For Trans Day of Visibility, Teen Vogue assistant to the Chief Content Officer, Devin-Norelle, wrote about being trans and zir experience in relation to others in the trans community.

This is me: Devin-Norelle, an androgynous-identified person of trans masculine experience. My body, my transition, and my passing privilege are desirable among many.

But I am not what trans looks like.

I do not fall in line with other trans folks who have no desire for hormones or surgery. I am not the person who lacks access to hormones or will never be capable of embodying certain passing privileges. I am often not the genderfluid person harassed on the street because of their ambiguity. I am not a representation of all trans folx, nor will I ever be.

The trans community, and several visible leaders, are often enthralled with mainstream culture and many of us find ourselves reinforcing its standards. We tend to celebrate one prosaic model: extremely masculine and feminine bodies, men with thick beards or women with large breasts, and trans people that pass as the gender “opposite” of the one they were born into. This is troublesome. The trajectory of our individual lives, and our actual lived experiences are indefinite; each of us eclipses these materialistic standards. We are not a monolith.

Composite: Courtesy of subject / Second photo by Instagram: @alimak1

(If you’d like to buy a ‘Trans Is Beautiful’ shirt, head to my website to purchase.)

Trans people come from all walks of life. We are trans men. We are trans women. We are gender non conforming. Some of us are bigender. Some of us are agender. We are of different ethnicities and racial backgrounds. We exist in all shapes and sizes. Our gender presentations vary, our identities are fluid, our expressions are unique, but we are all beautiful. Our beauty deserves to be visible.

My trans shero, Laverne Cox, once wrote, “We need diverse media representations of trans folks to multiply trans narratives in the media and depict our beautiful diversities.” I agree, and further assert that the inclusion of diversity isn’t limited to just the media. If we followed in the footsteps of Laverne and Janet Mock, we’d make more effort to acknowledge the abundance of gender identities and expressions. Let’s transition the conversation, uplift the narratives of those who don’t fit the commonly-held (and entirely archaic) idea of “normal,” and reject exclusionary dialogue of other identities. It is easy to blend in. It takes strength to stand in solidarity with voices erased by the binary or lost in death because they were not deemed acceptable.

While representation of various genders has improved over the past years, it still has a long way to go. A handful of celebrities are challenging gender norms and identity — especially through fashion — but until non-conforming beauty and body standards are normalized, more work must be done. This work begins within the trans community. We can and will do better when we cease to believe that approval from a cisgender person validates our existence as trans people. All of our voices deserved to be elevated and respected by our peers and by media. Let's celebrate our diversity. Let’s celebrate our lives. Let’s celebrate our beauty. Let’s celebrate all trans people striving to be their most authentic selves regardless of the path taken. If we lead in accurate representations of ourselves, by being bold, beautiful and visible, the rest will soon follow.

“Trans people are exactly who they say they are, no matter what the culture or media would lead us to believe.” -Janet Mock

Related: LCD Soundsystem's Gavin Rayna Russom on Coming to Understand Her Trans Identity