As Atlas Lee-King walks down the makeshift runway in Café Euphoria, people clap and cheer. The Troy café is filled with members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies. Many, like Lee-King, take turns strutting back and forth through the café, showing off the outfits they have chosen for the event. For Lee-King, it’s an all-black affair.
“I'm wearing some joggers with some straps and buckles on them that some people call cyber gear. So, it looks like very futuristic, very Maze Runner,” said Lee-King. “I have a torn up black shirt with a wolf on it, a spider on it. Very cool, edgy and goth.”
But even though he was all smiles on the runway, the Café Euphoria barista said he was actually a little nervous during his catwalk. He explained his fears of jeers and boos dissipated once he began walking.
“Even if I'm surrounded by supportive individuals, unfortunately, I think it's just habit to feel fear first, especially with the climate of everything,” said King. “So, having support and seeing that even our cis and hetero allies were there to support us, it was really beautiful. It was a beautiful moment.”
Many in the LGBTQ+ community observe March 31 as Trans Day of Visibility, an annual celebration meant to uplift transgender people and raise awareness about ways allies can combat transphobia. For some attending the fashion show at Café Euphoria, the day is also a time to celebrate trans life and trans joy in the face of the current political climate.
Atsushi Akera is the manager at Café Euphoria. She says the café picked a fashion show as the celebration because for many trans people, choosing how they dress can be very gender affirming while also boosting their confidence in their gender expression.
“Many of us embrace fashion, you know, some people take it more extreme than others. Other folks take sort of the step-by-step journey of starting with sort of gender-neutral clothing.” Said Akera. “Or a piece of feminine, in the case of transfemme individuals, feminine clothing that they wear somewhere that's not visible at first, right? Or just only slightly visible. And then you sort of take step by step and move forward.”
For Jovian Schaeffer, an attendee, the event was a fun way to take their all-black gothic outfit for a spin during the daytime.
“I usually only dress like a modern witch, and all my metals when I'm going to goth night at the local No Fun in Troy,” said Schaeffer. “So, wearing it in the daytime is a real change.”
Schaeffer says this event and the café have created a safe space where they felt secure enough.
“I'm in my shell quite often, I'm at my shell at work, and I feel open in Café Euphoria.” explained Schaeffer.
Akera says creating a safe space at Café Euphoria through events like the fashion show that highlight the transgender and gender-diverse community is important. She says everybody in the LGBTQ+ community deserves to feel safe and like themselves. She adds that it also does the work of creating a world where trans people are seen as the norm, not the exception.
“The idea is that the more people see us as, you know, your neighbor, your baker, your restaurant owner, your wait staff, the more it helps establish transgender as normal,” said Akera. “As opposed to something that's really scary or foreign or violent or all kinds of other images that people have. And so that's really what Cafe euphoria is about.”
