June celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride month each year to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Pride Month is a time to recognize the issues, challenges, and discrimination the LGBTQ+ community has faced and to celebrate the triumphs. In this podcast episode, Annette speaks with Ivylee Martinez and her adult child El Martinez, regarding gender identity issues.

El Martinez identifies with the pronouns They/Them/Their and at just 19 years old, boasts an impressive activism resume. El begins by discussing that they had always known something was off with their gender. In their freshman year of high school, El joined the GSA – Gender and Sexuality Alliance and met LGBTQ+ and trans people which got them thinking about their own gender identity. El also gives us a breakdown of the various definitions for those not familiar:

(Biological) Sex – assigned to a child at birth, most often based on external anatomy.

Gender Identity – the term(s) someone uses to define their gender, ex: male, non-binary, woman, fluid.

Gender expression – the manifestation of someone's gender through their appearance.

Transgender – a term used to describe someone who does not identify with the label/biological sex they were assigned at birth.

Cisgender – a term used to describe someone who identifies with the label they were assigned at birth.

El goes over the use of pronouns (He/She/They) and how it can be difficult and challenging for friends, family, teachers, and acquaintances to get pronouns correct. El mentions the best thing to do if you make a mistake on someone's pronoun is just to fix the mistake and move on with the conversation. Too many apologies may begin to alienate the transgender person and make them upset or uncomfortable.

Annette and El also discuss how those in the disabled community, mainly neurodivergent and autistic, are more likely to be transgender. Some autistic individuals center their gender identity around their autism and have been key in pushing forward gender acceptance. They also discuss the transgender fear of the healthcare system and the trauma that can occur when they are assigned the wrong gender by their doctors. They feel that sometimes transgender people avoid the treatment they need due to fear of having to explain or correct their gender to their doctor.

El was forced to become their own advocate and activist due to their school system and their lack of support for El. El was harassed throughout their time in high school and felt the school did not do enough research to support them and other LGBTQ+ people.

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