Born on the Edge of Race and Gender - by Willy Wilkinson (Paperback)

About the Book

In this historic moment of transgender visibility in the U.S., writer, activist, and public health consultant Willy Wilkinson's Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency uses the power of storytelling to contextualize one of the most misunderstood social issues of our time.

Book Synopsis

In this historic moment of transgender visibility in the U.S., writer, activist, and public health consultant Willy Wilkinson's Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency uses the power of storytelling to contextualize one of the most misunderstood social issues of our time. This poetic, journalistic memoir shines an intersectional beacon on the ambiguity and complexity of mixed heritage, transgender, and disability experience, and offers an intimate window into how current legislative and policy battles impact the lives of transgender people. Whether navigating the men's locker room like a "stealth trans Houdini," accessing lifesaving health care, or appreciating his son's recognition of him as a "transformer," Wilkinson compellingly illustrates the unique, difficult, and sometimes comical experiences of transgender life.

A seasoned public health consultant and cultural competency trainer, Wilkinson provides practical tools and resources to help community health organizations, educational institutions, and businesses create LGBTQ- and trans-affirming systems. Innovative, moving, and accessible, this multifaceted memoir explores the liberation of finding one's voice in a world that prescribes silence, and offers a fresh look at ways to systemically affirm diversity throughout society.

Review Quotes

"Born on the Edge of Race and Gender is an extraordinary work by one of the most fearless and dynamic voices of our time-a multilayered masterpiece that may well be the most accessible, lively, and honest account yet of life as a transgender man . . . Prepare to be dazzled, shaken, and amazed . . . Far more than just a memoir, this book is also a treasure trove of intersectional research, wisdom, and practical knowledge, distilled by one of the nation's foremost experts on public health and other issues affecting transgender people, and one of the most experienced, hands-on, cultural competency trainers in our movement." -SHANNON PRICE MINTER, ESQ., Coeditor, Transgender Rights, President Obama's Commission on White House Fellowships "Willy Wilkinson's‹Born on the Edge of Race and Gender offers ‹practical, deeply ‹insightful, and powerfully moving personal‹perspectives on diversity and ‹cultural competency, drawn‹ from his own ‹life experiences ‹as an Asian American trans man with decades of experience as an activist, consultant, and‹ policy advocate working on HIV/AIDS, disability, and LGBT issues. This is a highly readable, ‹teachable, and informative text that should appeal to queer and Asian‹communities, and to educators, ‹policy makers, social workers, health care providers, and social justice activists who work with those‹communities." -SUSAN STRYKER, PhD, author of Transgender History, Director, Institute for LGBT Studies, University of Arizona "Awe-inspiring, daring, personable! Wilkinson brings every part of himself openly and freely to us in ‹Born on the Edge of Race and Gender, a timely, essential read for anyone doing cultural competency work. A first-of-its-kind in many ways, this intersectional book shows how gender and race issues interplay and highlights the issues of trans men of color, for whom the dialogue has been virtually silent." -KYLAR W. BROADUS, ESQ., Cofounder and Executive Director, Trans People of Color Coalition