- Sep 27, 2006
- 409
- 12
- 18
Foreword:
"When I started working on this piece earlier this April, I didn't have much idea about what I wanted to do outside of giving attention to an often-overlooked group in the Metal scene, the trans community. As I talked with and even befriended several musicians from different places making wildly different music, it really opened my eyes to how many in our community have to struggle with scenes that are shamefully unwelcoming and even hostile to them when they should be bringing them in with open arms to play music telling everyone against them to sit on a cactus and spin like a top. For a long while, I was convinced that I wasn't the right person to do this, but with the help of a good friend both before and during this project, I took the plunge and ended up meeting many beautiful people that are more metal than you or I will ever be as they fight like hell to be who they are, defiant of all who would dare say that they are wrong to do so.
Originally, I had no intention of writing this intro, instead deferring to the very same friend who got me in contact with some of the people interviewed here. I felt my perspective would be the wrong one, as any and all feelings and thoughts I have about the lives and struggles of the trans community are all second-hand. As time went on, though, so many horrible things have happened to them at an alarming rate, more so than the already horrific pace it had taken in the past. Bills to separate families from their trans children and to inspect the genitals of said children were introduced, mass shootings and murders have become more commonplace, and trans people and those who help them are regularly slandered against by individuals and groups who have no moral compass and only wish to see them destroyed and will believe any lie necessary to see it done. Again and again I have seen the trans community plead with people to hear their voices, to see their struggles, to stand by their side, and all too often it fell on deaf ears. It was this fact that inspired me to write this introduction, and it should have been what inspired me to do this project in the first place.
I know this is heavier than is often done here on the Crypt, but to everyone reading this, please listen to me when I say that every person here, along with every trans person out there, metalhead or otherwise, desperately needs us. We need to listen to their cries of help so we can understand what to do for them. We need to see their struggles so we can understand that they must be our own too. We need to be by their side because now, it seems like no one else will. Metal should be about community for those cast out of society for refusing to conform to it, but more often than not, we take the aesthetics of rebellion where it suits us while gladly conforming to beliefs and behaviors that hurt those we should be accepting. If that last point made you stop and think, I urge you to read on and hear the voices of those too often drowned out by poisonous propaganda intent on their destruction. I won't pretend this will turn the tide on anything, but at the very least, maybe it will get us all to listen to more than just the music.
All interviews were done online except the one with Danica Roem, which occurred over a couple of phone conversations around April and May, which explains the more conversational structure and tone. Also, if you're reading this, I am very sorry if I get some words wrong, turns out my recording equipment was rather poor."
Read the whole article from - > H E R E <-
"When I started working on this piece earlier this April, I didn't have much idea about what I wanted to do outside of giving attention to an often-overlooked group in the Metal scene, the trans community. As I talked with and even befriended several musicians from different places making wildly different music, it really opened my eyes to how many in our community have to struggle with scenes that are shamefully unwelcoming and even hostile to them when they should be bringing them in with open arms to play music telling everyone against them to sit on a cactus and spin like a top. For a long while, I was convinced that I wasn't the right person to do this, but with the help of a good friend both before and during this project, I took the plunge and ended up meeting many beautiful people that are more metal than you or I will ever be as they fight like hell to be who they are, defiant of all who would dare say that they are wrong to do so.
Originally, I had no intention of writing this intro, instead deferring to the very same friend who got me in contact with some of the people interviewed here. I felt my perspective would be the wrong one, as any and all feelings and thoughts I have about the lives and struggles of the trans community are all second-hand. As time went on, though, so many horrible things have happened to them at an alarming rate, more so than the already horrific pace it had taken in the past. Bills to separate families from their trans children and to inspect the genitals of said children were introduced, mass shootings and murders have become more commonplace, and trans people and those who help them are regularly slandered against by individuals and groups who have no moral compass and only wish to see them destroyed and will believe any lie necessary to see it done. Again and again I have seen the trans community plead with people to hear their voices, to see their struggles, to stand by their side, and all too often it fell on deaf ears. It was this fact that inspired me to write this introduction, and it should have been what inspired me to do this project in the first place.
I know this is heavier than is often done here on the Crypt, but to everyone reading this, please listen to me when I say that every person here, along with every trans person out there, metalhead or otherwise, desperately needs us. We need to listen to their cries of help so we can understand what to do for them. We need to see their struggles so we can understand that they must be our own too. We need to be by their side because now, it seems like no one else will. Metal should be about community for those cast out of society for refusing to conform to it, but more often than not, we take the aesthetics of rebellion where it suits us while gladly conforming to beliefs and behaviors that hurt those we should be accepting. If that last point made you stop and think, I urge you to read on and hear the voices of those too often drowned out by poisonous propaganda intent on their destruction. I won't pretend this will turn the tide on anything, but at the very least, maybe it will get us all to listen to more than just the music.
All interviews were done online except the one with Danica Roem, which occurred over a couple of phone conversations around April and May, which explains the more conversational structure and tone. Also, if you're reading this, I am very sorry if I get some words wrong, turns out my recording equipment was rather poor."
Read the whole article from - > H E R E <-
