White LGBTQIA+ People & Trystan Reese

The Spillway

What does it mean to be White and LGBTQIA+?

Here we sit down with Trystan Reese (seriously, just Google him) to talk about what it means to hold the identities of White and LGBTQIA+ in the US today.

Some questions include:

• What does it mean to be a person who is both White and Queer? A person who is White and trans?
• Is there a difference between a White Queer person and a Queer White person?
• What patterns are you seeing within White queer and trans community as it relates to racial justice?
• How do we make sense of the vast overlap in the Venn diagram of White trans and queer culture and cancel culture?
• How do we show up intersectionally?

Trystan Reese is an established thought leader, educator, and speaker, focusing on issues of transgender inclusion, social and gender justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. He is a professionally trained facilitator and curriculum designer, studying under Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington at the Social Justice Training Institute, mastering the art of anti-racist facilitation, consulting, and coaching. He studied Intercultural Organizational Development under Beth Zemsky and was mentored by Trina Olson from Team Dynamics. He has completed two immersive leadership training programs at Rockwood Leadership Institute and learned management skills and conflict resolution strategies from Leadership Development in Interethnic Relations. Trystan has also been organizing with the trans community for nearly two decades and has been on the frontlines of this generation’s biggest fights for LGBTQ justice.

Trystan launched onto the global stage as “the pregnant man” in 2017 when his family’s unique journey gained international media attention. He was invited to give closing performances for The Moth Mainstage in Portland, Albuquerque, and Brooklyn; the video of the Brooklyn event has garnered over 2.5 million views. Trystan partnered with many major media outlets, including CNN, NBC, People, and Buzzfeed, to bring his message of love and resilience to the mainstream.

As the founder of Collaborate Consulting, Trystan provides customized training solutions for individuals, organizations, and communities interested in social justice. He has trained hundreds of medical providers on LGBTQ inclusion, has delivered keynotes at dozens of conferences and convenings, and released his first two books just last year, “The Light of You” a book for 3-5 yo reading levels and then a book for older folks “How We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy, What We Learned about Love and LGBTQ Parenthood.”

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TRANSCRIPT DISCLAIMER: The following transcript was auto-transcribed by Descript software. It will be updated and cleaned in the coming weeks. Please reach out if you would like a transcript in the interim.

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Welcome to our podcast. We’re so glad you’re here refocusing on Whiteness without supremacy or shame. Listen. Like. Follow.

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For a transcript of this episode and more, please visit our website, www.thespillway.org

Mentioned in this episode:

The Spillway Community Guidelines

1. Engage sequentially. The show is a serial not episodic. We do this so we can build relation and find common ground and context. 2. We stay in our own lane. The Spillway is about White people talking to (predominately) White people about White people and White culture. We're not out here to critique anyone's actions but our own. 3. Our combined fabric of destiny. (3a) As Dr. King said, our humanities are deeply interconnected to each other. Racism negatively impacts me, too. (3b) The Spillway is one mechanism within a larger framework needed to sustain racial equity and justice. We're not a one-stop shop. 4. No one right way to liberation. We all share the same goals, but not every method works for every person. If this doesn't work for you. That's okay. Maybe it works for someone else.