19th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest The American Experience
Strength in Pride

" I really didn't know that you could be transgender. I never felt like things were anatomically correct, but then I was like ... this could really work. Maybe I can just be myself" - He/Him, Transgender This photograph was captured after an interview given by the subject during the Strength in Pride Project on what it meant for him to be both a queer person living in America and also transgender. The photo captures the pain, the strength and realization the subject experienced during his personal coming out process.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 04.2021
Date Uploaded: 08.2021
Photo Location: Asheville, North Carolina, United States of America
Copyright: © Lauren Merrell