Help Bek Fund Their Gender-Affirming Care

Hi! My name is Bek Zehr, my pronouns are they/them. I am on a lifelong journey of continuously discovering my true self, despite the voices of society, legislation, and constricting normalities.

Here is a snippet of my story:

I came out to the world as queer when I was 16 years old. And in discovering my sexuality, I knew there was more to uncover, more questions to ask myself about gender and identity. So, when I was 19 years old I came out as non-binary and settled into my name -- Bek. Alongside all of the names I've had throughout my life, "Bek" was a name that always sat in the dearest corner of my heart, used by the people that could truly see me through all the "girly", "tough", "tomboy", "smart", and "stubborn".

Those life events have not been the end of my constant discovery of self. In fact, I have ignored many truths out of fear since those brave moments. That is why I am here now, standing before you, telling you my story, because I will not let fear of the unknown deter me from coming home to myself -- the self I have been since my first breath, before the world told me how to survive.

I am a genderless being. I am constructed of a beautiful balance of masculine and feminine, soft and hard, sour and sweet -- a balance that belongs to no one else but me. I move in and out of gendered spaces daily, alongside people who celebrate, question, and fight gender as a radical act of social defiance and self love.

I have been gifted a body, soul, and mind that I love deeply and that have always been with me every step of this confusing and beautiful journey. Because we, as human beings, change constantly, I have made many changes to my body, soul, and mind to better align with the being that I feel and know I am. Some changes are done in private, some are seen by everybody I meet. Some changes are silent, some are loud. But through every change, I have needed my community, my support, my people to hold me and help me. The biggest change I have wanted for all my life is top surgery. It is the scariest and most important change I have dealt with yet in my life, one that I have put aside for 7 years in an attempt to make it disappear or lose its significance. I have not believed that I deserved such a beautiful change or that it would even be possible. But the blood, sweat, and tears of the bravest among us have made it possible.

Gender-affirming care is simply care. And to those who are reading this, you have held me along the way, you who have celebrated me, you who have received and given unconditional love, you who have shaped me and taught me, you who have created my beautiful world, I am asking for your help. Any amount of money is enough, any amount of love and support is enough.

I would love to hear from you and thank you for your role in my life. Please feel free to text me or email me.

And in my journey of coming home to myself, I am heading a creative project of music to fundraise for my gender-affirming care. The first concert of this series will be on Saturday, June 29 at Arlington Street Church in Boston. I hope to see you there :)