While I was growing up I was raised to hate trans people. Because trans people are men trying to act like a woman women trying to act like men. that is what the movies and books say when one of the characters is transsexual. that is what i was told growing up but I just see them as they were born in the wrong body. Why would I be afraid of them when all my life I felt that I was born in the wrong body. I always felt that i have the right feeling inside my body but I don't look the part outside of my body. If i was to tell the world about anything i think about my body then i would be dead right now I would be labeled a man that is trying to be a woman to get closer to women to hurt them. I don’t want to be called “tranny:, a he / She, Dumb. crazy Broken . I just want to be myself and live my life how I want to live it. But no, I couldn't live my life like a normal girl. I was murder on May 31, 2020 after i told my date that i was transgender and i was only 37.
Dear Ashanti,
I am very touched by your poem, “R.I.P Selena Reyes-Hernandez”. This is the type of poem that hits different parts of me, I was raised the same way. I am not transgender but I am bisexual, I was always told that being a woman and liking a woman was wrong, that God only made men and women love each other. Not a woman with a woman or a man with a man.
The quote that stood out to me was, “I don’t want to be called ‘tranny’…” since it shows how she was treated when she came out. Where I am from, saying those slurs are considered okay but honestly it is very wrong. They usually say the f slur, the one used to target queers, as a way to call someone when they show affection to one of their friends. It is truly not okay.
Thank you for writing this. I look forward to seeing one of your poems. This really touched my heart and I hope that Selena is in a much better place, she didn’t deserve that. Thank you for telling her story.