2021 Digital Pride Guide

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to my wallet. I wasn’t out to really
anyone at the time, except for one
of my best friends. We went together,
and I felt so accepted and loved and
safe! I am just so excited to see so
many people experiencing that here
in Fargo!
As part of your nomination, Faye
Seidler shared a video of you
speaking at City Hall. Can you tell
us a little more about what you
were speaking about? What was
the outcome, if any, from this and
how did it make you feel?
On April 6th, some dude showed up
at the city commission meeting in
lipstick and a wig and spent two and
a half minutes mocking trans people
- trans women in particular. He spoke
with so much vitriol…. I watched the
video of his speech and the reaction
he got from the city commissioners
afterwords while I was on vacation. I
couldn’t stop thinking of the message
being sent to so many trans people.
My blood boiled. Trans people have
been scapegoated by so many people
for so long, but it’s really ramped up
lately. This year alone, over 100 antitrans
bills have been put forward
in the US. We are under attack and
all we want to do is just live and be
treated with dignity and respect. To
make matters worse, Deputy Mayor
Peipkorn made it very clear he stood
with the hate speech that was shared.
The big point I wanted to make
by speaking was simply that our
community will not stand for hate,
and our community can and should
feel empowered to make positive
change. We are not powerless if we
unite.
Tell us about your role in getting
hate crime legislation in Fargo.
Like I said earlier, I’m just a guy who
shows up to things, and I meant that.
Its important to me that people know
that. We all have different strengths
and if we work together using our
skills, that’s when we are most able
to make change. My involvement
with the hate crimes legislation was
that I showed up to city commission
meetings wearing my “trans rights
are human rights” shirt. A lot of us
showed up and showed support.
I think my speech in response to
the blatant transphobia probably
helped solidify the need for hate
crimes legislation, but honestly the
credit goes to everyone who showed
up, and that’s a lot of it. Also I just
want to share that Arden Light is an
amazing guy. I think he’s like only 19,
but he’s one of the hardest working
and most passionate activists I
know. Seriously. He put a lot of effort
in the hate crimes legislation.
Are there any other organizations
that you are involved in?
In the last year or so I’ve been quite
active in Black Lives Matter protests
and anti-racist actions around the
city. For me, this has meant helping
volunteers in the community by
handing out water and snacks at
events. Most recently, several of us
activists went to a racist anti public
education event being hosted in
Moorhead and called them out for
sharing racist and LGBTQ-phobic
propaganda. I believe strongly
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