August (they/them) is queer, trans, nonbinary, and a future librarian living in the San Francisco Bay Area!
Growing up, August knew they weren’t like other kids – they just didn’t have the words to identify what exactly that meant. In a mostly conservative family, they felt like they spent most of their childhood trying to mold themselves into the person everyone else wanted them to be. But no matter how they tried, they couldn’t get themself to fit into the life they believed their family wanted them to live. They felt like they were hiding their true self behind a filter, doing everything they could to be anyone but who they were. It’s only been a few years since August has finally been free to radically love and make space for their true self without judgment. They chose to invest in The Queer Soul Experience to fully come out publicly on Trans Day of Visibility with the first photos that look and feel like them. This time, August gets to come out on their own terms.
In order to announce their new name and pronouns, they decided to have their first concept be a creative take on a baby gender reveal. We got pink, blue, and white balloons to signify their journey from thinking they had to be a girl to realizing that they were trans. It’s a girl… wait, it’s a boy…? Wait – it’s a transgender person! August lives comfortably in the nonbinary gender space, not feeling like a woman or a man. They describe their gender as “transgender” – a beautiful umbrella term that encompasses the wild mix of femininity, masculinity, and queerness that makes August the wonderful person they are. This concept in particular focuses on their “themininity,” aka feeling soft and feminine in a queer way, not in the way a woman would.
Check out the best photos from this set; I love how you can FEEL their confidence and how they feel so at home in their identity.
We played fun music and danced around, cheering for August and celebrating all that they are! It was so special to get to witness them really loving themselves radically and unconditionally for the first time.
For August’s second photoshoot concept, they were inspired by one of their favorite books: The Once and Future King, about King Arther who started out as anything but royalty. In their nomination form, August talked about how important it felt to be creating this queer, trans representation for queer kids to be inspired by. They wrote, “I want to be the queer, trans protagonist of my own fairytale – a story I never got to see when I was young.” They’re so moved by King Arthur’s story, so we took that and made it the queerest, trans-est fairytale possible! I borrowed a sword from a friend (it’s not sharpened but it’s weighted like a real sword!), and we ran around the Santa Cruz redwoods with folk music playing in the background. It was magical!
Here’s a few of the best photos from The Once and Future Queer:
If you’re reading this, that means that August has officially come out! Celebrate them with me by listening to their episode of The Queer Soul Spotlight which will be dropping soon! Catch up on seasons 1 & 2 of the podcast by clicking the button below, which is available on Spotify and Apple podcasts:
Free public access to diverse, intersectional LGBTQ+ education through real-life lived examples is CRUCIAL to the future of the US and the world, and you can help make this possible.
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Interested in getting involved with The Queer Soul Experience? Nominate yourself or someone else and get more info HERE:
jennichapmanphotography.com/queer-soul
Read about more Queer Soul stars HERE: jennichapmanphotography.com/blog
