A Smile to Combat Many Pains
Coming out as a transgender was not easy for Ryeanna. Her first wife had died, she says, and her second wife did not accept her for who she is or rather came out to be. She accepted the rejection as she says it was not necessarily failure on her part. It was her creator, a higher power, who she feels helped her believe in herself and got her to survive times of failure and feelings of dejection. “It is difficult to separate rejection from the feeling of being elated to be myself”, she says.
Initially, she often felt like a movie star when she stepped out on local streets and often became conscious of people around her. Eventually, she got used to the stares.
Ryeanna previously served in the Navy and earned an M.B.A degree before coming out as a woman. Currently she receives $144 in veteran’s disability assistance and gets food stamps as well. Her rent is paid for by HUD-VASH, a collaborative program between HUD and the Veteran’s Affairs departments, combining housing vouchers with supportive services to help veterans who have been homeless.
She also lives off the generosity of other people who help her fill her gas tank, or donate to her occasional GoFundMe fundraising efforts. She says she has also resorted to selling drugs or her body to be able to survive financially.
Ryeanna at a recent protest. Photo by Catherine Schofield.
Facing a Deluge of Threats
These aren’t her only challenges. Ryeanna says she receives death threats at laundromats from random men, gets thrown out of businesses due to her appearance, pulled out of bathrooms, and beaten up or even spat on at times. These difficult experiences have not deterred her spirit though. She says her faith has made her resilient and of the belief that the next person she meets will be more accepting of her.
As a woman, she wants to be able to enjoy motherhood someday, she adds. She not only wants to bring up a child but wants to go through the natural process of childbirth. She is aware of her bodily limitations due to her anatomy but feels that that pain and possibility is the part of the gift of being a woman, something that she would love to experience in the future.
Ryeanna has also been challenged with homelessness, including living out of a truck. She says she was homeless even before coming out. But even when parked in a quiet spot she says she was often threatened or woken up by police, told to move along. She’s dealt with depression and PTSD which has often made her suicidal. She remembers a particular tree by the Truckee River where she chose to hang herself but from which she was then saved by one of her acquaintances. She has often also turned to drugs to escape her battles.
Finding No Haven at the Shelter but with a Worldwide Dream
Going to the shelter has been a problem as well. Her genitalia, she explains, does not align with a woman and therefore she got singled out. She was not allowed to shower at the same time as others, she says. The shelters impose norms on people and somewhat restrict her and that is what creates “more resistance” she added. She says people who have a home are less scrutinized.
She calls Reno an ‘art town’ and says that the houseless community has a lot of people who are very artistic. She herself wants to start a forum where she would be able to auction art for charity to be able to give back to people who are suffering or in need.
Her house is a small colorful spot filled with unicorns and rainbows, lights, and decorations. She sees unicorns as a symbol of goodness and hope. She even has a bowl named ‘unicorn food’ which she believes fills up magically for her unicorns while she is away.
She donned a low back black dress and very high black heels as she allowed me into her space and showed me several flags she takes with her to the protest marches she goes to, where she has become a local fixture.
She is Ryeanna Jasiah Iverly: a transgender activist, with a dream to own a ship run by LGBTQIA+ crew that could be used to rescue LGBTQIA+ refugees from around the world and use money from the ship’s customers to help the less fortunate. A dream she believes is distant but could be true.