Sometimes I feel like a Fraud

My birthday has come and past with such sweetness. My mother called me by my name for the very first time, and my friend Colorful helped me understand why it is so very significant that people call me by my government name—because it is something for which I have fought very hard. I have gone to court for this name. It was part of my sex change. I had to prove I was not defrauding the system.

Gene and their friends celebrating their birthday at Lush

Sometimes I feel like I am a fraud because I do not believe that documents or hormones or genitals or chromosomes make me or anyone else their sex. A lot of it feels like arbitrary classifications to create hierarchies. I am a man regardless of these things, yet I am playing by their rules.

December 1st ushered in a new season for me in art and business. I was selected as a vendor for the Queer Market put on by Queer Voices at Open Book in Minneapolis, and the Boiler Room in the Stevens Square Neighborhood is currently showing my Graffiti Art Series through December. I also created a TikTok @with_a_gg_, if TikTok does not end up being banned altogether.

G. Gazelka presents The Graffiti Art Series

The Queer Market was a wonderful affair with queers from across the Twin Cities selling their wares. I ended up leaving with a piece that I had been eyeing since People’s Pride and a couple new friends. What I did not sell at the market can be found on my Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/typewritestoryteller

A Queer Market