It hurts to see what high school kids are experiencing with these laws that are being passed against them. It hurts because those kids have the bravery to come out and be who they are at that young age – guts that I didn't have.

And now they’re experiencing this legislation that comes from hate and misinformation around ‘tipping the scales’ and different things like that. I know how my muscle mass has decreased a lot since I've been on hormones. It's a lot.

Yeah, you can say that I've got larger bones or that I've got longer arms. You can say that I can do this, I can do that, that I'm bigger, or whatever.

But, there's cisgender women who are bigger than me. I'm 5'11, at 198 pounds and there's a lot of people who are bigger and better than me. Definitely, a lot of people who are smarter than me.

I know what it's like to be considered a woman, and trans and nonbinary kids should have that chance. The people here at Union College, include me in women's things, include me in women's lists, women's conferences, women's listservs, and so on.

It really means a ton just to have them affirm who I am, and trans kids need that.

Because right now we have these people who are making laws and have no freaking idea about us. It's all political. It's all hate that’s based on hate.

They're calling themselves Christians, but you can't just hate people and then come back and say that you follow Christ and that you're more special to God than anybody else.

[Continued]