Families in Transition, Part IV: Partners
“I can’t be attracted to transgender women, but at the same time, keep it a secret and keep quiet as their rights are being violated.”
Aaryn Lang and Jose Monzon are a couple living in New York City. After meeting on a dating site geared toward trans people and their trans-amorous, cis admirers, Aaryn waited for months before finally agreeing to meet up with Jose during a trans empowerment conference in Chicago. She eventually left her home state, Ohio, to continue her relationship with Jose IRL in Brooklyn, where they live together today.
In their video interview, Jose talks about how he originally understood transgender identities one-dimensionally, as something he just fetishized in pornography, only to later realize how much deeper his affections, along with the implications of his keeping them a secret for so long, really were. Now both Jose and Aaryn identify as civil-rights activists working to create a dialogue about transgender people and healthy cis / transgender relationships.
