In honor of Transgender Awareness Week, Google's #Transvoices campaign, directed by Rhys Ernst with Zackary Drucker and Nick Adams as consulting producers, follows the story of three trans Americans making a positive impact in their communities. The campaign is in partnership with three groups advocating for trans equality, GLAAD, TAVA, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. Donate to any and all of them by clicking their names.
The first video follows Evan Young, president of the Transgender American Veteran's Association. "I'm much more than my transness. I am a dad. I am a veteran. I am so many more things than just being transgender."
Mara Keisling is the Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, and the subject of the second video in the series.
"If my parents could have Googled, and been taken to TransEquality.org to learn about transgender people, to learn about who their kid was and what their kid needed, my life would have benefitted tremendously," she says. "No matter what happens for the rest of my life I got to be part of this. To help this community and these people live better lives. And it's something I get to be real proud of."
Jasmine Morrell is the subject of the third and final video in the series, a gender nonconforming tattoo artist in Philadelphia who opened Spirited Tattoo Coalition, a tattoo shop and safe space for marginalized people.
"As a trans person, it's hard enough to be in your body sometimes. But it's important to feel like you own your body," Morrell says. "People have said they've been waiting for a shop like this. If they don't know we exist, what good are we doing, really."