EEJOON CHOI / NEXTGENRADIO
MOMENTS
OF
TRUTH
Transforming Cincinnati and themselves — 47 and on a journey to being ‘whole’
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Tristan Vaught:
Everything, basically, is in transition. I’m transitioning, work is transitioning. My house is transitioning. My relationship is transitioning
My name is Tristan Vaught. I’m 47, I am a college professor, co-founder to a nonprofit, and I own my own consulting and coaching business. I’m also an animal lover and plant lover.
So Transform Cincy, what do we do? We started in 2019 we give clothing to trans youth as they transition between the ages of five and 25, full outfits, 15 to 20 outfits, shoes, accessories, a free haircut from Bishop’s salon, whatever they need to start their journey.
I’ve pulled away from a lot of the boots on the ground, right there at events; we’ve expanded to where I’m, I’m doing the yucky stuff like paperwork and grants and running the place and paying the bills.
I’ve done this work for 15 years. I’ve helped other people in their transition. I can run through with you the list of what it looks like for gender affirming care.
But the moment of truth for me was, was my wife saying, but why not you? why not you? You’ve wanted to do this. Why aren’t you doing it? Why can’t you live your full truth? And that was the moment for me, was being given permission, saying it’s okay. You can have some of that as well.
It felt like a relief more than anything. It felt like I had finally been able to take off old, heavy, tired, sweaty armor and breathe.
And I didn’t know that I had gender dysphoria until I was on the other side of all this.
So you see that bottle right there? That’s my testosterone gel. So yeah, my gel is over there, and I think my shots are right above it.
It all happened pretty quickly for me, it was like my body loved testosterone, and I was sleeping really well. I wasn’t laying here at night for 45 minutes running through the whole day and anxiety and all this stuff. I would lay down and be out right away.
So there were just things that it felt right and it felt really good.
Because what’s happened with the shot over the last nine months that I’ve been taking shots with this. My facial hair has come in quite a bit more. My voice has changed a lot more, my muscle mass, those kind of things, I’ve noticed a big difference
[sound of dogs barking, chickens clucking, feed being distributed in yard]
I have a lot of plants, as you saw, usually, it’s a way for me to kind of cope with the vicarious trauma that I deal with. It’s a lot to deal with LGBTQ youth, trans youth, their families.
A lot of people go, Wow, you have a lot of animals, and that would stress me out. And I’m like, people stress me out. The animals are great. I have nine dogs, four cats, 20 chickens…so there’s a space of I come home and I get to propagate my plants and I get to hang out with my animals and this is my … peaceful space.
[Sound of ducks softly quacking]
I do not wish that I’d done this sooner. I had this vibrant queer life that I would never trade. I love my life, and I wouldn’t change it, because I’m glad that my partner is the one that I’m doing this with.
Every morning we tell each other, I choose you, and every night, we talk about being teammates and accomplices in this life, and that’s why I don’t–I don’t regret it at all.
I don’t regret a single moment of my life.
You might say Tristan Vaught took the long way to being themselves, but they would disagree.
“I do not wish that I’d done this sooner,” they said. “I enjoy my journey.”
Vaught came out as a lesbian and started identifying as nonbinary in college, but didn’t medically transition until several decades later. While they helped many trans youth express themselves over the years, health concerns made them afraid of losing their community. It took a conversation with the person who knows Vaught best to help them realize they could medically transition as well.
Vaught works as the director of Transform Cincy, a nonprofit they co-founded in 2019. The organization provides transgender and gender-nonconforming youth with a new wardrobe: 15 to 20 outfits, a haircut, shoes, and accessories. Vaught estimates the service has helped about 300 clients every year since 2020.
That was the moment for me — being given permission, saying it’s okay. You can have some of that as well.
For a long time, socially transitioning was enough for Vaught. They saw the joy on the faces of young people they helped and ignored their own feelings about their body.
Just before their 46th birthday, Vaught was sitting at home with their wife, Patti Ewald. The pair discussed medically transitioning when Ewald turned to Vaught and asked, “Why not you?”
“That was the moment for me — being given permission, saying it’s okay,” Vaught recalled. “You can have some of that as well.”
Vaught with their wife, Patti Ewald, on Monday, July 14, 2025. A conversation with Ewald gave Vaught the courage to begin transitioning. “I feel closer to my wife now than I have in the past five years that we’ve been together.”
MORGAN SCHNEIDER / NEXTGENRADIO
After a couple visits with gender-affirming care providers in the Cincinnati area, Vaught started slowly by using testosterone gel. The small changes, such as facial hair and increased muscle mass, appeared almost immediately. In Vaught’s mind, there’s no question that starting testosterone was the right decision for them.
“I feel more whole,” Vaught said. “I feel a little more connected to the world.”
Vaught holds a bottle of testosterone gel. They store it and their bag of hormone injections in the cabinet. Applied daily to the skin, testosterone gel contains a lower dose of the hormone than weekly shots.
MORGAN SCHNEIDER / NEXTGENRADIO
It’s a feeling that’s being denied for many.
Since 2021, Ohio lawmakers have attacked the trans community in myriad ways. In 2024 the state legislature, through a veto override, outlawed pediatric gender-affirming medical care. Schools at every level, even universities, are prohibited from letting trans women and girls play on female sports teams. Rhetoric from lawmakers and public officials has misgendered trans people, and in one case, compared them to the devil.
“I think that we have gotten to [a place] where we don’t have conversations with real people anymore,” Vaught said. “We don’t sit down and have a cup of coffee with a person who is transitioning to get to know them.”
Despite the increasingly hostile environment in Ohio, Vaught has no plans to leave Cincinnati. In their eyes, if you can make it in a place that’s both progressive and conservative, both small town and big city, you can make it anywhere.
“A lot of people [say], ‘you should move, you should go to a more accepting city.’ And I’m like, the work’s here. The people are here. The synergy’s here,” they said.
Vaught holds their pet corn snake, Zero. Much like how snakes physically shed their skin, Vaught began medically and physically transitioning at age 46.
MORGAN SCHNEIDER / NEXTGENRADIO
Vaught waters some of their numerous plants. After a long day, the nonprofit founder likes to decompress by taking care of their garden.
MORGAN SCHNEIDER / NEXTGENRADIO
Today, Vaught’s planning the next phase of their life and feels it’ll soon be time for someone else to take over at Transform Cincy. They’re doing renovations on their house and contemplating writing a book.
“Work is transitioning. My house is transitioning,” Vaught said, looking back. “My relationship is transitioning. I feel closer to my wife now than I have in the past five years we’ve been together.”
For the first time, Vaught is experiencing the joy they’d seen on so many young people’s faces at Transform. They might’ve begun this process a lot earlier if they’d had the same support the organization’s clients do. Even still, they don’t regret the journey they went on before arriving at their moment of truth.
“Not a second of it,” Vaught said. “None at all.”
Vaught stands in the backyard of their home, which is under numerous renovations. Like them, they joke, the house is in transition.
MORGAN SCHNEIDER / NEXTGENRADIO
