Hi. My name is Luna. I’m a lesbian, transgender woman. But this story – this request – isn’t really about me. It’s about all of us, and everyone who will come after us.
On Sunday, March 19, 2023, I met this beautiful trans woman from Barbados online. She hadn’t chosen her new name yet, but we quickly ended up talking and just generally ended up friends. She was just incredible – a really wonderful person. She told me about she made her own mochas, and she sent me this seven-page long story. Her story. Her struggles and low points and high points and just what made her, her. All the history that made her into the wonderful person she was.
Three hours after I met her, she told me she was going to kill herself. I’ll never truly understand what made attempt suicide right then, but I was moved. I’d read her story, the suicidal ideation she struggled with, her tendency towards self-harm, her transphobic parents and even the society she lived in, the country of Barbados, was hostile towards transgender people especially. I felt like I knew her, even though I had only known her for a few hours. I will remember her. I’ll always remember her, the real her. Thank God, her attempt failed. But I still chose to start this project. Her username on discord is “moutainorange” – that’s where I got the name for this project.
I realized that I want to remember more than just her. There are so many people like her out there, who are struggling and alone and don’t have anyone to help them. That’s what the Mountain Orange Project is for – I want to record the stories of every LGBTQIA+ person I can, but especially those who are transgender. Especially in the wake of the rising tide of resentment and hatred towards transgender people here in America, I want to form a bastion. We will not be erased. Our stories will live on.
Everyone deserves to be remembered.
Your story can be as long as you want. It can be a single sentence; it can be a novel. It can be poetry or prose or art. Let’s create a record of all the beauty that is being erased, all these people who aren’t truly known.
Together.
The Mountain Orange Project 