It's tough to get away from all of the anti-transgender hate online

It's definitely hard to get away and decompress from the legislative attacks against transgender people. I want to still have that presence online – it has been important and I have worked really hard at it.

But it's tough to get away from all of the anti-trans hate online too, whether it's on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Especially with the midterms, there was a lot of political stuff going on, a lot of conservatives pushing anti-transgender stuff to get voted in.

There's a lot of times I'll take a break from social media where I just won't sign on, won't do much and that's been really nice. It’s also helpful to stay active by going out, hanging out with friends, making sure that if I go somewhere, I'm in a safe place with people that I can trust.

Pre-transition, I did a lot of stuff with music, and it was my entire identity for a long time. I don't do a lot with music now but when I'm really anxious, sometimes I'll sit down at the piano and start playing or try to write a song.

So I've been using music a lot as a form of an outlet to try and work through some emotions. If I need to say something really dark or angry, I can write it in a song and it feels nice to be able to get that out in a safe space.

[Continued in ‘Support’]