Robin Rayne, documentary photojournalist

Regendering

  • Blake Alford,73, reminisces about his truck driving career at a truck stop south of Atlanta. He worked as a long-distance truck driver for more than 30 years as Rebecca Alford before transitioning to his more authentic male gender at 56. “I was just this lesbian trucker for years. I didn’t transition until my mother passed. I didn’t want her to be embarrassed that her daughter was really her son. But I think she would have liked me as Blake. I remember her telling me she just wanted to see me happy. And I’m finally happy in my own skin now. I’m at peace,” he said. Alford has since retired, but would get back behind the wheel “in a heartbeat, if I had that opportunity,” he said.
  • ZIYA YEWDALL loves pink, My Little Pony toys and clothes, Barbie dolls, sparkly head bands and dresses just like untold thousands of six-year-old girls across the country. Except that Ziya was assigned male and birth and considers himself to be a boy, but maybe a girl, too. {quote}Ziya is a mix of both genders, falling somewhere in the middle,{quote} his mother Faith explains.
  • ZIYA YEWDALL loves pink, My Little Pony toys and clothes, Barbie dolls, sparkly head bands and dresses just like untold thousands of six-year-old girls across the country. Except that Ziya was assigned male and birth and considers himself to be a boy, but maybe a girl, too. {quote}Ziya is gender-fluid,{quote} explains Faith Yewdall, Ziya's open-minded mother. Faith and Ziya's dad Eli support and affirm's their child's gender identity and expression, which might be more boyish one day and more feminine the next. {quote}Ziya is a mix of both genders, falling somewhere in the middle,{quote} Faith explains. Pictured: Ziya and little sister Ada help choose a name for one of Ziya's many dolls with help from two of Ziya's girlfriends.
  • RN4_8678
  • RN4_1449
  • RN4_1948
  • State-owned public facilities at rest stop outside Charlotte, NC. The state's recent anti-LGBT laws, dubbed 'bathroom bill' restricts transgender individuals from using what many residents in state feel would be the appropriate gendered restroom to use depending on the person's gender identity and presentation. The law has unleashed a firestorm of protests against the law, including jobs and lost business growth in the state.
  • Georgia legislators and evangelical pastors from around the state gather out the state capitol for rally in support of a new religious freedom law expected to be introduced in the state's next general assembly. Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a proposed law several weeks ago that be believed was discriminatory to LGBT residents, and promised to veto any new similar proposed law while he is in office. Conservative Republican legislators are doubling their efforts to write a religious freedom law that could be overturned by a majority if Gov. Deal keeps his promise. Supporters of such a bill maintain they will obey god rather than men. The 2016 proposal was spearheaded by state Senator Joshua McKoon from Columbus, GA
  • LGBT community celebrates Gay Pride in the city's midtown neighborhood, drawing thousands from across the South. Pictured: Outspoken religious protestors marched on the street prior to the Pride parade, antagonizing the gay and lesbian supporters.
  • Atlanta Gay Pride crowds showed jubilant optimism today over recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and a lawsuit challenging Georgia's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. But while half the United States might legalize same-sex marriage or make moves in that direction by 2020, Georgia won't be among them, according to Anthony Michael Kreis, a lawyer and a doctorate student in UGA’s School of Political and International Affairs. {quote}Public opinion is rapidly changing toward acceptance of gay marriage rights and more and more states are moving toward recognizing same-sex marriage,{quote} he said.Recent polls suggest more people will be in favor of gay marriage than against it in 44 states within seven years, but in six southern states, a majority of the population will still oppose gay marriage, Kreis predicted. Besides Georgia, the holdout states will be Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.{quote}The legal and political landscapes are changing quickly, and more and more people support same-sex marriage,{quote} Kreis noted. {quote}The shift is not just generational,” Kreis said. “There’s some truth to that, but part of it is actually people changing their mind.”Still, there’s not much chance of gay marriage becoming legal in Georgia in the near future, Kreis said.“In Georgia, you can be fired for being gay,” he said. “Is there room to work on that? Yes.”PICTURED: anti-gay activist shouts accusing hate-filled slurs at crowd near by
  • Pride School Atlanta, the first affirming school for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender-non-confirming students and staff, launched in August after more than two years of planning. Based on the {quote}free school{quote} model, it joins a small handful of such schools in the U.S. specifically designed as safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. The school's founder, CHRISTIAN ZSILAVETZ is himself a transgender man, with decades of teaching experience. {quote}We've created a school where everybody gets to be themselves,{quote} he explained to parents and students who showed up on the first day of school. {quote}These students needed a place to learn, free from bulling or judgement. When you remove these barriers to learning, it's amazing what can happen,{quote} he said. {quote}Until every student has permission to be themselves wherever they are, and get an education where they have a full seat at the table, there will be a need for schools like Pride School,{quote} he said. Zsilavetz is particularly focused on transgender students, those who identify and live as other than their birth-assigned sex. {quote}I firmly believe in bringing transfer rights to the forefront. We're totally ready for it. Now we can take care of our trans youth especially,{quote} he told parents. The school currently has eight students and a small staff of part-time and volunteer staff. It is funded by tuition and support from the community, and hopes to raise enough funds to provide scholarships for gay, transgender and gender-flied youth who want to attend but can't afford the costs. PICTURED: Zsilavetz speaks to students and parents on first day of school.
