This story was originally reported by Kate Sosin of The 19th. Meet Kate and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

I’ve spent the last 25 years since I transitioned being spoken about by lawmakers, by media, by people who have never met me but feel entitled to decide what my life means. The pressure to explain, justify, or exist as a symbol in somebody else’s mythology is constant. It’s part of why my film, Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, exists: to narrate a trans life from the inside, rather than explain it to outsiders.