Brownbox Productions

Day 5: Meet Matéo! 🏳️‍🌈

“Pride this year has been an experience like none I’ve had before - the idea of visibility and safety are so much more intertwined. At the same time there is such a joy in how the community can come together. In high school I came out as gay, and my parents were not very supportive. Last fall I came out as trans, and my mother renamed me Matéo John, in part after my grandfather. Originally I was named after my grandmother.

To be transgender is to live in duality. To be trans is to be patient, and also to be immediately authentic. To be so dedicated to yourself that you trade external safety for internal peace, because pushing down your true self can be just as dangerous as any bigot. To be trans is to be afraid and also braver than most. In this way, to me, pride has a double meaning: to mourn AND to celebrate. Basking in the freedom of being your true self, while remembering the fight for our rights continues (thank you Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and all the black and brown activists still fighting today).

Someone close to me cried once when I mentioned starting HRT, because they didn’t want my voice to change. I chose the song Beautiful City because I wasn’t able to sing it before, but now I can sing it fully and with confidence. I used to be afraid of the changes, too. I still am! But both things can be true - the future is scary and uncertain, and so very bright.”

Show Matéo some love today and also don’t forget to check out In Our Own Voices Inc. And support q***r spaces this month and every month!

https://ioov.org/ 🏳️‍🌈

***rcabaret