Thirty-four years ago today, the world (and Hawaii specifically) was graced with the individual who would grow up one day to be the writer, TV host, activist and brighter-than-the-sun luminary Janet Mock. Mock is perhaps best known for her New York Times best-selling memoir Redefining Realness, in which she shares her story of what it was like to grow up as a poor, multi-ethnic trans woman. Mock has gone on to have a venerated career in media, and all the while she’s been a figure of immeasurable importance for the trans community, most recently speaking out against the Trump administration’s rollbacks of trans rights in the New York Times. Her second book, Surpassing Certainty, in which she details what life was like for her as a newly transitioned woman in her 20s, comes out on June 13th. In honor of her birthday today, here are 10 quotes that will inspire the eff out of you to stand up for good and above all, to be true to yourself:
1. “Be stingy with your time and spend it in spaces that fill you up.”
2. “Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power—not because they don’t see it, but because they see it and they don’t want it to exist.”
3. “Becoming is the action that births our womanhood, rather than the passive act of being born (an act none of us has a choice in). This short, powerful statement assured me that I have the freedom, in spite of and because of my birth, body, race, gender expectations, and economic resources, to define myself for myself and for others.”
4. “I knew even as a teenager that my femininity was more than just adornments; they were extensions of me, enabling me to express myself and my identity. My body, my clothes and my makeup are on purpose, just as I am on purpose.”
5. “Those parts of yourself that you desperately want to hide and destroy will gain power over you. The best thing to do is face and own them, because they are forever a part of you.”
6. “Frankly, I’m not responsible for other people’s perceptions and what they consider real or fake. We must abolish the entitlement that deludes us into believing that we have the right to make assumptions about people’s identities and project those assumptions onto their genders and bodies.”
7. “Kindness and compassion are sisters but not twins. One you can buy, the other is priceless.”
8. “Being an exception isn’t revolutionary, it’s lonely. It separates you from your community. Who are you, really, without community? I have been held up consistently as a token, as the “right” kind of trans woman (educated, able-bodied, attractive, articulate, heteronormative). It promotes the delusion that because I “made it,” that level of success is easily accessible to all young trans women. Let’s be clear: It is not.”
9. “I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community.”
10. “What keeps me going is that quest for just being able to be present and be myself. Not for people, but for me.”
