Noa, Age 24, Florida, from the series Are You Ok?
sheet: 20 × 16 1/8 in. (50.8 × 41 cm)
Duration: 1 minutes, 41 seconds
Interview Text
Noa, Age 24, Florida, 2022
Noa: Being exposed to this kind of queer phobia and transphobia, you have no choice but to acknowledge what’s being said. They just want their perfect, cis, white, male America. You know? It’s rolling us back to a time that is not inclusive to anyone that isn’t a cis, able-bodied, neuro-typical white man. Which sucks.
I think any queer and trans person who’s actively paying attention to what’s going on in the country right now can’t help but feel the impact of it. Every law that gets passed is just another, "Hey, just so you know, you’re still not welcome in this society." And I’m a person whose intersectionality is on every level it could possibly be, so it's kind of a further slap in the face. Even though I’m an adult now, I’m still gonna have legislation that’s against me. You have the social worries, walking home as an openly, visibly queer person, and now you have the legislation. So, on all ends, you’re just being boxed in.
While I understand that not everything is perfect, I have a gut feeling that one way or another we’re still gonna be able to come out on top. Queer resilience is strong as hell. It’s stronger than any march, it’s stronger than any one person, it’s stronger than any brick that was ever thrown. It’s inside every single person that embodies the identity of being a queer and trans person, not just in America but anywhere in the world. You look at everything, you feel it, you digest it, and you just try and think of how you can make a difference. When you get to a certain level of marginalization and queerness, you just can’t hold your tongue anymore. You can’t just sit back and watch it happen. So, join the conversation.
I’ve always lived by this philosophy spoken by Nina Simone in some interview back in the sixties. She was talking about how it was an artist’s duty to tell the times. I’m in school for music, and I’m realizing what I want to do when I get to that level. The music I write these days is mostly focused towards the trans and nonbinary perspective. There’s living authentically, which I think is the first step for the young gays like us that are just trying to learn how to walk. It’s getting out there and getting active and just telling that story.
I don’t think I would be this far ahead in my journey had it not been for the queer people who were open and visible before me. You know, I didn’t think I would be a person whose intersectionality was kind of topped off by being trans and nonbinary. I hope to be the visibility that I wish I had when I was younger. I want people to know that, yes, you can be trans and nonbinary, and you can be Latina or Black in America. You can be mentally disabled. You can be all of these things. Visibility’s an incredibly powerful tool. Especially right now.
