Daniella Carter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daniella Carter | |
|---|---|
 Carter in 2023 at the Berlinale | |
| Born | June 10, 1994 |
| Occupation | Activist |
Daniella Carter (born 10 June 1994) is an American activist. She came to prominence as an advocate of transgender rights and a speaker on the issue of youth homelessness. Her work often centres around her personal life story.
At 18 months old, Carter was placed in a foster home in New York City, where she experienced various types of abuse. At the age of 14, Carter came out as transgender to her foster parents. Upon their rejection of her identity, she fled her home and became homeless. She turned to survival sex work while continuing to attend high school.
In 2014, she was one of 7 transgender youths to share their stories in the documentary film The T Word, produced and hosted by Laverne Cox. After the film, she started engaging in public speaking at events such as TED Talks. In 2023, Carter came to further prominence as one of four Black transgender sex workers featured in D. Smith's documentary film Kokomo City, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received critical acclaim.
Carter was born on 10 June 1994.[1][better source needed] At 18 months old, she was placed in an upscale foster home in the Queens borough of New York City and raised by conservative Pentecostal Christian parents.[2][3] Carter says she experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse while in foster care.[3]
In kindergarten, Carter started wanting to present as female.[4] At 14 years old, she came out as transgender to her foster mother.[2] Because of her identity, her parents cut her off.[3] She became homeless, living in the New York City Subway system while continuing to attend Martin Luther King Jr. High School daily.[4] In order to meet her needs, Carter resorted to survival sex work through much of her adolescence.[5] She received some support from high school faculty members, who did not know she was homeless.[3]
Carter started transitioning while in high school.[3] Because she had no money for a wig, she wrapped T-shirts around her head.[6] She was rejected and bullied by her peers; once, after being physically attacked, Carter called her foster mother to ask to return home, but she refused.[5][6][3] In her first year of college, Carter was abducted, raped and robbed along with a schoolmate.[4] She says that hospital staff asked her if she was "sure it wasn't sex work" after they learned that she was trans and couldn't use a rape kit.[7] Following the incident, she applied and was enrolled in a Bailey House housing program.[4]
