Page 11 - BEQ Magazine Vol3 Iss4

He recalls watching televised cov- for years, so this wasn’t really news work: advancing the policy, legal and
erage of the Stonewall riots – he to them,” Kylar recalls of his second legislative concerns of LGBTQ Amer-
would have been almost five years old coming out experience. “My mother icans of all colors and genders.
– and recognizing himself in the gay had some despair at first, but I realized Kylar has experienced a lot of vi-
and lesbian community protesting op- later that she was worried about how olence, discrimination and bullying in
pression and discrimination. others would react. She wanted to pro- his life, even recently. As we’ve been
“I would watch the news with my tect me, to shield me from negativity.” hearing in the news more and more,
dad as a Black girl and I would be un- When Kylar speaks of his parents, most trans and gender nonconforming
comfortable because I knew there was I can feel the love and respect. They people still face these injustices ev-
some kindredness of something,” he were his role models, he says. Despite ery day without proper support. The
says. “But that didn’t resonate as much the experiences they endured, Fannie community has grown greatly but the
as when I saw Christine Jorgensen on and William’s love and acceptance country is in a difficult place, he says,
TV.” gave Kylar the strength and passion to and he’s fighting for change.
Jorgensen, of course, was the first become his authentic self. “I never go into the room for Kylar
person to become widely known in the “They worked hard, and they Broadus, I’m in the room for the com-
United States for having sex reassign- taught me to work hard,” he says. “My munity,” he says, his voice starting to
ment surgery. parents taught me how to be a Black take on the sonorous tones I associate
As he grew up, Kylar cut his hair man in America, and that’s how I with powerful courtroom monologues
short and wore men’s suits to reflect learned how to persevere. I’m an OG. in the movies. “Human rights tran-
who he was inside, but initially, he I don’t fall down. I keep fighting. They scend race, orientation, gender. I’m
came out as a lesbian. were my rock. ” fighting for my sisters, I’m fighting for
“I came out as a lesbian first, but my gender non-conforming people,
that still didn’t quite fit,” he explains. Kylar’s second coming out expe- I’m fighting for everybody’s rights.”
“It was a non-coming out, really, be- rience wasn’t all positive, however. At Talking about the trans movement,
cause people just needed me to be in a the time he was working for a major Kylar is wistful and nostalgic about
box. I never answered their question. financial institution in Missouri. When the early days, remembering smaller
I didn’t feel there was a good answer. he informed his supervisor about his conferences when a handful of people
None of the boxes fit me. I was me, but gender transition, the work environ- were trying to change the world. He
that label was the closest thing people ment grew so hostile that Kylar finally moves into “teacher voice” when he
could relate to me so that’s what I was left on a constructive discharge notice offers advice for the movement today.
given. Then about five years later, I in 1997. When he sought legal retri- It’s a combination of authority and
spoke for myself and came out as a bution, the case was dismissed because genuine affection with the underpin-
trans man and that immediately felt there were no federal protections and nings of experience, the voice of a
right.” in Missouri, it was, and still is, legal to seasoned mentor.
His mother “took to her bed, like discriminate based on gender identity “Slow down, breathe and truly
a good Southern woman” but most of or expression. take a look inside and outside,” he says
the family treated the news as anticli- This experience channeled Kylar’s when I ask what he would say to the
mactic. formidable intellect, energy and work
“They’d related to me as masculine ethic toward what became his life’s Continued on PAGE 28

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