May 07, 2024

Part 1. Interview w/a Trans Youth Advocate in Texas (Other Conversations, March 2023)

1 hour 2 minutes

Part 1 of 2. Interview with Hayden Cohen, an 18yo trans youth advocate

in Houston Texas. I talk a little bit about my time as a ward of the

State of Texas, since the halfway house I lived in as a teenager was two

blocks away from our interview site. We also talk about their nonbinary

gender identity, the Texas State legislature, bills previously and

currently being proposed that ban gender affirming care for minors, and

how Governor Abbott has repeatedly targeted families with trans kids.

We also discuss their leadership of the regional network of GSAs

(Gay/Straight Alliances) in East Texas, the rollback in trans healthcare

in Texas, the intersex exclusions or exceptions in anti-trans bills,

the process of fighting anti-trans bills, the attempted takeover of

Houston ISD by a state organization, the Hatch Youth program that is

currently being housed in the Montrose Center, LGBT centers vs direct

action, the centralization of decision making, retreats for Jewish LGBT+

youth through Keshet, being a nonbinary person in sex-segregated

synagogues, and queer and gender-affirming retreats and synagogues.

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Links to topics in our interview.

Hatch Youth program

https://montrosecenter.org/micro-sites/hatch-youth/

Montrose Center

https://montrosecenter.org/

East Texas GSA

https://www.etxgsa.org/

Keshet: for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life

https://www.keshetonline.org/

Equality Texas

https://www.equalitytexas.org/

Young Queer America

https://lnk.to/youngqueeramerica?fbclid=IwAR3zGI4p6KsMkNAgmVV4tFvC7yeUhbgmCwSgSsJZLjTN4ihDs1I_yJ-D_G0

Texas GSA Groups Create Safe Spaces for LGBTQ Students - OutSmart

Magazine

https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2021/08/texas-gsa-groups-create-safe-spaces-for-lgbtq-students/amp/

"As Texas moves to treat gender-affirming care for trans kids as ‘child

abuse,’ families and advocates worry about the future" from Houston

Public Media

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/in-depth/2022/02/28/420043/as-texas-moves-to-treat-gender-affirming-care-for-trans-kids-as-child-abuse-families-and-advocates-worry-about-the-future/

"As more states target trans Americans, Jewish LGBTQ youth need our

help" from Forward

https://forward.com/opinion/532799/as-more-states-target-trans-americans-jewish-lgbtq-youth-need-our-help/?amp=1

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Other Conversations is an independent, informal oral history project by

Shane Brodie, a multi-issue activist and sculptor. This project is on

hiatus as of Fall 2023 as I continue to slowly upload previous

interviews, but it may continue later on in 2024 or thereafter. If you

are interested in being interviewed sometime in the future, please email

me (see below) and we can talk about that privately.

I've interviewed transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conformist,

agendered, neutrois, and intersex people who are anarchist, independent,

conservative, egalitarian, progressive, free speech and gun rights

enthusiasts, rural, religious, atheist, voluntaryist, mutualist,

apolitical, skeptical, constitutionalist, classic liberal, libertarian,

small political party members, socialist, DSA, communist, radical,

revolutionary, or have a mixture of right/left views etc.

If you've found these interviews interesting, please "like" and share them. If you are interested in starting your own interview project, you are welcome to contact me if you think my experience might be useful to you and you want some advice.

My email address is [email protected]

Thanks!

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By Shane Brodie