Cirrus@Austlit

'When I came out as transgender at the age of 17, I wasn’t aware of any public debates against my rights. I didn’t know what percentage of the country would vote against my right to marry, and there weren’t mainstream newspapers accusing people like me of coercing others into irreversible sex-change surgeries. But I also had no positive role models, no vision for what my life could look like in the future and absolutely no guidance. I came out in year 12, in 2013, not a very long time ago, but after everything that has happened in this country in regard to LGBTQIA rights, it may as well have been a lifetime. Hyper-visibility is bringing new-found challenges, as well as advantages, when compared with previous invisibility.' (Introduction)