“We deserve wrinkles”: The fight for trans youth is a fight for a future

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

"We deserve wrinkles": The fight for trans youth is a fight for a future with trans elders in it

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/we-deserve-wrinkles-the-fight-for-trans-youth-is-a-fight-for-a-future-with-trans-elders-in-it/ 🔗

Nova Bright (15 Jan 2026)

When I look in the mirror and notice a new gray hair, I don't panic. I smile. It reminds me, a trans woman, that I am growing. Growing older, growing wiser, growing into myself. It is a small, ordinary milestone.

Life as a trans person can be heavy. But the weight of the past year has been crushing. In 2025 alone, more than 1,000 anti-trans bills were introduced in state legislatures across the country. From bans on transgender students participating in sports, to efforts restricting medically necessary care, to renewed attempts to legitimize conversion therapy, the message is consistent: Trans lives are up for debate.

...Trans people deserve to exist. Not just quietly, not just in "safe spaces." We deserve to exist on screen and on stage, in every classroom and boardroom. We deserve to exist on the playing field and at the podium. We deserve to exist in bathrooms, airports, and grocery store aisles without fear, and in doctors' offices with dignity. We deserve loving relationships, and we deserve to exist in solitude and peace.

Most importantly, trans people deserve to exist in old age. We deserve gray hair. We deserve wrinkles earned through decades of laughter. We deserve to be elders. And yet, that future remains out of reach for too many. Aging transgender adults remain rare: Research found that only about 0.26% of adults aged 65 and older in the U.S. identify as transgender, reflecting the historic invisibility of trans identities and the barriers older trans people have faced throughout their lives. That's why the fight for trans youth is a fight for trans elders.

[Dances With Trees]

Jessica, your eloquent post brought me to tears and reminded me of why I insist my name is 'Anni' even though almost no one outside of SP calls me by my name. Not even my daughter.

And you made me feel proud: I'm one of the 0.26%. That is so awesome!