Summary

Chapter 9 is titled “Losing Hope,” and is written as a direct address to his transgender cousin, whose chosen name was Hope and whose birth name was Jermaine. Author Johnson describes how important it was to him, as a young queer Black man, to have a transgender person in the family while he was growing up – even though, he adds, there were times when he felt uncomfortable about being around his cousin. He also comments that while the family made mistakes in dealing with Hope, they “only knew one way to raise a child, and that was with love” (161). He then describes meeting Hope, at that time still going by Jermaine, for the first time at a family picnic. He describes Jermaine’s closeness with his own mother, later revealing that she had been named Jermaine’s godmother, a responsibility he says...