A Transgender Man of Color Shares his Story
Written by: Chandra R. Thomas on Jul 15, 2011
http://jjie.org/transgender-man-of-color-shares-his-story/18510James Newton, 29, of Norcross, Ga., a suburban community near Atlanta, got a rude awakening into what it sometimes means to be a black man in America.
Moments after officially getting his name changed from his female birth name at the county courthouse, he noticed a woman looking back at him in the parking lot. With every step he took toward his car, recalls Newton, the woman sped up, all the while frantically twisting her head in his direction. It took a moment for it to register, but he soon realized that she had incorrectly assumed that he was following her to her car. The incident, he says, in many ways marred an important milestone in his transgender transition into life as a male. He insists, however, that he now embraces the experience as another important lesson learned. It's a sobering reminder of the double discrimination that many transgender people of color often face in society, contends Newton.
Recently, he talked to
JJIE.org's Chandra R. Thomas about his transgender journey.
