This morning, I learned that trailblazing computer pioneer and trans woman Lynn Conway has passed away. Her legacy will live on for hundreds of millions of computer users completely unaware of what she did to facilitate the device they're using.

Her legacy will live on for hundreds of thousands of trans people who saw her - and other trans pioneers of her generation - as role models, inspiration and proof that being trans doesn't stop you from being a leader in your field... however hard folks might try to stop you.

As a young trans woman in 2001, it was Lynn's story, along with other trailblazing trans people of her generation, that gave me hope, a reason to fight, and an amazing community of elders whom I could show to family and friends seeking to understand what it meant that I was making a journey of my own (and what it meant for my future)

Some of my friends and followers knew Lynn personally. I would like to express my deepest sympathies to them, and to her family.

Thank you to my friend Ina Fried for the lovely obituary https://www.axios.com/2024/06/12/lynn-conway-pioneer-passes-away

#Computing #retrocomputer #Trans #Technology

Illustration by George Castilla of https://www.duniathcomics.com/

More Pride, Less Prejudice

#pride #lgbtq

To my #trans siblings, things are often difficult for us. It's true. And that's putting it lightly. But I want you to remember something.

You are taking part in a revolution.

You may not have chosen to be a revolutionary, and you may just want to live a happy life. I understand. But one thing that you need to know is that both your struggles and your happiness are praxis.

Your authentic existence is the revolution.

What you do with that is up to you, but you will always be an important part of one of the most important moments in our history and in our future. More than ever, it will be increasingly impossible to erase the idea that we were ever here, from our siblings and the rest of the world, in perpetuity. Your authentic existence is making this possible.

Yes, you.

I'm going to share some genuine advice I got from my pharmacy early on in my transition:

If you want a good aftershave that doesn't smell like Boy (or aftershave, for that matter), get some witch hazel. Mine's just liquid so I wet a couple cotton balls with it and wipe my face down, but I think you can get it in a gel too? It also acts as a toner, if you care about that.

Hard to argue it isn't a girl smell, too. My face smells like a forest in autumn.

#trans #transfem