Digital Transgender Archive

Interview with Carter Brown and Diamond Stylz

An interview with Carter Brown and Diamond Stylz. Carter Brown is a Black trans man, activist, and community organizer from Dallas, Texas. Brown is the founder of Black Transmen, Inc., and served as its Director at the time of this oral history interview. He also works with the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition (BTAC, is highly active in community organizing efforts among Black trans men, and has garnered media attention for his work on employment discrimination against Black transgender people. Diamond Stylz is a Black trans woman, activist, and content creator based in Houston, Texas. At the time of this oral history interview, she was the founder and executive director of Black Trans Women, Inc., as well as being a YouTuber and the creator of Marsha's Plate, a politics and culture podcast. Stylz additionally won a high-profile First Amendment lawsuit against her high school, and was the first transgender woman to attend Jackson State University. In this oral history interview, Brown and Stylz discuss their backgrounds and initial forays into Black trans activism, shared experiences of discrimination, the joys, difficulties, responsibilities, and structural barriers inherent to Black trans community organizing, and their thoughts on visibility, representation, and the future. Specifically, they discuss foundational experiences of employment discrimination and discrimination within educational institutions, the foundings of Black Transmen, Inc. and Black Trans Women, Inc., the limits of trans visibility and representation, the disconnect between the mainstream LGBT movement and Black trans movements, and their visions of a better future for Black trans people.