The loud silence of queer poverty

“Egale has fallen into one of the more common traps of 2S-LGBTQ non-profit organizing. While well intentioned and certainly useful, their activism primarily represents the perceptions and interests of more privileged members of the community – those who do not deal directly with homelessness, substance abuse, sex work, and other, more ‘unseemly’ elements of 2S-LGBTQ life, which has historically largely been defined by its lack of access to capital.”

Alex Verman – Briarpatch – September 2019

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Taking your transition into your own hands

“According to a study by the Trans PULSE Project that focused on transgender health care in Ontario, self-medication with hormones is surprisingly common. Though their sample size is small, the results are still illuminating: of the 433 study participants, one-tenth reported using hormones they’d gotten from friends or from the Internet; 14 reported currently taking non-prescribed hormones; five participants had even attempted or performed surgical procedures on themselves, such as a DIY orchiectomy (removing the testicles) or mastectomy (removing breasts). Many participants cited a lack of money and past negative experiences with providers as causes for taking their transitions into their own hands.”

 

Alex Verman – Briarpatch – August 2018

“Each death is a preventable tragedy”

“Everyone I talked to for this story spoke to a sense of feeling worthless in the eyes of police. And as long as we remain locked into a system designed by and for cisgender people that treats transgender women as disposable, that feeling is not going away.”

 

Alex Verman – This Magazine – June 2018