Media Coverage: As Trans-hate sweeps the country, Trans communities still stand strong

By Kari Vides, El Tecolote Managing Editor

Originally published in eltecolote.org June 16, 2022.

“For the first time, I felt what it was [like] to be on their bad side and be looked upon as a bad child,” said Monica Paz, remembering the moment she came out to her parents. “It was literally over my sexuality, not because I had done anything wrong.”

Paz was nine-years-old when she migrated with her parents from El Salvador. Raised in Los Angeles, Paz struggled with drug abuse and resorted to sex work at a very young age. And throughout this time, Paz knew something was “not right.”

“Up until age, probably 17, even though I knew that I wasn’t just a boy like I was assigned at birth, I knew that something was different, but I didn’t know trans women existed because I didn’t have any of that around me,” Paz said. “I was so secluded.”