Visibili-T is dedicated to transgender members of our community in Central Florida and Tampa Bay, some you know and many you don’t. It is designed to amplify their voices and detail their experiences in life.
This issue, we check in with Central Florida’s Alec Perez, a native of Puerto Rico, the administrative assistant for Watermark and a superfan of “The Hobbit.” J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel captivated him not long after watching “The Lord of the Rings” for the first time.
“I fell in love with that world when I was introduced,” Perez says. “I’ve always been into books, so I decided to pick up a copy of ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ but my friend told me that I should read ‘The Hobbit’ first.”
While “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy preceded “The Hobbit” on screen, the books did the opposite. The tale follows the quest of Bilbo Baggins, who “lives a quiet, peaceful life in his comfortable hole … because he is a hobbit – one of a race of small, plump people about half the size of humans, with furry toes and a great love of good food and drink.”
The hero embarks on a quest, one that Perez connected with immediately.
“When I started reading, I related so much to Bilbo,” he says. “I kept thinking, ‘That’s me! I would react just like that!’ I always think of myself as a little hobbit.”
It’s why Perez reads the tale every year. Not a “party type of person,” his ideal evenings are often spent solo.
“I really love video games,” Perez explains. “I love ‘Legend of Zelda’ and ‘Genshin Impact,’” action-adventure games with intricate storylines. “I used to be really into anime, but now I’m more into video games and building your own types of stories.”
It’s all an extension of his greater love for fantasy and the medieval era.
“I absolutely adore Renaissance fairs,” he says. He used to work them and says people might be surprised at how inclusive they tend to be.
“I used to perform as a pirate and as a mermaid, and in that kind of space people are aware you that you present as a character,” he explains. “Everybody there is in a world of make believe, so it helps people become more accepting.”
One interaction in particular stands out, when Perez was dressed as an elf.
“This gentleman that was working a booth goes, ‘how can I help you ladies?’ and I said, ‘Oh, I’m a guy,’” he remembers. “And he corrected himself very quickly. He just said, “oh, yeah, elves are usually very androgynous.’ I thought that was so sweet.”
It’s a challenge Perez often faces as a trans man who “is such a feminine-presenting person,” he explains. “A lot of people tend to question my gender because I like girly things.”
“I’m just me. I’m just a dude,” he notes. “Even with my family – who are really, really accepting – they question why I like dresses or getting my nails done or doing my hair or makeup. It’s just because I like those things.”
Perez stresses that while his gender expression is feminine, his gender identity is masculine. It’s something he wishes more people understood.
“Gender is a lie,” he says. “It’s fake. One of my first memories as a child, I was playing in the playground in kindergarten with a bunch of kids. We were playing Peter Pan and I remember telling the girls, ‘Well, I’m Peter Pan’ and they said he’s a boy. I got so mad, and I think that was probably my first realization that I wasn’t cisgender.”
Looking back, Perez says he’d tell himself earlier that “it’s okay to like the things you like.”
“You can’t let other people dictate how you’re going to live,” he says. “People are going to talk, whether you’re cis, trans, straight, gay. People are always going to talk about you, nobody’s ever going to be happy with what you’re going to be like. So just be the happiest version of yourself that you can be because it doesn’t matter. You just have to be comfortable with yourself.”
That mentality is why Perez wanted to work at Watermark, which he’s done since last November, and what led him to participate in Visibili-T.
“I wanted to share my story because I know there are a lot of people out there that are struggling with their trans identity,” he explains. “There isn’t a lot of representation for this type of trans man. It’s more acceptable for a cis, gay man to be feminine and to like makeup than for it is a trans queer man to be feminine and like makeup.
“Expressing myself that way has nothing to do with my identity or who I am, and I think a lot of younger kids need to see that,” he continues. “I wish I had that growing up.”
Interested in being featured in Visibili-T? Email Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Williams in Central Florida at Jeremy@WatermarkOnline.com or Managing Editor Ryan Williams-Jent in Tampa Bay at Ryan@WatermarkOnline.com.
