Author and athlete Schuyler Bailar has been making history for years. In college, he became the first out trans man to compete in a D1 sport while swimming for Harvard, and now he has another accolade under his belt: He kicked off Trans World Pride with a funny and heartwarming keynote speech.
More than two million people from around the world are expected to visit Washington, DC for the WorldPride celebration, and this week, the huge event launched with a Trans Pride event. Throughout the three-week-long event, there will be concerts, performances, parties, protests, advocacy efforts, a huge Pride parade, and a closing weekend festival. The sprawling celebration will also have diverse breakout events for Black Pride, Latinx Pride, and API Pride, and big stars are headlining, with concerts from Shakira, Cynthia Erivo, Reneé Rapp,and Doechii likely to draw huge crowds.
Bailar’s funny and touching keynote speech told the story of his experience of coming out as trans to his traditional Korean American family, and how that impacted him.
The author of He/She/They talked about how scared he was to tell his Catholic grandmother about his transition because she had always made it very clear to Bailar what her expectations were of him as a “granddaughter.”
“She was always asking me like, ‘When are you going to bring home a nice Korean boy?’ And I was always like, ‘Well, little did she know it’s going to be me,’” Bailar joked during his speech, where his father was in the audience.
Trans Pride being the starting place for WorldPride seems fitting at a time when the transgender community is under attack by the Trump administration and conservative politicians across the country. Bailar’s speech about how he came out to his very traditional immigrant family not only was funny and sweet, but charted a clear path forward for young people who are likely scared to come out in the current political climate.
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Bailar ended up telling his grandmother that he is trans in a letter that explained everything and ended with, “Grandmother, I’m telling you this because I love you, because I respect you, and because I desperately hope that you will stay in my life.”
He was “pessimistic” that the letter would get through to her, but he ended up reading the letter out loud to his grandparents, and his grandfather clapped when he was done and commented that his grandson had “come out of the closet.”
“I had nothing to say, I didn’t know he knew the words, ‘coming out of the closet,' and he goes, ‘Oh, congratulations,’” Bailar said to laughter from the audience.
But he was still “petrified” to hear his grandmother’s reaction. Luckily for him, her response was simple, but effective: “I know.”
When coming out to all of his family members, Bailar faced hurdles and hiccups along the way, but ultimately got the love and support that everyone in the LGBTQ+ community hopes for.
