages, backgrounds, experiences, identities, beliefs, and activities. Inclusion within them was based on strict boundaries that were internally and externally enforced. I recognize that the communities I experienced in my home region were not communities at all, but scenes.”
― Stacy Jane Grover, Tar Hollow Trans: Essays

“What we refer to as 'mental health problems' is human suffering. Just one from among many others, even if it's unique in some ways, especially from a social perspective. After all, it's the kind of pain that exceeds medical knowledge.”
― Fernando Balius, Desmesura

“I don't call it queerphobia, just like I don't call it transphobia or Islamophobia. To call anti-queer bigotry or anti-trans hatred or anti-Muslim racism a phobia is to grant that kind of ugliness some measure of validity by implying that there is something to be afraid of. A phobia is a phobia because there is an irrational degree of fear behind it, which presupposes that there is something to fear, and, there, the person with the phobia deserves a degree of compassion and understanding.
I don't stand for that.
Call it what it is: hate. Hate that leads to and calls for violence. Hate that has consequences for people, for real human beings and their lives.”
― Giaae Kwon, I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan