Founder’s Manifesto
A note on why I created The Intentional Man Project.
by Rocco Kayiatos
Rocco Kayiatos, Founder and Executive Director of I.M.P. & Camp Lost Boys
Like most organizations, The Intentional Man Project was born out of necessity. As a man who began his transition in 2000, I have witnessed the ever-shifting and expanding landscape of transgender-specific identity, language, and offerings. Though, one thing I have noticed over the years is the complete dearth of services or spaces dedicated to nurturing trans men specifically. I have watched organizations, publications, conferences, and events for trans men pop up, only to disappear a few years later or veer off mission to become more inclusive of the broader trans community, leaving trans men to quietly take a step back and hold space for others with more marginalized identities.
Trans men are natural space creators. We are tender and brave. We are a community of caretakers. We make room for others, we protect our sisters, we support our nonbinary siblings. We are intentional men who are mindful of the power of our masculinity. It is rare for us to get to take up big space in the larger T community. I.M.P. is an invitation for trans men to set their bags down and feel the expanse and support that comes along with taking up space.
Why this matters:
Transgender men experience the highest rates of suicide attempts among the larger transgender and LGBQ+ community
Trans men are lonely, isolated, and comprise the smallest subsection of the trans umbrella
Trans men have no dedicated continuity of services or community spaces
Trans men face specific challenges that need specific addressing
Trans men need a space to undo harmful, outdated, and solipsistic models of manhood and to gather and redefine what it means to be a man
Healing and transformation take place in affinity spaces
When I began searching for signs of FTM life in 1999, I found a few conferences that were either explicitly for trans men and FTMs, or others that had very large contingencies of trans men in attendance and were programmed to reflect that. Over the past two decades, that has shifted to accommodate the ever-expanding community and the growing demographics outside of transgender men. I love that! Twenty years ago, I could not have imagined a future that was so abundant and bright for trans people. However, decades later, I still crave that space and specific power of life-affirmation that happens when gathering and being surrounded by nothing but other men who have had a transgender experience.
My primary mission in this life has been to uplift and create space for men who have had a transgender experience. I used to write songs about my transition and relationship to being a new man; I made a print magazine to highlight the beauty and breadth of our trans male experience; I made digital videos allowing millions of people a window in; and I created a summer camp experience for us to gather in nature, take respite, and hold space for each other.
Rocco Katastrophe first album released in 2004
2019 BAM talk (Tiq Milan, Marquise Vilson, Texas Isaiah, Amos Mac, Rocco Kayiatos
OP Issue #11 of 20It was through this summer camp, Camp Lost Boys, (est. 2017) that I realized the next iteration of this work. I set out on the path to create resources dedicated to supporting trans men in their efforts to support themselves. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, I moved all the CLB programming online and thus began the rough draft for The Intentional Man Project.
OP Book release SF 2019 (Rocco Kayiatos, Jamison Green, Amos Mac)
Following in the footsteps of community leaders Jamison Green, Christopher Lee, Rev. Louis Mitchell, Lou Sullivan, and Loren Rex Cameron (to name a few), I.M.P. will forge ahead to create and sustain resources for our brothers. I wanted to recreate the solace and electricity I felt when I attended the True Spirit Conference in 2000 and was in a room of hundreds of trans guys for the first time. I name the men and conferences that came before me to preserve our legacy and continue to build upon this work. I am dedicated to safeguarding our need to connect in a shorthanded way with each other, separate from overlapping and differing identities, so that we can find that deep empathy and brotherhood that can only be experienced in an affinity space.
Blue/white t-shirt. "True Spirit Conference 1999" Held at Best Western Maryland Inn in Laurel, Maryland. This three-day conference focused on the social, physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational health of all gender variant people on the FTM spectrum and their significant others, friends, families, and allies.
Camp Lost Boys/ I.M.P. Healthy Trans Masculinity Talk 2019 (Justin Chow, Brian Michael Smith, Rocco Kayiatos, Jay Moton)
The aim of I.M.P. is to be a safe container for trans men to expand, rather than retract, enabling guys to bring a new level of intentionality and awareness to their maleness. We deserve to take a collective deep breath. I.M.P. offers inclusive spaces and programming for every kind of man with a transgender experience, regardless of where he is in his transition. Our events are centered around our unique and specific experience of maleness.
This organization is an invitation to take up all the space, put down your bags, explore in an unencumbered way. Find real peer support, find a deeper connection to yourself, heal, and find brotherhood. We are mindful of the specificities of the trans male experience, including the fears, stresses, and circumstances that transgender men face. Our work at The Intentional Man Project imparts trans men with the necessary confidence and fortitude to accept ourselves as equal members of the larger community of men, valuable especially for our embodying a healthy masculinity. Healthy men and expressions of maleness have the power to transform the world.