the t4t project
a zine by/for/about trans artists
& storytellers of color
In 1972, Sylvia Rivera's "TRANSVESTITES: your half sisters and half brothers of the Revolution" was published in Come Out! – NYC's Gay Liberation Front newsletter. The original issue can be found here. Rivera's essay appears below with transcription.(cw: sa & acab)
Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in the clothes of the opposite sex. Male transvestites dress and live as women. Half sisters like myself are women with the minds of women trapped in male bodies. Female transvestites dress and live as men. My half brothers are men with male minds trapped in female bodies. Transvestites are the most oppressed people in the homosexual community. My half sisters and brothers are being raped and murdered by pigs, straights, and even sometimes other uptight homosexuals who consider us the scum of the gay community. They do this because they are not liberated.Transvestites are the most liberated homosexuals in the world. We have had the guts to stand up and fight on the front lines for many years before the gay movement was born. As far back as I can remember, my half sisters and brothers liberated themselves from this fucked up system that has been oppressing our gay sisters and brothers – by walking on the man's land, defining the man's law, and meeting with the man face to face in his court of law. We have liberated his bathrooms and streets in our female or male attire. For exposing the man's law we are thrown into jail on charges of criminal impersonation; that dates back as far as the Boston Tea Party when the English dressed up as Indians because the motherland had raised the taxes. We have lost our jobs, our homes, friends, family because of lack of understanding of our inner-most feelings and lack of knowledge of our valid life style. They have been brainwashed by this fucked up system that has condemned us and by doctors that call us a disease and a bunch of freaks. Our family and friends have also condemned us because of their lack of true knowledge.By being liberated my half sisters and brothers and myself are able to educate the ignorant gays and straights that transvestism is a valid life style.Remember the Stonewall Riots? That first stone was cast by a transvestite half sister June 27, 1969 and the gay liberation movement was born. Remember that transvestites and gay street people are always on the front lines and are ready to lay their lives down for the movement. Remember the transvestite half sister that was out gathering signatures for the Homosexual Civil Rights Bill petition and was arrested on 42nd Street. Remember the N.Y.U. sit-in? Transvestites and gay street people held the fort down and didn't want to gave in that Friday night after we had been removed from the sub-cellar.So sisters and brothers remember that transvestites are not the scum of the community; just think back on the events of the past two years. You should be proud that we are part of the community and you should try to gain some knowledge of your transvestite half brothers and sisters and our valid life style. Remember we started the whole movement that 27th day of June of the year 1969!Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries meet Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Marsha Johnson's, 211 Eldridge Street, New York, N.Y., apt. 3. For information write: S.T.A.R., c/o Marsha Johnson, at the same address.Power to all the people!
meet our creators
🌸 ava (she/her) is a Black transfeminine lesbian interested in psychoanalysis, black transfeminist nihilism, poetry, the destruction of euromodernity, and the World writ large.💎 Babatunde Tribe (they/them) is a multifaceted Creative. Twitter @Mx_Tribe, Instagram @babatundetribe :: Lagos, Nigeria
••• Fundraiser for trans person facing homelessness🐰 Bunnibee (he/they) is a fat disabled black transman doing his best to love himself! staarr-bee.carrd.co :: Carrollton, TX
••• Bunnibee's Redbubble🫐 Calliope Crain (she/they) is a Local Black Geek Girl and Radiant Root-worker. Twitter @EldritchFairy, Instagram @periwinkle_fae :: California
••• Support Calliope🧚🏾 D Dangaran (they/them) is a Black-Filipino trans femme fairy who works as an abolitionist movement lawyer and trans community builder. Twitter @MxDDangaran, Instagram @your.daily.dose.of.vitamin.d🌊 D.M. Rice (they/he) is a writer from Dallas, Tx, PhD candidate at the University of Essex, and co-editor in chief of Sybil journal (sybiljournal.com). Twitter @quizlemon, Instagram @diem_rice :: Brighton, England
