By Medicinal Michael Boris
IG: @medicinal_mike
The one thing we don’t learn at birth is tolerance. People are inherently afraid of anything different or perceive it as a threat. I had the honor to meet someone whose decisions challenge the very fiber of tolerance and acceptance. Buck Angel was born a female and after never feeling comfortable in “her” own skin made very intense decision to change her sex to a male. Today sexual reassignment surgery is a little more accepted but still, the people choosing how they want to live causes discomfort in some more closed-minded people. Buck, who is an extremely attractive man and almost unnoticeably sexually reassigned decided to make his change long before it was accepted providing much-needed inspiration to future youth living uncomfortably in their own skin.
I asked Buck “Where do you find the courage to stand out like a lion amongst sheep?”
Buck replied, “I think courage is very subjective and or relative really. So for me, it has to do with being authentic. I did not get that chance most of my life to live this way. I was born female and transitioned to a male over 20 years ago. I lived in a body that made me cringe every time I had to leave the house. So courage for me is just basically being over feeling fearful all the time. I finally realized that I do not need your validation to live my life. We have been brainwashed to think this and that is what leads us to have anxiety, depression, PTSD and all kind of other mental illness. Because we cannot live authentically. Courage is the will to live.”
Buck spend most of his time, when not posing or filming in the nude, speaking out to teach tolerance and acceptance, and I had to know what inspires someone to not only help themselves but to make sure the best you can that nobody has to suffer emotional distress like Buck did.
He told us,” My age and seeing a shift in the way the transgender community was headed. I was not happy with the erasure of identities and making the word Transgender the umbrella term for so many identities, including mine, transsexual. I saw a lot more depression and suicidal attempts, because the trans community was growing so fast and with no direction. Being an elder and transitioning, sometimes years before many of the kids were born, gives me a bigger insight and a way to give back to my community in hopes that some of the mistakes I made they can avoid. Or even just to see me visible and successful is a good thing for the kids. They get to see their future. This is why they call me “tranpa.”
I then asked “What age did you decide to make this change in yourself?”
Buck after some thought said, “When I started to transition there were no doctors. This is a hard question to answer because wanting to transition and understanding transition are two different things. I also wanted to be a man. I always dreamed of a masculine body. I was raised very masculine and I would say more like a boy. But puberty erased any chance of living that way in the 1970’s. But I did start to finally transition in the mid 1990’s against the will of my lesbian community. It was a very difficult time, as there were no other FTM guys around me and it was a lonely scary place to be.”
I was amazed at the strength I saw in Buck and can see why he is a leader in his community. Buck’s major inspiration was… of course Madonna.
Buck jokingly stated, “Haha. I know what your readers are thinking but I have loved her forever. She is powerful and really made her mark by being true and also kicking ass in a man’s world. She still does. This type of passion for what you do shows through and for me living authentic is what I see in her and what I aspire to be.
Buck can be seen all over social media enjoying the benefits of cannabis and teaching others that cannabis can help with transitioning pains.
“I am not big on pharma drugs, even though they are needed sometimes I would say the majority of the time cannabis is better. CBD is a great healing education. THC is as well. Some like one or the other and some like it all. I would say that because there are great anti-inflammatory effects this medicine can help pain and recovery much faster than pharma drugs which mostly are just for pain and not healing.” – Buck Angel
Buck closed with this very important message, “Helping kids realize their potential. Their future. When you do not get to see elders or your future, how do you create dreams? I am visible for the kids so they can see a future. I have had some youngsters write me to tell me that they wanted to end it but after hearing me and seeing me that they see they can live successfully through transition. This, my friend is why I do this. You are in loving hands. Cannabis is a plant that loves. It is a medicine used by humans forever. Use this gift not only to help with your pain but use this gift to change your quality of life.”
Buck Angel is not only a hero to his LGBT community but a hero to cannabis helping to spread education and best of all having a blast doing it!
Connect with Buck on Instagram @buckangel
