Trans activist hits back at 4chan trolls circulating image online
A prominent transgender activist has shut down “transphobic” trolls sharing her image on 4chan with an inspiring Twitter thread on self-love.
The Human Rights Campaign activist, , discovered her picture had been shared on 4chan and other alt-right platforms alongside a strong anti-trans commentary.
The image shows Clymer in discussion with another woman at a National Girlfriends Day event. The accompanying text repeatedly misgenders her, denigrates her appearance and describes her as “a joke only God himself could come up with.”
When “trolls and TERFs” forwarded the image to her, Clymer saw it as an opportunity to spread a message of love and acceptance.
Instead of responding on the same level as her detractors,
she took to Twitter to shut the haters down with extraordinary positivity.
“I realise this is an effort to shame my general appearance and invalidate my humanity. And I know this may come as a shock to many of you, but… I really love the way I look,” she writes.
“I am genuinely confident in my own skin since coming out of the closet. I think I’m quite gorgeous.”
She says she is “at peace” with the fact that many people don’t find her attractive, and has no regrets about living her life as a woman.
She remembers how she felt anxious, depressed and “consistently miserable” when presenting as a male, adding: “I hated compliments on my male appearance. Truthfully, I hated that folks found me attractive as a ‘male.'”
While Clymer’s haters accuse her of trying and failing to “capture the beauty of nature and make it [her] own,” Clymer asserts that she feels comfortable in her own skin.
“You may look at that picture and see someone who makes you cringe in disbelief. I look at that picture and see happiness and survival. I have never been happier than I’ve been out of the closet and living my authentic self. It is truly the best thing in the world,” she says.
“Now, are there things I want to improve about my appearance? Sure, and that’ll come with time, but if my choice was between what you see in that picture and being in the closet, I choose that beautiful woman every day without hesitation. I am proud of her. She survived.”
Her final message is simply one of forgiveness: “I hope you find healing.”
She writes: “To those of you who invest quite a lot of energy into hating this and mocking it: I truly hope you feel this happy someday.”
