Jasper: “If seventeen-year-old me could see where I’m at now, I don’t think he would believe it. I was pretty suicidal when I was seventeen. Now I quite honestly like my life a lot. I like being alive. I love my friends. I live with my partner now so that’s cool and I just adopted my dog recently. I’m in the process of buying a car. I feel like my life is pretty good.”
Transilient: “What would you tell your seventeen-year-old self?”
Jasper: “I don’t want to be cliché but yo dude, it does get better? (laughs) It’s hard but eventually with your effort it does get better. Just because I grew up in a conservative, catholic, Mexican family doesn’t mean that my family members are doomed to hate me forever. It was really hard at first when they found out I was trans, but I think they are slowly getting around to accepting me. My dad once called me “mijo” which is really cool, and I think about that a lot.”