  • Pride School Atlanta, the first affirming school for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender-non-confirming students and staff, launched in August after more than two years of planning. Based on the {quote}free school{quote} model, it joins a small handful of such schools in the U.S. specifically designed as safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. The school's founder, CHRISTIAN ZSILAVETZ is himself a transgender man, with decades of teaching experience. {quote}We've created a school where everybody gets to be themselves,{quote} he explained to parents and students who showed up on the first day of school. {quote}These students needed a place to learn, free from bulling or judgement. When you remove these barriers to learning, it's amazing what can happen,{quote} he said. {quote}Until every student has permission to be themselves wherever they are, and get an education where they have a full seat at the table, there will be a need for schools like Pride School,{quote} he said. Zsilavetz is particularly focused on transgender students, those who identify and live as other than their birth-assigned sex. {quote}I firmly believe in bringing transfer rights to the forefront. We're totally ready for it. Now we can take care of our trans youth especially,{quote} he told parents. The school currently has eight students and a small staff of part-time and volunteer staff. It is funded by tuition and support from the community, and hopes to raise enough funds to provide scholarships for gay, transgender and gender-flied youth who want to attend but can't afford the costs. PICTURED: Zsilavetz demonstrates a match concept.
  • Pride School Atlanta, the first affirming school for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender-non-confirming students and staff, launched in August after more than two years of planning. Based on the {quote}free school{quote} model, it joins a small handful of such schools in the U.S. specifically designed as safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. The school's founder, CHRISTIAN ZSILAVETZ is himself a transgender man, with decades of teaching experience. {quote}We've created a school where everybody gets to be themselves,{quote} he explained to parents and students who showed up on the first day of school. {quote}These students needed a place to learn, free from bulling or judgement. When you remove these barriers to learning, it's amazing what can happen,{quote} he said. {quote}Until every student has permission to be themselves wherever they are, and get an education where they have a full seat at the table, there will be a need for schools like Pride School,{quote} he said. Zsilavetz is particularly focused on transgender students, those who identify and live as other than their birth-assigned sex. {quote}I firmly believe in bringing transfer rights to the forefront. We're totally ready for it. Now we can take care of our trans youth especially,{quote} he told parents. The school currently has eight students and a small staff of part-time and volunteer staff. It is funded by tuition and support from the community, and hopes to raise enough funds to provide scholarships for gay, transgender and gender-flied youth who want to attend but can't afford the costs. PICTURED: A small but intense classroom as studies get underway
  • Pride School Atlanta, the first affirming school for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender-non-confirming students and staff, launched in August after more than two years of planning. Based on the {quote}free school{quote} model, it joins a small handful of such schools in the U.S. specifically designed as safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. The school's founder, CHRISTIAN ZSILAVETZ is himself a transgender man, with decades of teaching experience. {quote}We've created a school where everybody gets to be themselves,{quote} he explained to parents and students who showed up on the first day of school. {quote}These students needed a place to learn, free from bulling or judgement. When you remove these barriers to learning, it's amazing what can happen,{quote} he said. {quote}Until every student has permission to be themselves wherever they are, and get an education where they have a full seat at the table, there will be a need for schools like Pride School,{quote} he said. Zsilavetz is particularly focused on transgender students, those who identify and live as other than their birth-assigned sex. {quote}I firmly believe in bringing transfer rights to the forefront. We're totally ready for it. Now we can take care of our trans youth especially,{quote} he told parents. The school currently has eight students and a small staff of part-time and volunteer staff. It is funded by tuition and support from the community, and hopes to raise enough funds to provide scholarships for gay, transgender and gender-flied youth who want to attend but can't afford the costs. PICTURED: Alli Ducato, a trans girl, began her gender transition a year ago. Her family relocated from the midwest to Atlanta specifically because of Pride School.
  • Transgender community, family and allies rally and march in Midtown Atlanta to protest President Trump's recent tweet about transgender individuals in the military service.
  • Stephenie Vieweigh ,69, is finally comfortable in how she presents to the world as a woman. {quote}I was born male and presented a male facade for most of my life, but my brain always knew different. I know I'm not pretty, but I am living as the real me,{quote} she said.
  • Mitch Le Luxe, a transgender teen, watches the crowd at Gay Pride festival. He moved to Atlanta from rural Arkansas. In the midst of the conservative and often bigoted South, Atlanta is considered an oasis of acceptance of the transgender community.
  • Eight-year-old Jackson Millarker is an openly transgender actor from Atlanta who made his television debut on ABC's {quote}Modern Family{quote} series in 2016.
  • Homeless and Hungry
  • Documentary Film Projects
  • Erika's Long Journey Back
  • A Place to Call Home
  • Regendering
  • Portrait is Personality
  • Disability Redefined: Stories From the Front Lines
  • Erika's Brain Trauma Journey
  • Lois Curtis: Changing the Disability Landscape
  • Hate in the Name of Love
  • Work in Progress
  • LGBTQ collection
  • Clips
  • The Blog
  • Robin's Contact Details
  • About Robin

© 2018 Robin Rayne. Site design © 2010-2025 Neon Sky Creative Media