My name is Michelle Snow and I started What The Trans with Ashleigh in 2018. At that point I was fairly annoyed with how trans issues were reported in the media and I really wanted to do…something about that.
But mostly I was bored and figured that I had some journalism experience and maybe it would be put to good use.
I never imagined that WTT would get the audience it has or that I would become somewhat known in the trans community.
It has been the privilege of my life doing this but it is time I moved onto something else. Always wanted to be honest with our audience at all times so here is why I made the decision.
I have watched from a front row seat things getting worse for trans people whilst the abuse has ramped up. Doing this for as long as I have has taken a tole. Covering the moral panic has been my entire life for five years and it has got to the point where I can’t do another report about a trans person dying or how the government are trying to harm us.
The level of abuse that I have received from transphobes has been immense but what hurt more was trans people taking out their frustrations and fears on me. Either I am too radical, or I am too liberal. If someone disagrees it isn’t just a disagreement, I am a harmful catastrophe. I never asked for anyone to listen to me, anyone who knows me knows that I abhor the basic concepts of marketing or self promotion. But there appears to be this assumption that I am something I am not.
Basically, I don’t have the stuff to take what people who gain any kind of prominence in our community gets. And I am not even that prominent. I can only imagine what this must be like for people with ten times the audience I have ever had.
I need to find something else before doing this kills me.
The WTT team and me are good. They are the best people I have ever known. This isn’t an infighting thing (I don’t imagine people would assume that but wanted to throw that in anyway). But I would ask the community: be kind to them. Even if you disagree with what WTT does, just remember that this work is hard. Be kind to them.
I want to deeply thank the team and those who have been very kind to me over the years. It has been a privilege, truly.
But I have to do something else. I can’t be what WTT needs me to be any more. I am going to go away and figure out what life is, and it will probably involve rolling dice and laughing more.
Thank you for the good times. Thank you for putting faith in me. And keep fighting, I know I will be.
