[Applause]
so I decided sorry I’m taking one of my
songs and reading some information I’m
gonna do it very fast I’ve been out for
thirty almost thirty years as
transgender I have I have been into rock
and roll out in rock and roll as
transgender for 28 years it was a
different world back then when I came
out to cross-dressing laws were across
all of the nations so everything that I
did as a trans person was illegal 1993
the Minnesota did Human Rights Act and
they included transgender that was the
first time in the nation that that
happened in 1995 I was on jury duty and
I was kicked off by a ruling which ruled
that I was not a protected class and
therefore I could be assumed to be bias
in favor of child molestation when the
press got ahold of that and interviewed
me they weren’t interested in how that
conflicted with the 1993 Human Rights
Act they were only interested in how
bizarre it was that a trans person was
trying to do their duty and going to
jury duty I’ve toured the u.s. and I’ve
toured overseas but I’ve had to
self-finance that because the music
industry didn’t know how to deal with a
trans person and we sell finance that me
and my spouse of 34 years out here
I also learned how to self dehydrate
myself so that I could avoid bathroom
stops while I drove across the country
for eight maybe ten hours if I do it
right and I do this still today because
I’m more nervous now about using the
public washrooms than I was before
because of the political atmosphere with
trans people presently that
self-financing resulted in a attack from
an audit from the Minnesota Department
of Revenue where my auditor other me by
saying that I was a big transgender rock
star and he was just a white suburban
guy but what he did is he accused me of
pretending to be an artist and getting
tax refunds undeservedly because of that
it took me two years and hiring a lawyer
in $12,000 which i got in donations from
individuals to win that and I did win I
researched the life expectancy of trans
people for regular Americans it is 78
for trans people it is 30 to 35 years
that is because of violence against my
community because of medical issues
through transition because so many of us
are underground in our transition and is
also not really understood completely
yet and suicide in the mid 2000 I lost
my sales person because she shot herself
because she had a horrible divorce and
she lost custody of her three kids we
talked about her suicidal feelings I’ve
been suicidal before I didn’t take it
seriously I am still guilty about that
two years ago I saw a suicide note on
Facebook one of my fans I have 5,000
people I don’t know them all I didn’t
know this person but I did not want to
see somebody who is trans who might be
killing themselves and I didn’t do
anything so what I did is I called 911
night I had to self self advocate for
myself
because my voice sounds male I didn’t
want I didn’t want myself to be miss
miss gender but I also didn’t want her
to be misgendered so I ad self advocated
for her as well we were able to connect
through 911 the East Coast City where
she lived from what I found on Facebook
they found her name they were able to
call her and they did stop that and we
are now friends in 2014 I was able to
tour with Laura Jane grace and against
me and I saw what happens when the music
industry accepts people who are trans
and I was able to see all of these trans
kids in the audience with parents that
were my age
some parents younger than me and I would
stand with them in my corset and my
fishnets and my stilettos because I had
to prove that I was trans when I was in
rock-and-roll Laura doesn’t have to do
that and I saw these kids and they were
so hungry for raw models and it was so
moving to me that I was seeing this in
my lifetime I never thought I would see
this in 2000 in 2015 President Obama
used transgender in the State of the
Union address that was the first time
anybody in government acknowledged trans
people in 2016 he overturned the ban on
trans people in the military and my my
sales person who shot herself she was in
the military previous my current second
guitarist trans woman is also was also
in the military
last month President Trump reestablished
the ban and he also used other ring
language to to vilify trans people and
to say that trans people would want to
undeservedly take tax money to finance
their transition costs
so what I want to say is that we can
make a difference individually onstage
as a rock and roll person and we can
also do it with one phone call
[Music]
take my hand take my shoulder understand
I can holder I know you can use
something bolder there is no plan and
it’s getting cold
[Music]
oh my brother see my sister there are no
others is no difference I could be you
[Music]
you could be me we struggle Oh
[Music]
desperately
[Music]
there’s too much
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
holman sister hold me hold me brother
hold me hold me father for be hold me
mother hold me hold me sister all be all
my brother hold me hold me father hold
me hold me mother
carry me
okay we you we could be stronger and we
could be true make me wise make me
breathe
make me feel you make me grieve
[Music]
[Applause]
so I decided sorry I’m taking one of my
