Beauty and identity are two constant forces which society ensures that almost all of us consider daily. As a trans person this can be even more true. Everything you do you think about in great detail. Did I move right? Is my hair okay? Did the person pay too much attention to my voice? It can leave you in a void where even you no longer know who you are. You’re not sure where the you which has been constructed for society ends and where the authentic you starts. Obviously the trans community is huge and this is just the opinion of one trans girl but it’s built on a wealth of experience. When I began to transition I never believed that I could be beautiful. That I could be loved. That my identity was good enough. I still have many of those feelings and still don’t trust that I can be beautiful. I still hate my reflection. But I’m trying. I’m trying to remember that I am just as beautiful as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner. That I am as beautiful as Lana Wachowski and Janet Mock. For beauty is not in how we look. It’s not in how we appear to society but it’s in our actions. I am beautiful because I am living as me. Living as authentically as possible. I’m living how I choose and in a way that brings joy to myself and those around me. I’m beautiful because I fight for trans rights and I support my trans siblings. Trans people are told that we have to “pass” to be beautiful. If someone can tell you’re trans you’re doing something wrong. But that’s just society attempting to police another community. One which is too beautiful for them to believe in or perceive. Trans people spend so much time judging ourselves that we don’t need others to judge us too. We don’t need others to decide our identity is valid. Our worth is not built upon others belief in us. We need you to love us. We need you to respect us and we need you to stand with us. Trans people are the most beautifully authentic people I know. It never ceases to amaze me how connected we are with our identities. We allow them to change. We allow them to develop and evolve. We don’t use them as a box that we fit in and must remain in for the rest of time. We come out, and out and out again. We’re gender fluid, we’re agender, we’re homoromantic. We’re asexual, we’re bi, we’re queer. We’re straight, we’re lesbian, we’re polyamorous. We’re binary, we’re intersex, and we’re pansexual. These words don’t show a community obsessed with labels and craving identities. It shows a community so aware of who they are they can proudly use these identities. That’s where I see the beauty of my community. In their emotional intelligence and their self-awareness. People quote trans suicide rates on a daily basis. They talk about how high unemployment is in trans communities. We talk about how difficult the processes which we must go through as we transition are. But I also see hope. A lot of hope. I see a community which supports and cares and loves. This beauty can be seen in any minority community. Anyone who has faced a world in which they couldn’t see themselves fitting in. Any minority group spreads it’s own form of beauty. We don’t try to live by other’s beauty standards. We build our own and we show you why we’re beautiful. Whether it be queer people, people of different nations, people native to occupied lands, people with disabilities or anyone else who is oppressed or made to feel different by the majority. We are beautiful. To you, the privileged reader. Try a little harder to be inclusive. Remember that not everyone around you has lived the same life. Remember people are different and can feel excluded and unimportant for a number of reasons. But also remember we’re beautiful. We’re strong and we’re brave. To those reading this feeling oppressed by societies’ standards and norms. You are beautiful you are important and you are loved. Remember to continue letting your beauty shine through. Fitting societies’ beauty standards does not make you beautiful. Being you is what makes you beautiful. By Toryn Glavin