In its attacks on transgender Americans, the Trump administration is attempting to erase the T in LGBTQ — removing the initial from websites, publications and even the signage outside the Stonewall National Monument, where trans activists led the 1969 rebellion that launched the modern gay rights movement in the United States.

To counter the hate and transphobia promoted by the administration, far-right politicians and media outlets, one New York college student is exploring the history and joy of trans masculine community building.

In his thesis for a degree in peace and justice studies, Pace University undergraduate Eli Butler seeks to change the way trans people are studied and viewed in scholarly disciplines. His work is influenced by his journey as a transgender man and his longing to find — or build — a community of his own.

Journalist David Hunt talked with Butler about his life, his research and the possibilities of the future. 

An edited version of this feature aired on This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine.

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David Hunt is an Emmy-winning journalist and documentary producer who has reported on America's culture wars since the 1970s. Explore his blog, Tell Me, David.