A Quote by Sasha Velour

We still live in a country where there's disproportionate violence faced by our community, especially trans people and trans people of color. I think activism within the queer community continues to need to focus on those issues first.

Sasha Velour

Quote Topics

Activism Color Community Country Disproportionate Faced First Focus Issues Live Need Our Our Community People Queer Still Think Those Trans Violence Within

Quote Author

Sasha Velour
American - Entertainer
Born: June 25, 1987

I think it's really important to champion stories from trans women and trans women of color. That demographic has gone unheard and unsupported for so long, and it's really the community that's struck the hardest by a lot of issues. I try to do a lot of work to champion trans feminine issues and stories, but that said, I do have a personal and deep investment in seeing trans masculine stories reflected in culture. It is a little disappointing to me that trans men and trans masculine people have not really been part of this media movement that we're experiencing right now.

Rhys Ernst

Many in the trans community are fed up with L.G.B.T. organizations that continue to erase trans identity or just give lip service to trans issues. We need our cisgender allies - gay and straight - to treat transgender lives as if they matter, and trans people need multiple seats at the tables in the organizations that say they're interested in L.G.B.T. equality; this absence has been painful since Stonewall.

Laverne Cox

Black Trans Lives Matter, to me, is really different. I think it speaks most directly to the marginalization and disenfranchisement of trans people within the black community.

Alicia Garza

I have always been aware that I can never represent all trans people. No one or two or three trans people can. This is why we need diverse media representations of trans folks to multiply trans narratives in the media and depict our beautiful diversities.

Laverne Cox

It's also important for those who promote those issues within the white community - the somewhat privileged community - to talk about issues affecting people of color.

Danny Glover

I think accurately presenting a trans character means not presenting them as perfect - I think there's been a pressure to do this with trans characters. They can have no flaws because they must represent the entire trans community.

Nicole Maines

I do think the issue with trans lives - especially in the Black community - doesn't necessarily lie within racism, but it does lie within prejudice and misogyny, specifically trans-misogyny.

Bob the Drag Queen

People assume that trans people will only be accepted as trans characters, or that there aren't enough trans writers, or that there aren't any trans producers or directors, there's that attitude.

Brian Michael Smith

Trans voices are really underrepresented, and trans stories are really underrepresented, and when they are presented, they're often reductive. I was interested in putting a trans person and a trans narrative on stage that didn't fall into cliché, that thought a bit more deeply about the experience of being trans, and how those issues tie into things that we all experience. How we tell the story of our lives, versus what might have actually happened, and how we communicate to our former selves. All of those questions were really interesting to me.

Ellie Kendrick

We had so many milestones in America. We were on our way to universal healthcare. We had gay marriage. We were talking about gender fluidity and trans issues openly and discussing them with respect. It was almost to the point where educating people about transgender rights wasn't an issue. We were including trans people as a normal part of our conversations instead of seeing their presence as this shocking thing to the system. We forgot that those things can be taken away from you because there are people in the world that, for whatever f - king reason, can't live and let live.

Beth Ditto

Many of the trans women who are in our world are also in Caitlyn's Jenner world. And yes I've definitely spoken to her multiple times, talked to her, socialized with her. It's a small community when all is said and done, the trans community in Los Angeles. So everybody really knows each other and everybody's in contact.

Jill Soloway

We're trying to humanize the trans community. It's about showing us as normal, everyday human beings who just happen to be trans.

Dominique Jackson

Even before 'Pose,' I was involved in activism and advocating for my community in various ways. I didn't see that stopping with my entry into this industry, but people are going to be afraid of what you're going to say. I'm going to bump heads with people that benefit from the oppression that they put trans people through.

Indya Moore

I think that the fact that we had a trans woman on the cover of 'Vanity Fair'... is only good for the trans community. I can't imagine that the more we talk about this that it's not just doing everybody a lot of good.

Gaby Hoffmann

I am really passionate about transparency and trans rights issues, so I embrace these opportunities to speak. I try to stay in touch with those who are prominent in both the trans and transparency movements, but more often than not, I am speaking out on a particular issue on my own. I certainly hope that people listen to me and think about these issues. But regardless of whether I had a public venue to speak in, I would still be passionate about them.