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Zander Keig was born in Torrance, CA, on July 7, 1966. His father joined the Marine Corps and then worked as an engineer, while his mother owned a psychic and tarot shop by day and produced drag shows by night. Because Zander’s parents split up early on, he moved around a lot during the split time between his parents, living in Torrance, Tempe, and San Diego by the time he turned 13. His paternal grandmother often babysat him and helped him connect with the family’s Mexican heritage.
After Zander’s grandmother passed, his parents sent him to various behavioral-correctional institutions where he was subjected to conversion therapy throughout his teenage years. Though assigned female at birth, Zander was always tomboyish and more masculine-presenting, much to his mother’s dismay. Zander’s mother, though, accepted him beginning to date girls at 14. Eventually, he started attending public high school but dropped out at 17 to move in with a girlfriend, several years older than him in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, the relationship soured, and his living situation grew toxic. Eventually, Zander moved back to Los Angeles into an aunt’s house for safety.
Zander enlisted in the US Coast Guard before the implementation of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Act. During a maritime law enforcement training program, he got injured and had to be discharged due to the severity of the injury, which left him with a chronic disability. As he was wrapping up his time in the Coast Guard, Zander spontaneously auditioned and won the Ms. Gay Pride competition and was featured in San Diego Pride’s media coverage in 1988. Moving up the California coast, he also started organizing with Queer Nation and the Lesbian Avengers.
Zander moved to Denver for college and studied speech and philosophy. He was involved in student government and the GLBT Student Services Office and started the Auararia Queer Alliance (AQuA) student club. Via AQuA, Zander successfully advocated for extending healthcare benefits to students’ domestic partners and getting same-sex domestic violence curricula added to Human Services courses. College was also where he learned more about the trans community. Although the lived experiences of his many trans friends resonated with him, Zander decided not to medically transition to stay in lesbian activism circles, many of which included lesbian separatists.
After college, Zander started a Master’s in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in Fort Lauderdale while attending a church led by a gay man. He soon realized that he needed to heal his relationship with religion. He moved back to California to pursue a Master of Theological Studies at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, where he spent time researching trans history in the church. At seminary, Zander met and fell in love with Margaret. They’ve now been happily married for over two decades.
As he got to around 39, Zander learned from a doctor that testosterone, at the correct level, will not increase aggression. He thus decided to transition medically and change his name and sex marker on all his legal documents. In 2012, Zander earned a Master’s in Social Work and embarked on an illustrious career supporting and advocating for the trans community. He has been recognized as a Transgender Subject-Matter Expert by the National Association of Social Workers, Veterans Health Administration, and Bureau of Navy Medicine and Surgery. In 2018, he was awarded the NASW California Chapter Social Worker of the Year; in 2020, he was awarded the NASW National Social Worker of the Year. After retiring, Zander moved to Florida to spend time with Margaret’s extended family and care for his aging father. Not finding the resources he needed as a trans caregiver for an aging parent with dementia, Zander teamed up with another social worker and family caregiver to start the LGBTQ Caregiver Center. Zander’s father died a few months after this interview was recorded.