••• D.M.'s Bandcamp🥰 Ebony (they/them) is a Black disabled gender nonconforming trans femme trying their best to resist, liberate and prosper. Twitter @gbzed :: NYC
••• Disabled Content Creators Collective (DC3)
••• Support Ebony🫶🏼 Ezio (he/it) is a disabled, mixed afro-brazilian, syrian-lebanese jewish romani intersex nonbinary transmasc immigrant who loves drawing t4t love and joy. Twitter @fondofcowboys :: Ontario, Canada
••• Ezio's Commissions
••• Support Ezio🌞 Fern Golden (they/them) is a neurodivergent Dena'ina Athabaskan poet from Alaska, writes about healing and wellness, culture and language, and mindful ecology. Twitter @ferngoldenpoems :: Alaska🕸 feyxuan nguyen (he/she/they) is a lifelong C/SA survivor and SWer who writes traumatic/erotic games about temporal mechanics and transgender anal. feyxuan.itch.io📹 K Anderson (she/they) is an artist, kinkster and porn archivist creating visual art, music, and critical erotica. Twitter @mxka___, Instagram @mx.ka :: Phoenix, AZ🥀 katharina (she/her) is a poet & musician from brazil. Instagram @ladyplurabelle :: Niterói, Brazil💿 Kiana Marrie Mayo (she/they) is a cinematographer, photographer, writer, and music producer who's heavily inspired by Sacred Geometry. Facebook @CosmicKianaMarrie, Twitter/TikTok/YouTube @kianamarrie, Instagram @kiana.marrie & @neauxzie :: Pittsburgh, PA✨ Kobe Taylor Natachu (all pronouns) is Shiwi, Diné, and Katishtya Łhamana. :: Marys River Kalapuya Lands (Oregon)💋 Lavi (she/her) is a woman who loves life and life loves her right back.🗺 Love, Builder of Worlds (any/zey/zem/zim) uses all the skills zey have available to zem to create new worlds from the rubbles of the white supremacist end-stage capitalist hellscape we all abide in, with the hopes that love and self-expression will carry zem through. :: Northern Europe⚜️ March Abuyuan-Llanes is a self-taught poet and militanteng bakla from Quezon City, Philippines. Twitter/Instagram @magmartsa :: Quezon City, Philippines🦋 Máte Vargas (they/elle) is a queer non-binary Mexican filmmaker, photographer and visual artist based in Mexico City. Instagram @noh.manches :: Mexico City👾 Micah (he/it)👑 Mordecai (Xūmat Plūto) Jackson (he/they) is a Musician, Author, and menace to Cis-iety. linktr.ee/Xumat.mdj, Twitter/Instagram/TikTok @Xumat_Mdj :: Detroit, MI
••• OneUnoIchi (111)
••• 000 (ZERO)
••• The World of To'o📚 Naomi Simmons-Thorne (she/her) is a licensed teacher and training philosopher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Twitter @_naomisimmons, Instagram @nao.meeeee :: Columbia, South Carolina🌹 Olákìítán Adéolá (Ó/Kìítán/he) uses their lived experience to mediate transformation & cuntaissance as an ọmọawo, writer and experiential artist. Olákìítán loves the lyric, and makes a lot of things from here. :: NYC
••• Support Olákìítán🎨 Prehn Moonwhisper (they/them) is a Black, neurodivergent, disabled Agender system, digital artist and hobbyist writer. cjoatbysamwise.com :: Maryland
••• Support Prehn
••• "Invisible," Spoonie Journal, Volume 1
••• ""I'm Here & I Won't Let Go," All My Relations, Volume 3: Belonging
••• "Respectfully Looking/Abstract Polygons/Mystically Intimidating," WordGathering: Volume 16, Issue 3
••• Dream Big Zine
••• Blacktober Zine 2022📜 Qiraat Soomro :: Pakistan💜 Sammi Jacobs (they/she) is a Black queer trans non-binary woman creating relatable stories in multiple mediums. Instagram @noct_art_ :: Baton Rouge, LA💛 Semaj Saint Garbutt (any/none) is a writer of sorts. Instagram @stop___white :: LA🍂 squid (they/them) is a nonbinary black/hispanic artist. kinglykoopa.carrd.co :: PNW
••• Support squid🎀 Tan Arsa Sagara (they/them) is not a dream and boasts a peculiar reputation. Twitter @tanarsas :: Melbourne
••• Cherry Red Zine💫 Thangam Rajinibala (he/him) Twitter @nautilusnuzzler, Instagram @tamarindsodaart :: MA
••• Thangam's Redbubble🌌 vagabondgyal (xe/xer) is a health & healing professional, mixed media artist, activist, and poet with a passion for people. Instagram @copaceticchaos :: Potawatomi Land (Kalamazoo, MI)
••• Support vagabondgyal
••• Fringe Mutual Aid🌈 Vasi Samudra Devi (she/they) is a hopelessly gay artist who wants to see the world change. Facebook @devisamud, Twitter @vasisamudradevi, Instagram @_vasisaysfreepalestine :: Colombo, Sri Lanka~~~🐉 GVGK Tang is a public historian, digital humanist, media scholar, and organizer of the t4t project. Facebook/Twitter @gvgktang :: Philadelphia, PA