Life

The alt-right used a trans woman’s picture to tear her down. Twitter lifted her up.

Charlotte Clymer and other women
Charlotte Clymer (back left) at The New Agenda's National Girlfriends Day event. Photo: Twitter/Charlotte Clymer

A transgender activist wrote an amazing Twitter thread about self-love after a picture of her was found circulating alt-right forums.

Charlotte Clymer is the press secretary at HRC and “TERFS and trolls” were sending her a picture of herself with another woman that she said was being distributed on 4chan and other “awful parts of the web.”

One 4chan user posted the image with a transphobic tirade where they misgendered Clymer and said that her “massive skull” and other features were “a joke only god himself could come up with.”

“I realize this is an effort to shame my general appearance and invalidate my humanity,” Clymer wrote. (The whole Twitter thread is below.)

“And I know this may come as a shock to many of you, but… I really love the way I look. I am genuinely confident in my own skin since coming out of the closet. I think I’m quite gorgeous.”

Related: Trans athlete shares journey with side by side prom pictures, goes viral

She said that she was “miserable” when people saw her as a man, even if people would compliment her on her appearance as a man.

“I would dress in nice suits with a clean haircut – look ‘normal’ – and it made me feel constantly anxious and depressed,” she wrote. “I hated compliments on my male appearance.”

She said that some people might find her unattractive in that picture that was circulating rightwing forums, but she sees “happiness and survival.”

Clymer had a message to the people who were mocking her picture: “I truly hope you feel this happy someday. I wish that for you. It’s life-changing to feel comfortable in your own skin.”

Oh, and that original picture, where the commenter on 4chan said that Clymer looked “threatening”? She said that the other woman “was very kindly praising my work and asked for advice on trans-inclusive policies.”

Celebrities, activists, and politicians loved what Clymer wrote and responded with uplifting messages of support that will leave you in tears.

Here is the original Twitter thread. Replies are at the bottom.

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