About

the story of king.

image description: king yaa wearing a black sleeveless tee, white shorts with multiple coloured flowers and dark glasses while smiling and walking along the beach shore. they are carrying flip flops and a water bottle in their right hand.

image description: king yaa wearing a black sleeveless tee, white shorts with multiple coloured flowers and dark glasses while smiling and walking along the beach shore. they are carrying flip flops and a water bottle in their right hand.

the speculum in my anus was the last straw. 

i had done the work, as i do every year, of asking around for references for a gynaecologist for my annual checkup. i stopped asking my cis-het friends and started asking my queer friends. each year, i experienced awkward questions, inadequate sexual health recommendations + uncomfortable looks in the waiting rooms. finally i realized that my white lesbian friends (as most of my Black queer friends never sought gyn care) had completely different needs and experiences with their reproductive health care providers than i did. as a Black, queer, genderqueer, of trans masculine experience who is also a masculine presenting person, i learned from painful and awkward engagements that even lesbian OB-GYNs were not equipped to work with someone with identities such as mine.

i got into this work because of the countless fuckery i experienced as a Black and genderqueer person who has given birth 3 times, trying to navigate the healthcare system. we deserve to enter a space and not be asked inappropriate questions or to be turned away. everything i do is so the next person can be free from the harm that i have experienced, and unfortunately continue to experience. 

i want to see my queer kin living audaciously. we deserve to take up space. we deserve qmunity. we deserve pleasure. and we deserve access to care that feels caring.

queer reproductive justice.

it all began with my own experiences of exclusion and discrimination and my deep knowing that we all deserve access to safe, inclusive and affirming care.

when i first built and delivered Birthing Beyond the Binary in late 2020, i knew that Sister Song’s Reproductive Justice framework was good but not enough. while it was a great starting point, it still did not fully encompass the needs of many more people who held multiple marginalized identities.

and i started crafting queer reproductive justice. i credit Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Eri Guajardo Johnson, as well as, Mia Mingus for sharing some language and ideas. this is the framework that i am continually working with and expanding on.

Queer Reproductive Justice is the human’s right to have their FULL SPECTRUM of identities and FULL SPECTRUM of experiences (including FULL SPECTRUM of barriers) to be recognized, included and affirmed to ensure that NOBODY is left behind. it requires an intentional awareness of intersectionality in addition to one's positionality when engaging with others. it is the proactive centring of bodily autonomy, community and global liberation.

i believe that Queer Reproductive Justice can be used as a liberatory tool to consider accessibility strategies for those who are most oppressed and most marginalized - for their FULL SPECTRUM of life experiences, from conception to their end of life.

image description: king yaa wearing a burgundy durag and a creme with black and brown splotches button down with several buttons undone partially revealing their chest. their arm is up and bent holding onto the back of their neck while they look into the camera. behind them is a bookshelf with books and plants.

image description: king yaa wearing a burgundy durag and a creme top with black and brown splotches button down with several buttons undone partially revealing their chest. their arm is up and bent holding onto the back of their neck while they look into the camera. behind them is a bookshelf with books and plants.