You did it your way

Trans* is something wonderful – this sentence sums up what I call gender euphoria.

Sharing experiences, thoughts, sensations, feelings and perceptions and feeling a connection to people is an aspect of diversity, including gender diversity, that I find very valuable.

When people ask me how I have achieved my success, I answer that it is based on my experiences with trauma.

My non-conformity, my visible expression as gender non-conforming, does not take away my womanhood.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m not too ‘boring’ for someone queer.

To tell the truth, I never came out because I was never hidden in the closet.

It was black trans* women who educated me about our community’s history and present, the privilege of being queer in Europe and about the long way we have to go to eradicate discrimination…

For a very long time I was searching for myself and at times I confused this with the search for other, material things…

It has always been important to me to live with children, to be linked to the future through children…

I forgot that I could afford flexibility, experimentations and imperfections in my path; that I could be living in intersections, in multitudes. …

My journey began with an end and a beginning, and this end made my truly new beginning as a non-binary person possible in the end. …

Over the years Drag became a bigger and bigger part of me, which for me is not only an art form, but also allows the playful confrontation with my personality.

Despite, or because of, the fact that I am hardly affected by queer hostility, my experiences and also those of others motivate me to publicly stand up for education and rights of LGBTQ+ people. …

Any discrimination experienced in a particular cultural context enabled my mind to arm itself against oppressions and microaggressions of other social groups. …

I go to work every day and can say “I am what I am”! …

Despite all difficulties, I found the courage in my 20s to acknowledge all facets of my identity. …

Once you were in, this parallel world opened up where everyone knew each other and you were allowed to be whoever you wanted. …

My parents and grandparents taught me that belonging to a minority has a positive value and is something to be proud of. …

Sometimes it takes time and role models to bring change. …

It is important to speak up and be a role model to young people. I would love the next generation to be even more progressive when it comes to diversity and inclusion. …

When I look at my life, I am happy. Happy because it is so wonderfully normal. And that is not a matter of course…

When I saw a documentary about a trans* woman on television for the first time in the 90s, I was gripped by defensiveness, fascination and insatiable longing in equal measure. …