Gladstone, QLD, June 2022
As someone from the Trans community, who not only lives but also works within this community, sacrifice is something I think about a lot. Everyone in the world sacrifices something daily, whether they realise it or not. It could be as simple as another cup of coffee in the morning, skipping lunch or as serious as sacrificing your home due to budget stress or your life when it all gets too much to bear. Sacrifice to me means having to choose which parts of my identity I display to the world at any given time. It’s keeping some parts hidden for my personal safety as I move through the world. Sacrifice was having to leave the town I was living in and drive for 2 days to find gender-affirming care. I often think about sacrifice and loss together, when I lost the ability to access gender-affirming care where I lived, it meant I needed to sacrifice time, money and my identity to travel where I was seen. Fast forward almost 20 years of gender affirmation for me and I may not be sacrificing leaving my home to find gender-affirming care but I’m still sacrificing parts of my identity to stay safe in the world.