A PLACE TO BE YOURSELF

ALLY NELSON

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND HUMAN SCIENCES

Biomechanics Major / TRANScend Student Group

Ally Nelson remembers the exact moment when she needed to take control of her own future.

Just like any other day, she was on her way to class when a sudden and paralyzing fear set in, a flight-or-fight panic response that ultimately led her to TRANScend, UNO’s student group for those who find themselves along the transgender spectrum; a place where she could finally be herself.

“I felt really alone until I found TRANScend. You can have all the cis, straight people in the world tell you that you’re valid and you’re not alone, but you don’t realize it until you meet those other people [like you].”

Each year, March 31 marks International Transgender Day of Visibility, dedicated to raising awareness of the discrimination faced by transgender people, i.e. those whose gender is not the same as the sex they were assigned to at birth, worldwide and recognizing the contributions they make to society.

Ally’s story is not unique to those who are transgender, agender, genderqueer, or anywhere in-between. Like a lot of trans youths, she knew who she was at a young age but due to outside pressures, committed to strict gender roles.

“You know, I was a people-pleaser, so I tried my absolute hardest to make my family proud,” she says. “I tried to be the manliest thing on the planet; I lifted weights, I got huge, I joined the Marines, I was in fights… and it didn’t matter. I tried and, still, at the end of the day, I wasn’t happy and on some level I always knew why.”

Jay Irwin, associate professor of sociology, and Jen Skidmore, student development director for the UNL College of Engineering, serve as facilitators for TRANScend. They say that individuals on the trans spectrum face unique barriers that others in the LGBTQ umbrella don’t.

“Having a dedicated space for trans students where they can speak a similar language, not have to walk on eggshells, or worry about being misgendered is really beneficial for them,” says Jay Irwin, himself a trans man.