ContraPoints

“As a prominent trans person, you hope that someone feels they know you and then thinks of you at the polls; you hope to impact the way they act when they encounter a trans person in real life.”

“There's this artistic drive or something in me that impels me to sympathize with villains, but it's maybe not a great impulse as someone who wants to do activism as well.”

“I kind of hate the fact that I feel like people expect you to announce what you are, and then you become it. I would rather become the thing and then name it.”

“I've been harassed. I've been stalked. I've had every public pre-transition photo of me compiled alongside my deadname with the purpose of never letting me be my true gender.”

“A ContraPoints video is never going to be framed as 'I'm so offended by this idea.' It's not, 'I'm so intimidated by my opponent's big, masculine brain.' It's more, 'I'm bored of you, and also, you're a dum-dum.'”

“Almost as soon as I came out as trans, there was a spike in online harassment more vicious than anything I'd experienced before. It turns out there are many people who spend a good portion of their spare time making life as miserable as possible for trans people.”

“I try to swim against the current as much as possible when it comes to the tribalism that defines the way people do politics on social media, and I try to present myself as an individual and humanistic voice. I'm interested in people, not just factions.”

“It's quite difficult to get through to the people who are really committed to these anti-progressive beliefs.”