A couple of years ago the Daily Telegraph ran a transition diary by Diana Thomas, and regardless of your position on both the paper and her, one thing she talked about in the last few entries was that she did not want to be labelled a professional trans person. That is, she did not want to be only know for her gender identity and writing about trans issues. This is something that I have long grappled with, especially as a trans person doing research about trans issues, yet the more I do the work the more I am seeing that the very notion of professional trans needs more unpacking than simply either embracing or rejecting it.
Trans Crisis Management
Over the years as I went through the process of living my life as a transgender woman, I encountered many instances of crisis management.…