Empowered Trans Woman Is Open for Submissions
What we publish and how to get your story to us Empowered Trans Woman is open for submissions.
What we publish and how to get your story to us
Empowered Trans Woman is open for submissions. If you write about the trans experience, I want your work in my queue.
In December 2019, Cassie Brighter posted a short call for writers in this publication. It asked one thing of anyone who found it: send your stories to her inbox. For six years, that inbox was the door. Cassie died in April. The inbox went dark, and the publication went quiet with it. Quiet is the one thing this place was never built to be.
My name is Grace Ann Hansen. I write about trans life and the laws aimed at it, with receipts. This month I took over as editor of Empowered Trans Woman. I didn’t inherit a handoff memo or a strategy binder. I inherited a room Cassie built and the people still in it. The publication stays what she made it. Its own one-line description still says it best: this is a home for “the experience of women of trans experience.” Transition. Womanhood. Feminism. Intersectionality. The daily mechanics of a visible life. That center holds.
Here’s what I’m looking for. Personal essays that tell the truth at whatever length the truth needs. Reported pieces with named sources. Perspective and analysis on the politics, the medicine, the faith communities, and the workplaces trans women move through. Practical guides written by someone who has done the thing, for the woman about to do it. First person welcome. First timers welcome.
Two standards, stated plainly. Write what you can stand behind: if your piece makes a factual claim, be ready to show me where it came from. And write it yourself. Medium will not distribute fully AI-generated writing beyond a writer’s own followers, and I have no plans to publish what a machine typed. Your voice is the point of this place.
Here’s the route. Follow Empowered Trans Woman: submissions run through Medium itself now, and following the publication is what puts it on your submission list. Write your piece as a draft on Medium. Open the draft, click the three-dot menu in the top right, choose Submit to publication, pick Empowered Trans Woman, and send it for review. Medium’s walkthrough has screenshots. Your story’s status shows in your writer outbox as I read. If the publication doesn’t appear as an option for you, leave a response on this post and I’ll get you through the door.
What you can expect from me: I read every submission myself. When I ask for edits, they come through Medium with reasons attached. A no is about fit, not about you. A yes goes out to every follower this publication has, with your name on it.
Cassie’s original call is still up. It asks, “Do you write about the trans experience? Send us your work!” Six years and one unthinkable loss later, I can’t write a better ask than hers. The door is open. Send us your work.
Author Note. Grace Ann Hansen is an independent researcher and writer, and an MBA & PhD graduate student in health informatics and artificial intelligence. She is also a published author, a professional musician, a gymnastics coach, and a queer transgender woman living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. All interpretation, argument, and prose are her own. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Grace Ann Hansen at grace@graceannhansen.com.
Sources
Brighter, Cassie. “Empowered Trans Woman — Submissions.” Empowered Trans Woman (Medium), December 18, 2019. https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman/empowered-trans-woman-submissions-cbd8620b68ce
Brighter, Cassie. “A Brand-New Social Network for Trans Women.” Empowered Trans Woman (Medium), April 1, 2020. https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman/a-brand-new-social-network-for-trans-women-b50ed357d0ab
Empowered Trans Woman. Publication description. Medium, accessed July 28, 2026. https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman
Hoang, Mimi. Public tribute announcing Cassie Brighter’s death. Facebook, April 2026. https://www.facebook.com/DrMimiHoang/posts/im-very-sad-to-hear-that-cassie-brighter-sheher-passed-away-suddenly-on-apr-4th-/1535088618622790/
Medium Help Center. “How to submit a story to a publication.” Accessed July 28, 2026. https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/213904978-How-to-submit-a-story-to-a-publication
Medium Help Center. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) content policy.” Accessed July 28, 2026. https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/22576852947223-Artificial-Intelligence-AI-content-policy