@inherentlee hey, Lee! We do a #transappreciationfriday thread every week where anyone who’s trans/non-binary is encouraged to join in.

I know I really try to use visibility to connect ALL people in our community, especially BIPOC, to find one another, connect and interact. Also, if you have more tips or suggestions as to how I can be more inclusive, please let me know. I’m open to learn. 💜

@AlyAlyOutnFree I am wondering if you thought about the fact that you replied to a post about someone seeing mostly only white trans people here with a hashtag full of almost only white trans people.

I know you say you want to learn but maybe start by thinking about why your trans community might be so white. A lot of trans community can be very focused on particular experiences that do not apply to everyone. For example, it may be even more unsafe for Black and brown trans people to be out in their daily lives, to use accounts that are not pseudonyms.

Is your default understanding of transness a white one? A lot of times white trans people end up being the most visible, to where white trans people don't even question why we mostly only see other white trans people.

And no the answer isn't to go find a few non-white people to pull into our white trans spaces, it's to deconstruct the whiteness of those spaces and to challenge the norms that place whiteness as the default

@RadiantEmber first- thank you for reaching out. I appreciate the response.

I reached out and mentioned the hashtag for a couple of different reasons:

1. I don’t own ‘the trans experience’ for everyone, nor do I represent it, but I’ve been doing TAF for almost two years now, though just recently on this platform, and I share it with as many people as I can so that it includes as many people as want to include themselves in it. That absolutely has to include black trans people.

@RadiantEmber 2. I am white and privileged. I will never know the experience of being black and/or trans, what that feels like, or how it changes the experience of being trans as a whole for black trans people.

I offered the hashtag bc it was mentioned by a follower to them, so I felt an open door to expand on what it’s about and how we’re trying to build upon it.

I’m lucky enough to have the chance to listen and learn. Thanks again for the feedback.

@AlyAlyOutnFree ah that does make sense and I can see why spreading the hashtag might help more people to hear about it, especially as it was mentioned already.

One of the big problems I have noticed is that as white people we often try to invite non-white people into our white spaces to make them more diverse. Rather than creating spaces with them, or joining spaces that they have invited us into, or even just supporting them in creating their own spaces.

The problem is that white spaces don't cease to be white spaces just because there are a few people in them who are not white. We've got to work on deconstructing the whiteness of those spaces at the root