• 3 days ago
This trans man started a T-shirt business — so that he could pay for his transition.

Special thanks to Human Love Apparel.

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Transcript
00:00I could never envision myself as a grown woman.
00:04It's just that there was no visual for it in my mind.
00:07When I started testosterone, for the first time I could see myself in my future as a grown man.
00:14I knew that there was a chance for me.
00:18My name is Jensen Mattar.
00:20F. Pretty.
00:20I'm human.
00:30I tried my very best to be the female I was told to be, even to an extreme at points.
00:46I was a cheerleader.
00:48I wore makeup.
00:49My depression at that point had gotten so severe that I couldn't function.
00:58I knew for certain that I needed to physically transition my body
01:03to match that of my identity in order to live my life.
01:13Once I had had surgery, I decided that if this worked for me,
01:19that this could work for someone else too.
01:29Growing up, I thought I was just one of the boys.
01:32Within the next few years, I learned that that wasn't okay for me because I was not a boy.
01:48I had a hard time doing pretty much anything.
01:51I cried myself to sleep every single night.
01:54I knew at that point for certain that I was not a female
01:59and I shouldn't be forced to live a life of a female.
02:04Transitioning in a state like Mississippi is pretty tough.
02:09I wasn't going to be receiving any assistance with my surgery,
02:16even though I knew, for me, it was medically necessary.
02:20So I had to get creative.
02:24I decided to design a t-shirt.
02:27Every letter is filled with a different pride flag.
02:31I took them to the streets, essentially, door to door.
02:36I feel like I broke out of my shell and I was going to accomplish something big.
02:42I was determined.
02:44I was going to be happy.
02:45No one was going to get in my way.
02:51So
03:10some people are interested in surgeries.
03:14There are plenty of different surgeries.
03:16There's not one magic surgery for trans people.
03:18There is no cookie cutter way to be transgender.
03:23And there's no right or wrong way either.
03:34Self-love is so much deeper than your physicality.
03:41There are many facets to transitioning.
03:43If we're ever going to make true progress in this state or in this world,
03:50it needs to start from the inside out.