CJ: I have a Gender

CJ is a 25-year-old Trinidadian who drives trains for a living and is involved in LGBT activism. CJ grew up in a religious Christian household. They feel lucky to live in a diverse city like London. Ultimately, CJ wants to get married and have kids and a family.

“I have a gender, it’s not male or female, I call it genderqueer, because it’s ‘just me’ otherwise.

I have spent a lot of time in the queer community over the last few years and it is really good but I know that a lot of my friends and a lot of others are very anti-faith and anti-religion and sometimes I feel that there aren’t many people who understand both sides of me; that I’m trans and queer and 
a Christian at the same time.

I think my faith is a really big part of my life, so it’s really cool to be able to share my story about that.

Luckily, I found a church that is really accepting and they’re not only accepting but they encouraged me to express myself. So, I decided to finally get baptised and I invited my whole family. That was really great.

I got my first tattoo on my wrist, a so-called Jesus fish, when I got baptised, because it was such an amazing experience for me. It’s a very small tattoo but I really like it because although it’s small, people can see it and ask what it symbolises but at the same time it’s not really visible. I feel the same way about my faith and my gender or sexuality: it is very much there for people to see if they want to and there for them to ask about, but also it’s not in your face all the time.”