songs and reading some information I’m
gonna do it very fast I’ve been out for
thirty almost thirty years as
transgender I have I have been into rock
and roll out in rock and roll as
transgender for 28 years it was a
different world back then when I came
out to cross-dressing laws were across
all of the nations so everything that I
did as a trans person was illegal 1993
the Minnesota did Human Rights Act and
they included transgender that was the
first time in the nation that that
happened in 1995 I was on jury duty and
I was kicked off by a ruling which ruled
that I was not a protected class and
therefore I could be assumed to be bias
in favor of child molestation when the
press got ahold of that and interviewed
me they weren’t interested in how that
conflicted with the 1993 Human Rights
Act they were only interested in how
bizarre it was that a trans person was
trying to do their duty and going to
jury duty I’ve toured the u.s. and I’ve
toured overseas but I’ve had to
self-finance that because the music
industry didn’t know how to deal with a
trans person and we sell finance that me
and my spouse of 34 years out here
I also learned how to self dehydrate
myself so that I could avoid bathroom
stops while I drove across the country
for eight maybe ten hours if I do it
right and I do this still today because
I’m more nervous now about using the
public washrooms than I was before
because of the political atmosphere with
trans people presently that
self-financing resulted in a attack from
an audit from the Minnesota Department
of Revenue where my auditor other me by
saying that I was a big transgender rock
star and he was just a white suburban
guy but what he did is he accused me of
pretending to be an artist and getting
tax refunds undeservedly because of that
it took me two years and hiring a lawyer
in $12,000 which i got in donations from
individuals to win that and I did win I
researched the life expectancy of trans
people for regular Americans it is 78
for trans people it is 30 to 35 years
that is because of violence against my
community because of medical issues
through transition because so many of us
are underground in our transition and is
also not really understood completely
yet and suicide in the mid 2000 I lost
my sales person because she shot herself
because she had a horrible divorce and
she lost custody of her three kids we
talked about her suicidal feelings I’ve
been suicidal before I didn’t take it
seriously I am still guilty about that
two years ago I saw a suicide note on
Facebook one of my fans I have 5,000
people I don’t know them all I didn’t
know this person but I did not want to
see somebody who is trans who might be
killing themselves and I didn’t do
anything so what I did is I called 911
night I had to self self advocate for
myself
because my voice sounds male I didn’t
want I didn’t want myself to be miss
miss gender but I also didn’t want her
to be misgendered so I ad self advocated
for her as well we were able to connect
through 911 the East Coast City where
she lived from what I found on Facebook
they found her name they were able to
call her and they did stop that and we
are now friends in 2014 I was able to
tour with Laura Jane grace and against
me and I saw what happens when the music
industry accepts people who are trans
and I was able to see all of these trans
kids in the audience with parents that
were my age
some parents younger than me and I would
stand with them in my corset and my
fishnets and my stilettos because I had
to prove that I was trans when I was in
rock-and-roll Laura doesn’t have to do
that and I saw these kids and they were
so hungry for raw models and it was so
moving to me that I was seeing this in
my lifetime I never thought I would see
this in 2000 in 2015 President Obama
used transgender in the State of the
Union address that was the first time
anybody in government acknowledged trans
people in 2016 he overturned the ban on
trans people in the military and my my
sales person who shot herself she was in
the military previous my current second
guitarist trans woman is also was also
in the military
last month President Trump reestablished
the ban and he also used other ring
language to to vilify trans people and
to say that trans people would want to
undeservedly take tax money to finance
their transition costs
so what I want to say is that we can
make a difference individually onstage
as a rock and roll person and we can
also do it with one phone call
[Music]
take my hand take my shoulder understand
I can holder I know you can use
something bolder there is no plan and
it’s getting cold
[Music]
oh my brother see my sister there are no
others is no difference I could be you
[Music]
you could be me we struggle Oh
[Music]
desperately
[Music]
there’s too much
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
holman sister hold me hold me brother
hold me hold me father for be hold me
mother hold me hold me sister all be all
my brother hold me hold me father hold
me hold me mother
carry me
okay we you we could be stronger and we
could be true make me wise make me
breathe
make me feel you make me grieve
[Music]
[Applause]
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