Jessica CisnerosKonto zweryfikowane

Sunday, January 17, 2049. I've thought about that day a lot over the past few years. It's a long ways off, about 10,325 days from now.

It’s the day that I will have spent more time out of the closet than in it. I will be 62 years old before I can say that I've spent most of my life living authentically in my own skin.

And somehow, I'm grateful for that. Ain't that something? I'm so completely grateful.

There are countless millions who have lived and died in the closet because they weren't supported and countless millions still living there because they lack support.

There are so many LGBTQ people, particularly Black trans women, who have been murdered for the crime of existing in their authenticity. Or felt suicide was the only way out of pain in a world that denied them authenticity and safety.

And yet, I’m alive. I got to wake up this morning, comfortable in my own skin, and say: “Hi, I’m Charlotte”. I get to be in personal and professional spaces where my authenticity is affirmed, my safety assured, my dignity defended.

I get to be myself when so many others, gone and present, never had the chance or don't have it now. I am very, very lucky, all things considered.