A letter from Kent / Emily -
Hey all,
“I used to be a boy, and part of me always will be.”
Many of you have picked up on the ambiguity in that lyric, with regards to gender. I think I wanted to put that out into the world before fully coming out, because I have always been terrified of who I really am.
I have been told my whole life that I was born a boy, and that’s that. Some members of my family have taught me to bottle and hide my emotions, they’ve ridiculed trans people for their courage in simply living amongst them, and overall the message is clear. I am not a girl, I’m a boy.
I’m here to tell you that I am both.
What this means is that I use both male and female pronouns, and that I go by Kent and/or Emily.
I was named Kent, but only after I was born and assigned male at the hospital. In the womb, everyone thought I was going to be a girl and would be named Emily, after my great-grandmother.
Emily Pratt was an amazing person with striking parallels to my own life. She was a pianist who taught music for a living, and played the organ for silent films. She was a suffragette in New York before moving out west and learning to hunt, hike, and farm. She loved to travel and documented her adventures in beautiful photographs across the country on the train.
So that is my name: Emily Pratt (Pratt being my mother’s maiden name as well).
So: how do you address me? Well, I have started to present myself in ways that could be considered “femme” (makeup, dresses, a wig). On days like that, where I’ve made an effort to present myself in that way, I’d love it if you used female pronouns and called me Emily. But if you called me Emily on any other day, I’d like that too.
The bottom line is my feelings won’t be hurt if you call me him or her; Kent or Emily, in any particular context. But if you’re concerned about anything, feel free to message me directly and ask, or in person.
The term for what I am is “bigender,” but as it falls under the umbrella of “trans,” I prefer the term “trans.” Bigender is great, but the term trans has more of a spiritual and emotional connection to me - since I am in a transitional stage, transporting to a new sense of self, transforming, etc. For years, I’ve never felt comfortable using that term because it seemed like it didn’t belong to me, but in recent years the vocabulary and acceptance has really expanded to embrace me and allow me to feel good about coming out and being a part of the trans community.
If you have any questions, wanna reach out, etc, I just set up a new Instagram @emilypratt666. Feel free to DM me there or at @winter.kin or email at emilypratt666@hotmail.com.
Love,
Emily + Kent
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in current rotation