This practice note is a call to practitioners, researchers, and educators to reconsider how they approach work with trans and nonbinary communities. Drawing on previous work done by Tuck, and shuster and Westbrook, I encourage readers to move from a deficit-based lens to a lens where joy is part of the narrative, an aspect of trans and nonbinary lives that is often missing from much of the research on trans communities. Furthermore, I urge readers to move beyond seeing trans and nonbinary communities as primarily social and political issues to be addressed and to see and embrace the complex and nuanced humanity and lived experiences of trans and nonbinary people.
Keywords: damage-centered research; joy deficit; trans joy; transgender joy; transgender research.