Digital Transgender Archive

Interview with Osiris Coleman

Osiris Coleman is a 44-year-old black trans straight man. He was assigned female at birth. He grew up in West Philadelphia, going to public school for a couple of years and then to Catholic school. Girls didn’t want to play with him and would call him a boy. Boys were cool with him though, and he climbed trees, ran through alleyways, and climbed over people’s fences with them. He refused to put on a dress his parented wanted him to wear for his fourth birthday. His parents also stopped him from hanging out with boys by keeping him inside and telling him, “You’re a girl, you’re not supposed to play with boys so we can’t have you outside.” He could only go outside to play with the girls who he begged to hang out with and then he would sneak over to the boys to play with them instead. He got pregnant at 14 after being molested by a cousin. That experience, he says, led him to be promiscuous with other guys. He hid his pregnancy the entire nine months up until going into labor since he was afraid of his physically abusive father and had a religious, absent mother. When his father found out about the pregnancy, he beat him every day. Osiris was then sent to Chicago, Illinois to live with his grandmother who took care of his baby. Osiris soon ran away from home, leaving his child behind, at around 15 or 16. His daughter contacted Osiris years later, and they had a happy reunion. He moved to New York City and lived in a shelter while he looked for a job and a place to stay. While at Barnes and Noble he discovered the possibility of transitioning when he found a picture book of trans men by Loren Cameron. He immediately knew that’s what he wanted for himself. Since 2001, he works for the New York City Department of Sanitation as a supervisor where he’s experienced discrimination for his trans identity. He experienced 9/11 while in New York City firsthand and recounts those events. He’s on testosterone and had top surgery, a hysterectomy, an oophorectomy, and a phalloplasty. He visits South Africa a lot to visit his best friend. One day, he’d like to have dual citizenship there and in the United States. Content Warning: This item contains potentially sensitive material related to sexual abuse.