Photo by Robin Hammond hammond_robin | The day Avery Jackson, then 9, appeared on the cover of the January 2017 issue of National Geographic was a big one for many in the transgender community. This quote accompanied Jackson’s photo: “The best thing about being a girl, is now I don’t have to pretend to be a boy.” Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility. Why is the day important? When marginalized people are not given the opportunity to be seen or heard, the narratives that define them will be controlled by others. Those narratives are often wrong, or worse, encourage discrimination and violence. They should be represented in a way they feel is authentic. My project whereloveisillegal is designed to allow LGBTQI+ folks to take back control of their stories. That is what Avery is doing. They agreed to have their photo appear again today with these words: "Still here, still trans." To read more from this magazine issue, which was focused on gender, go to the link in bio...