00:00 This is Sienna.
00:02 She fell in love with...
00:04 LaShawn.
00:05 The transgender couple met on TikTok two years ago.
00:09 And LaShawn was like commenting, commenting, commenting
00:11 and I wasn't really paying any mind, but then the comments were like,
00:13 "Girl, go look at his page."
00:14 And I saw this handsome gentleman here.
00:17 We get a lot of judgment on social media
00:19 and trolls a lot of the times will say that we're confused about our gender.
00:22 And despite proudly sharing their transgender journeys,
00:26 they often face backlash.
00:28 It really gets dark on TikTok.
00:30 The comments were just nasty.
00:32 Anybody that's not trans wouldn't understand what it feels like
00:35 to literally feel like you're in the wrong body.
00:37 Like to literally look at yourself in the mirror
00:39 and see someone that looks foreign to you.
00:41 I'm LaShawn.
00:45 And I'm Sienna.
00:46 And we get judged on our transitions as a transgender couple.
00:50 I'm 23 years old and I'm a full-time content creator.
00:53 I'm 24 years old and I am a fitness content creator.
00:59 We met through TikTok.
01:00 Sienna thought I was a chaser.
01:02 I came in the live.
01:04 She wasn't paying attention to me.
01:05 Her comment section had to help me out.
01:08 On TikTok and being online, a lot of men will say stuff to me,
01:11 but I'm usually just focused on whatever I'm doing.
01:13 And LaShawn was commenting, commenting, commenting
01:15 and I wasn't really paying any mind, but then the comments were like,
01:18 "Girl, go look at his page. Go look at his page."
01:20 And I was like, "Oh, okay."
01:22 And I saw this handsome gentleman here.
01:25 Then we just started talking off and on for some months.
01:28 And then I had my time surgery and then she was in the picture ever since.
01:32 I had never dated anybody trans before LaShawn.
01:36 So that was kind of like a thing for me.
01:38 I was kind of like, "Well, I don't know if once we like, you know,
01:41 me and I get together and stuff, if you'll be for me."
01:44 But then once we started talking like consistently and stuff
01:46 and he showed me how nurturing and how caring he was
01:48 and just how he wore his heart on his sleeve, really,
01:51 that was when my attraction really like broadened.
01:54 We became an official couple January 2021.
01:57 Wait, January 2022.
02:00 January 2023?
02:03 Was that the January that just happened?
02:04 That's crazy how many years you just missed.
02:06 I know because I'm thinking... January 2023.
02:10 All right, there we go.
02:11 And we're live, y'all. Make sure you guys are coming in.
02:13 Tap the screen, share the live, say what's up,
02:15 because what's going on? What's the tea?
02:18 We get a lot of judgment on social media and trolls a lot of the times
02:21 will say that we're confused about our gender.
02:23 When we live stream, we usually have like a lot of views.
02:25 Like we've had up to 4.5K views in one sitting.
02:29 So out of those, it can get pretty crazy.
02:34 People will ask us, "Who's the boy and who's the girl?"
02:37 Which is so weird.
02:38 Like you can clearly see she's the woman, I'm the man in the relationship.
02:43 A lot of people will ask about genitalia.
02:45 A lot of people will say things like, "Why not be with a real man?"
02:48 Or, "Why not be with a real woman?"
02:49 They equate everything to genitalia when it's so much more than that.
02:53 Like maybe for them, that's what they look for in their relationship.
02:56 But I couldn't ask for more of a man than what LaShawn provides for me.
03:00 It really gets dark on TikTok.
03:02 They'll like use the Bible.
03:04 They will say, "What are you going to do when God comes
03:08 and when it's time for you to get in heaven?"
03:10 It'll be a lot of people trying to use religion against us
03:12 or trying to use their own personal beliefs to say that we're going to be condemned.
03:17 That's their favorite word, condemned.
03:19 They do anything for clout.
03:21 Loud and wrong.
03:23 They're lying.
03:25 Loud and wrong.
03:27 What restrooms do you each use?
03:30 Nosy and just in our business.
03:32 Because does it look like I'm walking in a guy's bathroom? No.
03:35 Whenever I call cis women, "cis women,"
03:39 they love to correct me and say, "You mean real women."
03:43 Real in all gaps.
03:45 For the most part, I don't really respond to the hate comments.
03:48 There's no breaking through to people that I ignore and don't want to understand.
03:51 The judgment that we receive on social media, it doesn't faze me anymore.
03:57 Sometimes it will get to Sienna.
03:59 We're trying to raise money for her breast augmentation.
04:03 That was just like a really bad streaming day.
04:06 The comments were just nasty. Like, really, really nasty.
04:10 It irritates me the majority of the time.
04:13 But other than that, I feel like I'm fine because I have her at the end of the day.
04:18 I just am so much more than my trans identity.
04:21 One stereotype that a lot of people have about trans women
04:23 is that we're trying to steal the spotlight or take over the world.
04:27 Or we're trying to take the spot of cisgender being biological women.
