As some of you may know that I traveled back home to South Dakota this past week. Not only did I get to see some family, sleep in my own bed again, and pet all of my cats, I was with the ACLU of South Dakota on some business. During this time, I had the chance to meet one of my greatest heroes.
I met Chase Strangio.
Chase works with the ACLU on the national level as a lawyer. I first heard of Chase during the fight against HB 1008 in South Dakota. One of our first interactions was when I was in great need of help to handle the onslaught of media I was getting myself into. I had never been on TV speaking to a camera. I had been asked a few questions for a local newspaper article about going to the dentist as a six year old. That was it. I was a nervous wreck thinking about a huge camera in my face, not knowing what questions I would be asked, and I was not sure if I could be taken seriously. Chase eased my mind and gave me a few helpful pointers. I used them in every single interview, whether it was with local news or a national news outlet like CNN. I think Chase helped me take myself seriously and thus made people around the country take me and my right to use a bathroom seriously.
After that first conversation and some more work going on in the state, I had been speaking to someone and they mentioned that Chase is trans. This was something that I didn't think was too terribly important. That may sound terrible, but it's the truth. Chase is a person, whether he is trans or not, who helped us in South Dakota from New York.
When I actually met Chase for the first time, he was everything I expected. Maybe I thought he would be a couple inches taller, but that was about it. After seeing him in person, it felt like we didn't need to do the pleasantries. I felt like I knew this person who was instrumental to the work done in South Dakota. I was in awe of him because I was seeing him, I hugged him, and I sat next to him at dinner! This man who had all my respect because I could not have gotten anywhere without him was right next to me!
And the next night, Chase presented me with an award. I cannot tell you how happy I was to receive the award in the first place, but having Chase give a speech about the legislative session and during that speech I was cited as one of Chase's heroes, which did get me in the feels, I thought that this great man is most definitely my hero. After all, this is someone who does so many amazing things for the trans community.
In the words of one of my other heroes "we can be heroes, just for one day," but Chase Strangio will always be my hero.
