A Rallying Cry for CeCe, Paige, and Trans Women Everywhere: Your Lives Matter

[Shana A]

Janet Mock
Writer and trans advocate; Staff Editor, PEOPLE.com

A Rallying Cry for CeCe, Paige, and Trans Women Everywhere: Your Lives Matter
Posted: 05/ 2/2012 4:12 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-mock/a-rallying-cry-for-cece-paige-and-trans-women-everywhere_b_1467942.html

I was given the opportunity to deliver a keynote address to the University of Southern California's LGBT graduates and allies at USC's 18th annual Lavender Celebration on Sunday:

My speech would mark the first time a transgender person served as speaker in the ceremony's 18-year history.

[...]

Yet the pressure to represent for trans people everywhere weighed heavily on me. But ultimately I had to speak my truth and share that truth with those around me. The one direction given to me by Vincent Vigil, director of USC's LGBT Resource Center, was to offer the graduates a message of empowerment.

And so I thought about what empowered me to find, follow, and amplify my voice as a writer, as an advocate, as a woman who is living visibly. And that's when it hit me: It's always been about the girls, #girlslikeus.