04:31 A lot of people think that trans women are trying to transition to get man,
04:34 and that is a weird misconception.
04:37 We just want to feel like us.
04:38 We don't want to go through the constant gender dysphoria or feeling misplaced.
04:42 I feel like anybody that's not trans wouldn't understand what it feels like
04:46 to literally feel like you're in the wrong body.
04:48 Like, to literally look at yourself in the mirror and see someone that looks foreign to you.
04:52 So, yeah, definitely a misconception, definitely a stereotype,
04:55 and one that we need to squash.
04:59 So today we're going to be picking out outfits for our next Ballroom competition.
05:02 Ballroom is a space for queer people to come together and compete for prizes, trophies, and sometimes money.
05:08 Pass me that one and this one.
05:10 This one.
05:12 Which one is more teacher-y?
05:14 Actually, both of them.
05:16 It just depends on the kind of teacher.
05:18 Is this going to be a teacher with a dress?
05:19 Either a teacher with a sass or the teacher with style.
05:22 Let me see this one too.
05:23 One of them.
05:24 I would say this one.
05:25 What kind of teacher is this one?
05:26 That's the laid-back teacher.
05:28 Oh, this laid-back?
05:29 Okay, that's the kind of teacher I would be.
05:30 Do teachers wear heels?
05:31 Do teachers wear heels?
05:32 They definitely do.
05:33 Well, I would be a bad teacher.
05:35 No, baby.
05:36 No.
05:37 That's not teacher-y.
05:39 This is so cute.
05:40 I really like blue on you.
05:41 You like blue on me?
05:42 Yeah.
05:43 I realized that I wasn't identifying with the gender that I was born when I was 13.
05:47 I felt like I was in the wrong body.
05:50 I decided to transition and realized that my actual gender was a transgender woman when I was 20 years old.
05:56 Do you remember the first time you put on the wig?
05:58 Yes.
05:59 I was taking so many pictures.
06:01 I wanted to post them so bad, but I was like, "No."
06:03 I had a mustache and everything.
06:04 I was like, "I'm not posting no videos.
06:06 I'm not posting no half drag."
06:08 I decided to transition when I was 19.
06:12 My name changed in December of 2022.
06:16 I had my top surgery, which was something major.
06:19 I haven't, like, stared at myself in a long time, which is scary to think about,
06:24 because the last time I had to reflect would have been before I had my top surgery.
06:29 In that moment, I really didn't like myself then,
06:32 only because I had breast tissue that I was just really uncomfortable with.
06:36 I wasn't too confident in myself, but I was willing to share that I felt different.
06:42 When that happened, the first person that I came out to relayed my transition to wanting to change my body parts.
06:51 I got upset. Like, I got really upset.
06:55 And my twin overheard, and then my mom found out.
06:58 She asked me, "Do you want to be a boy?"
07:01 And I said, "Yes."
07:02 And she was just like, "Why?"
07:05 And then the conversation about being comfortable came about.
07:08 One of the people in my life that doesn't favor my transition the most would be my dad.
07:13 One of the things that he has expressed concern about is me being safe.
07:17 He knows being a woman, being a black trans woman, that could possibly get me into situations that I don't need to be in.
07:23 I definitely understand the concern.
07:24 I mean, black trans women are getting killed every day for walking down the street,
07:28 and people knowing that they're trans or not being as possible.
07:31 Do I feel like he'll come around one day?
07:34 I hope that we can have a relationship one day.
07:36 I hope that he can inquire more about my transition to learn more.
07:40 And I feel like he's a smart man, so I feel like if he gives the chance to understand, I definitely feel like he would.
07:46 I'm fine with my baby pictures until I see the color pink or anything girly.
07:51 Looking at pictures this young specifically, I feel like even here, I was so feminine.
07:56 I remember that far back, I was still super hyper feminine.
08:00 It's crazy to think that one day I would be on TikTok and I would meet somebody just like me, but different, but the opposite, but the same.
08:09 You just have to throw a little wine in the mix.
08:12 So when me and Lashawn first started dating, everybody was very supportive.
08:15 My mom loved Lashawn. I had told her about us very early on.
08:20 She has said, "As long as he loves me and I love him, and he's making me happy and I'm making him happy, then there's nothing more that she could ask for."
08:27 I didn't really tell my family that she was trans, because to me that doesn't matter.
08:33 I think our relationship works because we're very balanced.
08:37 We have our similarities, but we're definitely very different.
08:40 Him being an introvert, me being an extrovert.
08:42 And also us just both being trans, I feel like he understands my transition to an extent.
08:47 I love her personality. She's very determined as well.
08:50 So those are some traits that I like about her.
08:53 So the people that judge our relationship, I would say, "Mind your business."
08:56 I would say, "It has nothing to do with you."
08:58 I would say, "Good thing relationships are two people and not however many people have something to say."
09:02 I would say, "Worry about you and not us. We're happy. Go find some."
09:06 That's wild.
09:09 [Laughter]
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