#MonicaRoberts (May 4, 1962 – October 5, 2020): Roberts gave so much of her life to trans activism in this country even with her short time here. Raised in #Houston, she grew up in a highly segregated time, never losing hope that things would get better. Coming to the revelation that she was transgender, she began her transition in 1993-94 while she worked as an airline gate agent. Once her transition began, she continued to fight for others who struggled with self-acceptance and with society’s continued discrimination. She was one of the founders of the #NationalTransgenderAdvocacyCoalition, an organization that works to protect the rights of transgender and gender variant people. In 2004, she started #TransGriot, a newspaper column turned blog that serves to “chronicle the history of Black trans people.” #Griot is a word used to describe storytellers of West Africa, and Monica Roberts saw this as one of her greatest contributions to society. She stated in multiple interviews that growing up she didn’t see many, if any, trans people of color in popular culture. Visibility is crucial for every community, as it helps show generations of young people who might feel different from others that there is nothing wrong with what they are feeling and that they are not “intrinsically disordered.” She also worked tirelessly to tackle issues of racism and cissexism/transphobia in the community through her publications and won many awards for her ability to share her story and the story of marginalized communities. After her death in October of 2020, her friend #DeeDeeWatters announced plans to continue publication of TransGriot. #PrideMonth #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIAPride #Pride
Monica Roberts
Legends of Pride 