Miley Cyrus Launches #InstaPride to Highlight Stories of “Transgender and Gender Expansive People”

Miley Cyrus took to Instagram this morning to announce the launch of something spectacular.

The Happy Hippie Foundation’s leading lady debuted #InstaPride, a Humans of New York-inspired effort in conjunction with Instagram to highlight the “stories of resilience” of “transgender and gender expansive people from around the country.”

I’m launching #InstaPride today, in partnership with @Instagram, to share stories of transgender and gender expansive people from around the country. Over the next 2 weeks, you’ll meet them and the people in their lives who support them, as we highlight their stories of resilience #happyhippiepresents @happyhippiefdn

A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Jun 15, 2015 at 6:02am PDT

The first in the two week-long series is Leo, a 19-year-old “writer, a filmmaker in the works, a sometimes photographer, a good public-speaker, a social media junkie” and more, who identifies as a trans man.

This is Leo (@isupersheng), a 19-year-old college student from Michigan. He shares about his own identity, experiences and hopes saying: “I have a lot of different identities. I’m a writer, a filmmaker in the works, a sometimes photographer, a good public-speaker, a social media junkie, a Gleek, a feminist, an activist a movie buff, a dutiful Netflix fan. The list goes on and on. As for my gender, I identify as a trans man.” #happyhippiepresents #instapride @happyhippiefdn

A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Jun 15, 2015 at 6:01am PDT

“I spent so much of my life uncomfortable with who I was and afraid to move because I didn’t want to stand out any more than I already did. This last year as I’ve been transitioning, there’ve been a lot of moments when I truly felt free to be myself: the moment I woke up from top surgery, the day the bandages came off, my first shot of testosterone. Sometimes, I’ll be out in public with my family or just hanging around with friends, and I remember that I’m no longer having to hide anything about who I am. I’m not afraid to move anymore and I know who I am. Everything about me right now is exactly as it should be.” – @isupersheng #happyhippiepresents #instapride @happyhippiefdn

A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Jun 15, 2015 at 6:00am PDT

Miley hinted at a collaboration with Caitlyn Jenner late last week, and with today’s announcement of #InstaPride, we can’t help but wonder if the two have linked up for this effort. Transgenderism and gender identity are major topics in our country right now, especially following Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover. Many of us, including me, are still learning the vocabulary with which to talk about these subjects, and #InstaPride seems like a step in the right direction towards helping those who want to understand this topic better.

Happy Motivational Monday.