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Finding trans joy amidst the slings and arrows
As Pride month 2026 draws to a close, I want to take the sage advice of friends to step back and see the joy in being trans, which in turn shows that existing as a trans person in an era of increasing gender critical extremism is an act of rebellion in and of itself. Recently I have written about some of the issues surrounding being trans in 2026, yet as others have pointed out this is only one side of the trans experience. I agree, and I want to lay out why being trans has profound joy for me, as well as being a locus for the contentment I feel inside of myself. To paraphrase Jerry Maguire being trans completes me in a way being cisgender did not.
Waking up everyday without struggling with my body. This is trans joy. Irrespective of if I am wearing jeans and t-shirt, or like today a 50’s style A-Line dress for an interview, this deep seated contentment touches all of who I am. I am routinely asked by gender critics what makes a woman, well, a woman. My routine answer is that a woman is someone who understands herself to be a woman, with all the attendant bodily autonomy and self-determination that brings. I am a woman because this is who I am, nothing more or less, without a hitch of complication. There is no struggle, no contest, and certainly no gnawing sense I did the wrong thing transitioning at 17. 26 years later and I sit here typing that with joy in my…
