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(Trans) Pride and Prejudice

The Progress Pride flag represents everybody in the LGBTQIA+ community, including trans people

Warning: this post contains frank talk about suicide and transphobia

If you are subscribed to my newsletter, the second email you ever receive from me talks about me being trans. Other authors, other trans authors, often criticize this, because they feel it makes my writing political. It could alienate readers.

Frankly, I don’t want readers who are alienated by my existence. And my writing is political. All speech is political, as is silence. What we say or don’t say shows the world what we stand for. And I stand for the existence and the rights of my trans friends, my trans family members, and my trans self.

My journey as a trans woman

There is a story I tell, on occasion. After I realized I was transgender, I fell into a low point in my life. I saw the violence perpetrated against transgender people, and the barriers to healthcare. This was 2017, the year that North Carolina forced transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to their assigned birth. I was, frankly, ready to take my life.

Frankly, I don’t want readers who are alienated by my existence

But in spite of what my mental state was at the time, I have always been a voracious reader. While making preparations to end my suffering, I continued reading through my ever-growing “to be read” pile. I started reading The Hammer of Thor, Rick Riordan’s second book in his Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series. On those pages, I was exposed to Alex Fierro, a genderfluid character.

It was the first time I’d seen a character even close to me in a story. I cried, tears of relief and of joy. I cried for hours that night. And when I wiped away the tears, I knew I wasn’t going to kill myself. I had a mission. I didn’t want anyone else to go through what I did. No one should have to go more than three decades to see themselves represented in fiction. As a writer, it is my responsibility to make a world a better place for the next generation.

If you look up “ally” in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Rick Riordan

There’s a Percy Jackson and the Olympians live action series coming out on Disney+. They’ve recently made several casting announcements, including Leah Jefferies as Annabeth. There was a dust-up about it because Jeffries is Black, and Annabeth was not written as a Black character. And Riordan clapped back hard. He called out the fans of his work out, reminding them that saying that someone can’t do something because of the color of their skin is the very definition of racism, and then told people who were still upset to not even bother watching the show.

As he reminded people in that blog post, difference is strength. That’s always been the message of his books.

Seriously, the man is my hero. I hope I one day get to meet him and shake his hand. Give him a hug, if he will allow it. At the very least, tell him that he saved my life. I like to think that “Uncle Rick” is like every other author and wants to hear how his books helped them.

And it’s not just me. Hammer of Thor helped a lot of people. So many, in fact that Riordan won the American Library Association’s Stonewall Award in the children’s literature catagory for it. What what was the first thing he said in his acceptance speech? He called out the committee for giving the award to a cishet man instead of an #ownvoices writer.

 I can only accept the Stonewall Award in the sense that I accept a call to action – firstly, to do more myself to read and promote books by LGBTQ authors.

Rick Riordan

Then he went on to explain why writing the book, and writing all the diverse characters in his books was so important to him, drawing on his experience as a school teacher before writing became a career. He talked about the gay and trans students he had, about the students from queer families. Students he feels he didn’t do enough for. And now he’s trying to make amends.

I am trying to do more. Percy Jackson started as a way to empower kids, in particular my son, who had learning differences. As my platform grew, I felt obliged to use it to empower all kids who are struggling through middle school for whatever reason. I don’t always do enough. I don’t always get it right. Good intentions are wonderful things, but at the end of a manuscript, the text has to stand on its own. What I meant ceases to matter. Kids just see what I wrote. But I have to keep trying. My kids are counting on me.

Rick Riordan

Seriously, how can you not love this man?

What my being trans has to do with Kickstarter

All of that iss why I write the Dragoneers. The wider world may have its problems, but the Dragoneers themselves, are accepting of all identities. Represent all identities No matter where they are in their journey of self-acceptance. That’s something that each and every one of us should have, but all to often don’t.

And obviously I want to get these books into the hands of the people who need them most. Which isn’t an easy task. Publishing is an expensive task. That’s why I turned to Kickstarter. You can help me raise the money for the production costs I haven’t already paid out of pocket. And get copies of the books for yourself, too.

If you want to take a look at what you get in the kickstarter campaign, check out this post on the kickstarter rewards.

special edition covers of Royal Dragon and Dragon Run by trans author Ash Roberts
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ashdragoneer/dragoneers

So, support a trans author, and help trans kids. You could just save a life.

Dragons are a girl’s best friend,

Ash Roberts