Houston, Texas (KTRK) – Meet Landon Richie, a 20-year-old political scientist at the University of Houston. He is a talented trumpeter and a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Richie also loves photography, poetry, and going to concerts.
“Just doing anything a kid would do at school with my family,” he said, “with extracurriculars and things like that.”
But through most of Richie’s childhood, he couldn’t fully focus on the things he loved and felt passionate about.
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Richie knew from a young age that he was transgender.
“Since I could really walk, talk, and think for myself, I knew I was in some way different from my peers and those around me. I was drawn to boys’ clothes and felt more comfortable playing with boys’ toys, taking on the role of the man in the toys,” Ricci said.
“The feelings persisted and got stronger as I got older. I wasn’t just a tomboy like everyone assumed or even assumed myself because I didn’t have any other word at the time to describe what I was feeling. It was just an extreme inconvenience,” he added.
With limited resources and knowledge, he and his parents set out on a challenging journey before Richie finally feels he can live his authentic life.
“The night I told them I was transgender, we sat as a family and cried together. We talked about how I understood myself, how they saw the signs growing up but didn’t know what to expect. My nature, no matter what it took. They were there every step of the way.”
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Little did Richie know that every young transgender person has that supportive environment. This partly led him into advocacy work, something he first became involved in when he was twelve years old.
Currently, he is serving on the Board of Directors of a company GenderCool Project and works with Texas Transgender Education NetworkWith the aim of improving gender equality in the state.
The GenderCool Project partners with ABC to give insight into the perspective of transgender youth in the world.
“I’m so proud of him,” said Richie’s father, Aaron. “I tell people that Landon is very passionate about supporting others and preserving their well-being. He’s very touched by the suffering of others. That’s an amazing quality for any human being.”
“Probably one of the least interesting things about Landon is that he’s transgender. He has so many amazing qualities as an individual that I think anyone who knows Landon is going to love,” said Aaron.
Richie is still determining exactly what the future holds for him. But for now, he has his eyes set on a possible career as a civil rights attorney. No matter where he ends up, he knows one thing: he wants to leave the world a better place than he found it.
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“It’s important to realize that we have always been here and we will always be here,” Ritchie said. “I hope to leave behind a kinder, more accepting, more loving world for trans people where it’s not so weird for us to thrive. It’s the foundation, and we don’t have to explain ourselves. We can just be.”
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