One of the things I have repeatedly said in the 15 plus years I've been a part of the trans community is that mine and the transitions of African descended transpeople are not like our white counterparts.For starters, class and income differences. A white transwoman comes from a background in which she has a higher income due to her prior status as a white male. For every dollar a white person earns, a Black person earns 70 cents, even if we have a well paying job.
That means it's going to take us longer to save up the money for any type of surgery, much less stuff like electrolysis/laser treatments, or SRS. So by necessity, we focus more on perfecting our femininity from the inside out.
Before we can even tackle the gender identity issues, we have to deal with on an almost daily basis race and racism inside and outside the GLBT community.
We also are affected by the same issues that afflict the African American community at large.
We have to deal with once we begin transition the added burdens of being considered the 'unwoman' just like our cisgender sisters and all the negative stereotypes that come with that. We have to deal with the shame and guilt, negative stereotypes and negativity heaped upon transwomen of color in addition to taking the brunt of the anti-trans violence casualties along with our Latina transsisters.
Because we grew up in somebody's church, our spirituality is important to us. We are going to be sitting in the pews of somebody's church on Sundays on a regular basis. If we're fortunate to be in our home churches where we grew up and it's a 'whosoever will' one, instead of a prosperity gospel pimp the conservahate one, even better.
So no, while in some respects we have some similarities and shared issues, in others, my chocolate flavored transition is STILL not like yours.
