I first came across Matt Kailey‘s Tranifesto two years ago when I started this blog. At the time I was certain about top surgery, and actively trying to talk myself out of testosterone. But that argument felt a lot like the one I had with myself before I decided on surgery: I was going through the motions of a half-hearted, losing fight. So I wanted to start looking for examples of dudes my age on testosterone: I wanted to see how it would look for a female body in its thirties to take testosterone, as I knew all the examples of kids in their 20s, with their high metabolisms and evolving bodies, would not be reflective of my transition.
Tranifesto was a revelation: TRANIFESTO in bold block lettering atop a brick wall, Matt standing confidently in front of it, eyes looking into the camera, looking at me. Tranifesto a blog not just with his personal story, but also one with tabs for resources and links and trans FAQs. He has a section for his bio and the bio of Tranifesto, he has a section for his public speaking and his books. I spent a long time poking around, looking up his posts with testosterone tags, and his voice was reassuring. Here was a guy who was a little older than me, had been on T for a while, and he was healthy. Hell, he was thriving. Matt’s life assuaged my fear of dying young from testosterone’s complications.
As I moved further along into my own journey I spent less and less time on Matt’s blog; what started as a weekly occurrence (I would read his Ask Matt posts religiously every Thursday) dwindled down to checking in sometimes as his new posts would pop up in my feed, and as my time allowed and interest was piqued. I was becoming my own trans man, writing my own posts on T shots and answering questions from readers of my blog. As my voice was taking shape, Matt’s was moving into the background. But it was still always there, reassuring me. One particular post of his deals directly with the fear of taking testosterone injections without any long-term studies to bolster the patient against the fear of fatal side effects. In that post he writes,
“The one thing I do know is that you will never get out of this life alive…You will die of something, and my philosophy has always been that I would rather die after having lived a full and authentic life than after having lived as someone I am not.”
And that line, “you will never get out of this life alive,” has been a huge comfort to me. I wrote about this post of his previously here. We all die of something, and even if testosterone is the indirect cause of it for me, at least I got to hear my real voice, look at and touch and have touched a chest that I am proud of. I have been addressed as sir and moving in the world and being recognized by the world as a man have been perhaps the greatest joys of my life. Clearly Matt has been a huge help in my personal transition, a soothing voice, a self-assured internet buddy, and I might not be the man I am (or might not have gotten to be him this soon) without Matt Kailey and Tranifesto.
Matt Kailey (Image courtesy of Tranifesto)
As I was preparing my wedding and honeymoon, I’ve spent little time on WordPress recently, and so I missed that Matt died of heart failure in May. I’m sad and his passing is a huge loss for our community. His death, at 58, also stokes the embers of that old fear, the one of dying early. So I let that fear sit with me for a half day, then I let it go. In that same blog post Matt goes on to write,
“There are honestly a ton of trans guys over 50 out there. Some of us might not be as visible because we have assimilated into the mainstream and are not visible as trans men, or because we are not as Internet savvy (or as interested) as the younger guys who grew up with technology.
So don’t freak out about dying young. I can’t guarantee that you won’t, but I can guarantee that you will hear more about people who die than you will about people who are living, because death is almost always a shock, and when someone dies, people will talk about it.”
And here I am talking about it. And even in death Matt manages to act as confidant and teacher; it is his early death that forces me to look at my own life and determine its length is in my hands.
Matt’s blog is still up and available, in fact his most recent post is about Tranifesto turning 5. I suggest you go check it out if you’re not familiar, and if you are, take a moment there to say your goodbye. I did, and it felt right and good.
Be nice to yourselves,
Your Pal Eli
—
The Advocate has a lovely Op-ed on Matt here.
And fellow blogger American Trans Man has a short goodbye here, with links to Matt’s blog and books.